Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy for being their always awesome selves!
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Hope you enjoy!
Changing Decor (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"Dere he is!" Angie exclaimed excitedly, pointing to the front doors of the school.
Catherine smiled when she saw DJ's class emerge from the building. She managed to grab Angie's hand before the almost four-year-old could get too far ahead, and they made their way over to where the no-longer second graders were saying goodbye to their teacher and each other.
"Have a wonderful summer, Madeline," Joni Lane said, accepting an enthusiastic hug from the girl.
"Bye, Ms. Lane! See you next year!"
"Bye, Ms. Lane! Don't forget me!" a boy said.
Joni grinned. "Now that would be impossible, Rikko."
"Mommy!" DJ said, his face splitting into a grin as he spotted his mother and sister. "Hi, Angie! Guess what? Now I'm officially a third grader!"
"Yay!" Angie clapped and then gave him a hug. "Mommy said we' getting ouse cream for dinner, DJ!"
His eyes widened and he looked up at Catherine. "We are?"
"We're getting ice cream for after dinner," Catherine amended, flashing a smile at Angie and kissing DJ's head. "It's a special day, after all."
DJ nodded eagerly. "My bag is extra full today because it's the last day of school," DJ said. "So Ms. Lane had us help take down all the papers and projects from the bulletin boards and clean out our desks and our cubbies and bring everything home." He handed her a shoebox diorama he had managed to keep from getting smushed during Angie's hug.
"Ohh, wonderful," Catherine said, smiling. "I can't wait to see what else you have." She nodded toward his teacher who was finishing her goodbyes with other students and a few parents. "Do you want to say goodbye to Ms. Lane?"
DJ nodded eagerly and headed for his teacher, Angie following at his heels.
"Oh, DJ," Joni said as she turned from waving off Ella and her parents. She smiled warmly. "And Angie. It won't be long before you're enjoying this last-day-of-school excitement, too, will it?"
"When I'm four, I go to preschool," Angie said seriously. She looked back at her mother. "When am I four, Mommy?"
"One more month, baby girl, but school will start in September, and that's three more months."
Angie's brow furrowed as she tried to understand. "How many sleeps?"
Catherine chuckled and ran a hand over her hair. "A lot of sleeps."
"Ms. Lane, we're having ice cream tonight because it's the last day of school and now I'm a third grader!" DJ said.
Angie bobbed her head excitedly. "Ouse cream!"
"Oh, that sounds exciting and delicious," Joni said, smiling. "Well, I'm so proud of all your hard work this year, DJ. Thank you for always following directions and always trying your best, and for being such a good friend to your classmates. I will really miss seeing you every day this summer."
"Me, too," DJ said sincerely. "You're my favorite teacher, Ms. Lane."
Joni blinked back tears. "Ohh, thank you, DJ."
He stepped closer and hugged her around the waist. "I hope you're my teacher every year."
"I think it's good to experience different teachers," she said. "We all have different strengths." She smiled. "But you've got me for one more year. I promise."
DJ beamed and hugged her again.
"Me, too!" Angie said, joining the hug.
Joni laughed, reaching down to squeeze her shoulder. "Oh, thank you, Angie."
"Thank you," Catherine said, stepping forward when the kids let go to give Joni a hug of her own. "Steve and I couldn't have asked for a better teacher for DJ. We're hoping you'll still be here when Angie is old enough in a couple of years."
"Well, that's certainly an enticement to stick around," Joni said with a wink.
"Is Daddy at work still?" DJ asked.
"Yes, but he'll be home soon, they're wrapping a case."
DJ smiled at that and nodded, but Catherine knew that like her, he wouldn't fully relax until he saw Steve home safe and sound.
"Thank you again," Catherine said to Joni. "Have a great summer."
"You, too." Joni waved. "I'll see you all in September."
"See you in September!" DJ said, waving back.
"See you in September!" Angie echoed. "For preschool!"
Catherine chuckled, taking her hand. "We'll straighten that out in the car," she said, flashing Joni a smile before the trio turned into the throng of students and parents and headed for home.
"And this is my creative writing project about a robot that comes to life," DJ said, showing Catherine and Angie the large sheet of paper that was half drawing and half written story. "His name is Botty. I'm going to see if Dylan can help me make him."
They were at the dining room table, emptying DJ's backpack. They'd already looked at several art projects, a science paper, and a book report in comic panels.
"I'm sure he'd be happy to," Catherine said.
"Do you think he'll have time?" DJ asked, suddenly worried. "He's going to the 'cademy this summer."
Catherine smiled. "Only for a week. And if I know Dylan, he'll make the time."
DJ smiled, relieved, and they all looked over at the sound of the door opening.
"Daddy!" Angie was the first to say, sliding out of her chair and joining Cammie by the door to greet Steve.
"Hi, baby girl." He lifted her for a kiss and smiled as DJ and Catherine came over. "How's it feel to be a third grader, DJ?"
"Great!" DJ said, beaming as Steve rubbed his hair affectionately. "We're looking at all my papers and projects from my backpack. Do you want to see?"
"Absolutely, I do," Steve said, giving Catherine a kiss before passing Angie to her. "Just let me get changed and I'll be right there."
"We' having ouse cream for DJ's school, Daddy!" Angie said.
He grinned. "Is that right?" He winked at DJ. "Sounds like we've got a full evening planned, then."
A few minutes later, Steve joined them in the dining room and DJ showed him all of his projects.
"And this is my story about Botty," he finished, picking up the creative writing paper.
"Botty?" Steve repeated, Angie in his lap.
"He's a robot," Angie explained patiently.
DJ smiled at his sister and nodded.
"Ah," Steve said and grinned. "You know, I almost miss you saying 'wo-bot,' baby girl. Almost." He looked at DJ. "Will you read your story to us, buddy?"
DJ nodded eagerly and proceeded to read about Botty, the robot who came to life. After he finished, he said, "Mommy thinks Dylan will help me make Botty. I know he won't really come to life, but maybe Dylan can show me how to make him move."
"I'm sure he can," Steve said confidently.
"Put it on the fridge, DJ!" Angie said, pointing toward the kitchen.
"Can I?" DJ asked hopefully, looking between Steve and Catherine. He glanced at the table, covered in school and art work. "And maybe my hot air balloon picture …? And my report on tigers? Remember I did tigers because they're orange cats like Pumpkin, only way bigger?"
Steve chuckled. "Way way bigger."
"Way way way bigger!" Angie said.
"Sure, honey," Catherine said, running a hand over DJ's hair with a smile. She winced a little. "We might have to move a few things around, though, the fridge is pretty full."
"Mine, too!" Angie said suddenly. She slid out of Steve's lap and ran toward the coffee table where she'd left the make and take craft she'd done at the library that morning with Esther. "I's a puff fish," she said, holding up the toilet paper roll decorated to look like a pufferfish. "Dey spikey but mine not spikey so it doesn't hurt me."
"That's great, baby girl," Steve said.
"You like it, Daddy?"
"I do."
"Can you put it on the fridge, too? Wif DJ's?"
"That might be a little tougher," Steve started, looking at the three-dimensional craft.
"We could put a piece of string through it," DJ suggested. "And put a magnet on the string to hold it up."
Catherine kissed his head as she stood. "Good thinking, honey. How about after dinner we do a little rearranging on the fridge and hang as many as we can?"
"Yeah!" DJ said.
"Yeah!" Angie echoed with a little jump. She stopped. "After ouse cream?"
Catherine laughed, scooping her up as Steve stood as well. "Yep, after our special ice cream to celebrate our brand new third grader."
It took a significant amount of rearranging and relocation to get the new projects on the fridge. Some of the previous masterpieces were moved to places of honor in the playroom and the kids' bedrooms to make room, but by bedtime, both DJ and Angie were satisfied with the placement of every drawing, painting, school paper, and craft.
After putting the kids to bed, Steve and Catherine returned downstairs to relax.
"I'm gonna grab a beer, you want one?" Steve said.
"Sure, thanks," Catherine replied. She smiled as Cammie joined them, having waited an extra minute upstairs to make sure her smallest humans were down for the night. Catherine bent to press a kiss to Cammie's head. "Good girl. Take a rest, pretty girl."
Catherine moved toward the sofa as Cammie got comfortable on her bolster bed. Steve returned a moment later, holding the necks of two bottles in one hand and Pumpkin in the other.
"She's eyeing that pufferfish," he reported, setting the kitten down with Cammie in the bolster bed. "Luckily she hasn't figured out how to get on top of the fridge … yet." He took a bottle opener out of his pocket as he joined Catherine on the sofa, popping the caps on both bottles and handing her one.
Catherine grinned, settling back into the sofa. "You know, our decor is quite different from, say, five years ago." She nodded over to the bookcase where DJ's ocean diorama sat along with a clay pinch pot from art class, and a macaroni necklace Angie had made that was now draped over the side of a picture frame.
He grinned as well, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as he sat back. "We've certainly come a long way from that first art project on the fridge."
"Joan's turkey," she said, smiling at the memory.
"Joanie's turkey," he echoed and took a drink.
Catherine chuckled. "Now we can barely tell what color the refrigerator is anymore with all the artwork and school papers up there."
He snorted, bringing his bottle to his lips. "Yeah, we should've bought stock in magnets."
She glanced up at him. "We're going to have to figure out what to do next fall with Angie in preschool bringing home her own projects every week."
"True," he agreed, nodding. "It's getting tougher since DJ has started drawing more after his picture of Rizzo."
"We may need to add on a room to be an art gallery," she joked.
Steve laughed, going to take another drink, but stopped with the bottle halfway to his mouth, brow creasing.
"Steve, we're not adding on a room," Catherine said, incredulous that he seemed to be considering it.
"Well, I mean, it's not the craziest idea …"
"We're not adding a room," she repeated, and took a drink of her own beer. Licking her lips at the taste, she smiled. "But you know something … it's not the worst problem to have."
He smiled. "Far from it," he agreed. Gently tugging her closer, he took another drink, clearly settling in for the evening. "Okay, no extra room …" he assented, then grinned. "But we just may need a bigger fridge."
Hope you enjoyed!
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