Bingo Night's Top Ten List

Tonight the kids and I attended the school Bingo Night.  It was good and fun for many reasons.

So here is tonight's Top Ten List.....

Top Ten Reasons Bingo Night Was Fun

10.  We ordered yearbooks.  I don't know exactly when yearbooks became the norm for elementary schools, but I think it's pretty genius.  Not only do we get to see pictures of events from throughout the year, but I don't have to buy class photos (that only cost $5 less than the yearbook) because the yearbook will keep the photo in a bound book for us.  One less picture I have to put into storage and feel guilty for not scrapping.

9.  We contributed to the PTO and Student Council funds.  Both benefit our kids and if I can't leave Millie behind to volunteer in the classroom or events like this one, at least we can do our part to participate in other ways.

8.  Millie got to play with other little kids.  There were several kids around Millie's age that were all running around in the same somewhat contained area.  Luckily, it was right next to our table so I could let her go and not have to hold her on my lap against her will.  She had fun and I was glad to see her happy.  One little kid (about 6 months younger than Millie) fell down and Millie went to him, bent down and asked him, "You 'kay?"  So cute.

7.  Pizza dinner.  And no dishes.  This one might actually need to be higher up on the list.  No dishes is a happy-dance situation.

6.  We prepaid for our dinner (to get the better value) and were supposed to get a mere 6 bingo cards.  But we didn't.  We got 18 instead.  That's right.  We got to play lots of bingo for one low price.

5.  We got there early enough to get a decent parking spot, minimal waiting in line for our pizza and drinks, and a good table at which to sit.  I love beating the crowds. 

4.  Abby was very disappointed when she didn't win any of the bingo games tonight.  A friend of hers was on a lucky, lucky streak and shared one of the three or four prizes that he and his dad won.  I thought it was so very nice of him to share with Abby.

3.  Matt's prize.  The last game was a game of blackout where we used all of our remaining cards -- we were running out of time and had only been able to play one card at a time.  I promised Matt that if I won on any of my cards (I was playing 7 of them) I'd let him pick the prize.  He had his eye on this little pop up play tent with Lightning McQueen on it.  And guess what.  One of my seven cards was, indeed, a winner.  And my little boy got to pick the prize he had been eyeing since the beginning of the party.

2.  Indian Radio Days.  One of the plays I did at ASC was about Native American issues.  It was a bunch of sketches that supposedly played on the radio.  I played several different characters, each with a different flare.  The one from Minnesota had a wonderful accent (a good movie to see for a reference is New In Town with Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr.).  And all throughout the play different actors took their turn playing bingo and speaking to the audience about different Native American issues.  I chose the issue of a newly opened Native American museum.  I was afraid it might be boring, but my character was based on the Saturday Night Live character "Drunk Girl."  Yes, my character slurred her speech, repeated herself with the phrase, "Do you want to know what?", fell off her stool in her drunken stupor, and dotted her arm with the bingo marker.  Classy.  But I cannot play bingo without missing her just a little bit.

1.  Emma.  My favorite part about tonight was watching Emma in action.  Emma didn't win the election for Student Body President, but she was appointed as the Sergeant at Arms for Student Council.  At the first council meeting Emma suggested they have a bake sale.  So part of the activity tonight was the Student Council's Bake Sale.  Emma was ecstatic and took her responsibilities very seriously.  Or as seriously as a 4th-grade-girl can.  She did great.  The sale was a success.  I'm very proud of her.