Let me begin this post by saying you will learn nothing of actual value from the information I am about to share with you, other than my children are both blessed AND cursed.
Blessed because, as an author who writes for children (and now teens), I LOVE reading children’s books more than most grown-up books (all those big words make my head hurt and most of those adult novels are SO big). The truth is, you’ll find me reading BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY way before you find me trying to pretend like I’m not reading FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY on my Nook while I trudge along the elliptical at the gym. So when I heard that Jeff Kinney, author of the totally awesome DIARY OF A WIMPY KID books, was going to be doing a book signing just fifteen minutes away from my house at the Mall of America, I told my son Logan, “Dude!! We’re totally going!” Of course his response was, “Saweeeet!”
So my friend Mindy and I road-tripped to the MOA that morning with my toddler Brielle in tow, to get the newly released 7th book (which by the way, I had already ordered and had delivered to Logan at school on the day it was officially released – cause he loves ’em and I’m kind of a good mommy like that – but you had to follow the book signing rules to get a wristband to be allowed into the line. And I figure, you can never have too many copies of an awesome book).
Unfortunately, Mindy’s son came home sick from school that afternoon, so being one of the best mommies ever, she loaded up all of his books in a bag and hitched a ride with Logan and I up to the mall that evening. I had an equally heavy bag of books I was hoping to have signed slung over my back. Thankfully, they had the WIMPY KID movies playing while we waited in line and before the second movie had ended, we had made it to the front.
It was pretty much just the kids having their picture taken with Jeff, but Mindy’s son wasn’t there, so we snapped a couple of shots of her explaining to him why she was there without a child fan. When Jeff heard that her son was home sick, he told her to get him on her cell phone so he could say hi to him! Can you imagine, being 9 years-old, chilling on your couch at home and getting a phone call from one of your favorite authors?! Needless to say, he was beyond excited!
When it was my son’s turn, and the lady directing the line told me where to stand to take a photo of Logan with Jeff, I asked, “Would it be weird if I got in the picture, too?” Her mouth said “No,” but I’m pretty sure her sideways smile said “Yes.” But whatever! I was not missing out on a picture with one of MY favorite authors/illustrators…not even if people were gonna look at me funny. Besides, I’m totally used to people doing that, so who cares?!
That was the first round of awesomesauce we had slathered on us last week. Now, to tell you why my kids are cursed to call me Mom.
I’m sure by now, you’ve heard about the Korean pop hit Gangnam Style. And if you haven’t, you need to crawl out from under your rock and enjoy some pop culture! Well, the Freeburg family loves that silly song. And whenever it comes on we ALL dance (yes, that includes me). I’m only mildly embarrassed to admit that if you looked in my windows any given morning, you might find me leading a pack of children in a dance off to Gangnam Style (or one of the parodies on YouTube). Embarrassing right?! Can you imagine being a 9 year-old boy and having the neighbor kids over while your mom tries to teach each of you how to move your feet in a shuffle like Psy on his music video? I suppose by now, my kids are completely used to my unabashed participation (and often instigation) of childish behavior. I’ve heard my son say on more than one occasion, “I wish I had a normal mom.” To which I’ve always replied, “Normal moms are SO boring!”
**Two things should be noted about the above information. 1) If you do, in fact, look in my windows in the mornings, that is creepy and you need to knock it off! and 2) My son has recently confided in me that he’s actually glad I’m not a normal mom, since normal mom’s don’t take their children ghost hunting (although he could probably do without the dancing).
So why did I tell you about our love of Gangnam Style and how I might have maybe had something to do with teaching my children how to do the moves correctly? Because I promised my kids I’d share with you all the YouTube video we made of them dancing to the song with two of their friends who had a sleepover with us this past weekend. I promise this will make you laugh (some of you will simply giggle, but I’m willing to bet that a few of you will likely snort-laugh…especially near the end when they recreate the elevator scene). So click the link and enjoy – in fact if you actually do snort-laugh, you should click “like” on the video so my kids know you loved it. Yes, they are tracking their number of views and likes, so help our future generation and boost their self-esteem by watching it and liking it (maybe even more than once)! 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NxUSXiVYtQ
I’ll leave you with one last picture, because my dear, sweet friend, Mindy hates all of the photos I took of her with Jeff Kinney – apparently I’m not a gifted photographer and I kept capturing her in various states of looking silly. So I pinky promised to include a nice picture of her to make up for the one she finds unflattering (although, I’d like to say, I think she looks fabulous and whoever took that photo was clearly brilliant). Anyway, you know what happens if you break a pinky promise, right? You’re pinky falls off!! So in an attempt to keep all of my appendages, here is an adorable photo of me with one of my bestest friends!
