I woke up this morning with that feeling of anticipation you get when you know something BIG is going to happen, like the first day of school, Christmas Eve, or the day of your annual gynecological exam. I sent Aliya, Adlani, and Ben off to Aliya’s soccer game, fed and bathed Norah, cleaned up the kitchen, and bided my time until 10 a.m. when the hottest concert tickets in town were going on sale. No, not the Pussycat Dolls, Bruce Springsteen, or even the John Denver From the Great Beyond Tour. HANNAH MONTANA and MILEY CYRUS!!! For those of you who don’t have daughters between the ages of 4 and 14, or who have been living under a rock, Miley Cyrus is the 14-year-old star of the Disney Channel hit series Hannah Montana, and the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, the Achy Breaky Heart guy. Aliya LOVES Hannah Montana, and last night Karen and I strategized on how we could get Aliya and Victoria to the show, short of paying $500+ per ticket on eBay or sleeping overnight on a Worcester sidewalk.

By 9:50 I had Norah settled in front of the TV, my credit card ready with a back-up just in case, and two computers connected to our high speed fiber optic network and logged into my Ticketmaster account. I was poised on the edge of the couch… 9:57…9:58…9:59…I can’t remember the last time I felt such anticipation. I knew that Aliya and Victoria might suffer permanent psychological damage if I couldn’t score these tix.

At exactly 10 o’clock I clicked “Find Tickets” on both computers, one for the Friday show and one for the Saturday show. The Saturday computer never even got to the screen where you have to enter the oddball code word that thwarts automated ticket-purchasing programs. The Friday computer, however, coughed up 4 tickets – section 201, Row L. Not bad considering that at least a third of the tickets had already been sold in the fan club presale. By the time my order was complete, the concert was sold out. We’ll have to bring the binoculars but at least when the girls look back on 2007 they’ll remember that they were *there*…kinda like Woodstock – NOT!

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours at Adlani’s preschool helping set up for the PTO’s Fun Fair and Costume Sale. Last fall, one of the PTO ladies called TJX and asked what they did with their leftover Halloween costumes after Halloween. She ended up with a donation of 250 brand new costumes from TJMaxx and Marshalls!! We sorted them all by size and got them ready for the sale. They are REALLY nice and they will be sold for $5 each. It’s a shame I already bought the kids’ costumes for this year. The Hello Kitty costume that I bought for Aliya was one of the ones in the preschool costume sale. See…procrastination can be a good thing!

She may be ready…I’m not!!! Aliya went to her friend Reece’s birthday party at Snip-Its last weekend. For some reason she looked much more grown up this year than she did when she and Victoria both had their parties there last year. The bottom half of the bright pink hoochie-mama ensemble she chose for both parties last year was missing, so she went with the navy velvet prom gown. I guess that’s better than going bottomless. She has become quite adept at “the pose”, and chastised me because I took this picture before she had her toe pointed. So sorry.

One of the party attendees seemed a little tall for a 6-year-old but the girls welcomed her with open arms. Her performance during the fashion show drew rave reviews, although I think the girls are still trying to figure out what “Future Occupation: Pole Dancer” means.

Happy Birthday Reecey!!

The two smallest Fonsecas came over last night for the first monthly Kid-Swap Date Night. Karen and Nelson went out for dinner while we hung with the kiddies, and in October it will be our turn. We feasted on Papa Gino’s and then spent quite a while with the Legos. The girls were trying to build an animal hospital complete with barfing horses (with sound effects) while the boys had their own (unknown) agendas. The end result looked nothing like an animal hospital but it kept them occupied until it was time for hide-n-seek. I was the champion hider, since it took at least 10 minutes for them to find me and in the end Ben had to look too. For some reason (Ben), the girls thought that when they found me I was supposed to pay them. I don’t remember any game of hide-n-seek ending with a cash payout but since Ben made the deal, he paid them $1 each. I guess they play a little different in Morocco.