In The Name of Patriotism

I totally blackmailed my girls into wearing the clothes I chose for tomorrow.

Usually, I let them wear what they want with minimal guidance from me. Well, except on picture day - a lesson learned when E1 was in kindergarten and I let her wear the hand-me-down red/blue/green plaid skort with red tights...because she was wearing a simple white shirt and who would see the fashion don't down below, right? EVERYONE who sees the class photo with her sitting in the front row, that's who.

But, picture day was last week. Tomorrow, their PSR (Parish School of Religion) classes are celebrating Grandparents Day and have invited the grandparents to mass. Since mass is at 7:45, and the other GP's are occupied, my Father-in-law will be the only GP attending. Their (public) school celebrates Grandparents Day a month or so late in the interest of those Grandparents who have grandkids in more than one school. The also try to plan it for a Friday with an early dismissal scheduled: built in daycare! Not that this applies to me. Nor does it apply to the story I'm telling.

So, considering Grandpa that loves Hawaii will be attending mass and sitting with the girls I was encouraging Hawaii-themed clothes. All three girls have a variety of Hawaii t-shirts and Hawaiian print dresses (although the dresses are all sundresses, which go against the 'must have sleeves' rule at school), and E2 was on board for wearing a now too short sundress over a t-shirt and capri pants...but balking at my insistence that she wear sandals instead of athletic shoes. Trust me, the sandals totally make the outfit.

E1 just wanted to wear pants, claiming her classroom is cold, but wouldn't budge on choosing a different shirt. I'm not talking a Hawaii Aloha shirt - just one of the many t-shirts she's gotten from the in-laws various trips over the years.

THEN - I remembered that tomorrow is September 11th, and changed my course of persuasion to encourage the girls to wear patriotic colors. I found E2 a red shirt with blue and white dolphins, and 'Hawaii' printed on it and point out that with THIS outfit she could wear the athletic shoes she was so wanting to wear. She firmly disagreed, but grudgingly conceded to leave both ensembles out for a final decision in the morning.

E1 had nothing that covered both Hawaii and patriotism, so I suggested two different outfits, but she began making excuses about why neither would work (she actually claimed the one outfit made her feel hot last week. WHAT about the cold classroom??) when...

...she spotted a spider on the ceiling.

SCORE!

Unlike E3, these two have many forms of currency. So I told them I wouldn't get the spider unless they wore the clothes I had chosen.

E1 caved immediately. "Okay, Mom. Just pick something." E2 tried to rationalize that 'it wasn't like the spider was going to jump off the ceiling and get them' (which is an attitude I would normally applaud - HA!) while E1 appealed to her younger sister to just 'agree with Mom's choices already! It's a spider!'

My evilness knows no bounds.