The Princess and I headed down to the old office to meet up with some friends from work and get my last check (more on the check later). The ride down was uneventful, mostly due to the fact that we left home at about 10:30 so we were blessed with the absence of the usual rush hour idiots.
When we arrived at the office the receptionist called the HR chick, who came up to meet me. Her face lit up when she saw The Princess and she immediately said she had hoped I'd be bringing her along. The Princess hasn't been to the office in quite a while, and we all know how fast little ones can change. In HR Chick's office, we talked for a couple of minutes and played with the greatest thing known to toddlerhood - bubbles! HR Chick is a grandma and just happened to have little wedding-favour-sized bottles in her file cabinet for such occasions. Good thinkin'! HR Chick quickly made her way onto The Princess's list of Grown Ups Who Don't Suck.
After collecting my last check (which should have been dated 12/4) we got permission to go upstairs to surprise our pals.
Up the millions of stairs - hey, to a toddler who has no stairs in her house 20 stairs is a lot! - into the good ole cube farm. We stopped by my buddy Rick's desk, but he wasn't there. Bummer. The Princess made a grand entrance into Rolinda's cube, running in uninvited and undetected for a moment before he turned around to find a 2-year-old staring him in the face. :) Rolilnda told us that Ricky Rick Rick was in E's office...E was going to lunch with us so I didn't feel bad interrupting.
We trekked across the cube farm to the wall-o-offices, and I aimed The Princess at E's door...giving her a little push. Ricky Rick Rick looked down, his eyes got as big as saucers, and then he looked up with this big ol' goofy grin to say hi. I think the last time he saw The Princess she was just learning to walk. Time flies! E had a little Scooby Doo lunch box with a handle that made fantastic sounds, and she even gave The Princess a smiley-face sticker.
From there we hit the potty and ran into Betts at the sinks - she was the last member of our lunch group that we had yet to see. Her face lit up and we hugged right there in the bathroom. Glad no one walked in...might have looked funny to an outsider!
The Princess, Rolinda, E, Betts and I headed out for an upscale lunch at this jazzy place called McDonald's...and had an absolutely fabulous time. I may not miss the job, but I sure do miss the people.
I am so excited for Betts, who is retiring in January. Way to go, lady!
Through this whole visit, The Princess was an absolute angel. All smiles and not a grumpy sound coming out of her. I'm a lucky momma.
After Happy Meals, we headed back to the car and said goodbye to our pals. The Princess got comfortably strapped into her car seat with a toy and we took off for home.
About half-way home it occurred to me that I had never looked at my check. Imagine my surprise as I opened it and found out, while driving, that it was fully three times what I had expected it to be. Merry Christmas! I guess it was worth the wait after all, eh?
After stopping at the bank and the post office to deposit that check and send out our Christmas cards, we stopped home to hang out with Daddy for a couple of hours.
Off to play group!
Those of you who follow this blog are already aware that the last play group did not end well. I am happy to report that today's play group was a success. The Princess had fun during free play, helped to clean up when it was over - which was HUGE, actually sat for circle time, and was in on all of the activities...including craft time.
We didn't make it this far last time, but it was big fun today. We made a Christmas tree using construction paper, glue, yarn and foam stickers. Ooh, and we drew stars in the night sky with chalk. And as an extra added bonus: there's even snow under the tree.
After craft time we had a snack and did a little more circle time before taking off to chill out for the evening.
I'm very proud of my little girl...this was a lot for anyone to do in a day, and she was a champ through it all. I love being a mommy. *happy sigh*
Yay! Sounds like a wonderful day! And "hellz yeah" to the mongo check! Woot to that. Can't wait to see you all in a week! (wow, there are a lot of exclamation points in this post but what can I say, I'm excited!?!!!?!!!!)
ReplyDeleteHooray! I *lurve* exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Lucy!
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