Wednesday, September 15, 2010

One Neighborhood; Two Clubs


These three girls are the charter members of the very prestigious Longhorn Allegiance Club. You only wish you had an invitation. 



Abby, our neighbor, spends hours every week at our house. Apparently, this is where it's at. So recently, she and my girls dreamed up this club. You know you're dying to see the club's weekly agenda. It's posted in our hallway. Here goes, as written: 

1. Arts and Crafts
2. Free Play
3. Snack Brack [break]
4. Bilding time
5. Reading time
6. Free Play
7. Dress up time
8. Doll time
9. Medatating [my favorite!]
10. Danceing time
11. Music time
12. Tea party
13. Sewing time
14. Nitaing [knitting] time
15. Work time [can't wait to see this]
16. Snack brack
17. Go home

Remember, this is the agenda for EACH MEETING. No wonder I haven't seen any meetings being convened lately. (And meanwhile, the boys rampage around with their Nerf guns.)

The neighborhood group is starting to snowball with the addition of two more girls last week. I admit that by late Saturday, I was a little tired of having so many extra kids in the house, and a little unsure of what my role should be, especially with the newer kids. I also knew that these kids need to be  not just in my home, but also in my heart. 

So after doing the dinner dishes, amidst a mild case of the restless blues, I decided to round everyone up right then and there. To make some magic instead of excuses. We went from house to house (among our friends) gathering eleven kids on scooters. The Professor was co-opted to  help me supervise. Off we rolled to the park, where they made tons of noise playing Statues in the Park until it was too dark to see each other. 

Then we gathered them up, clutching our two flashlights, and formed them into a straight line of eleven. One dad came by to follow us with his pickup truck headlights. They all yammered and squealed to each other, and when I'd turn my head and see this gaggly line of eleven, I felt like Mrs. Mallard from Make Way For Ducklings

The kids peeled off as we reached each of their houses, with goodbyes and pleas to do it again ringing into the night. They've dubbed themselves the Saturday Night Gaggle. Fortunately, this club has a two-item agenda: 1. Make Noise. 2. Have Fun. 


5 comments:

Tim said...

Awesome!

AmyDe said...

Truly awesome! This is the life I dream of. We are in a neighborhood now that isn't conducive to such play. Hopefully soon things will change. I long for the days when our home is filled with neighborhood kids and the sense of community you seem to have. Thank you for sharing.

JoAnn said...

And you want to leave this neighborhood?? Oh, the fun you will miss when the Professor lands a real professorial job and you must go elsewhere. Now you have some more criteria to your list of factors to look for in whatever new city the Lord would lead you to:must be conducive to neighborhood trains of children."

Raji P. said...

Can I move into your neighbourhood?!! I am envious of such fun. I live in an octogenarian neighbourhood.

Stephanie said...

I would like to know more about the game - Statues in the Park. It's not one I remember.

Your Saturday Night Gaggle club's agenda reminds me of the job description we gave Jared some years ago: Be Jared and have fun. (Which job description was later amended to: Be Jared and have fun and listen.)