Two summers ago I took the girls to their first concert. Big Time Rush was the headlining act, but it was the opening act that captured the blond twin's heart. From the moment Cody Simpson took the stage, the blond twin just stared. She giggled and stared and swooned the entire time.
Fast forward to this month when I received a press release about book signings happening at Andersen's Bookshop. I write a blog about books on ChicagoNow, so I receive a lot of press releases. I scanned it while on a conference call when the words Cody Simpson jumped off the screen. Near the bottom of the release was a paragraph about Cody Simpson coming to the Tivoli Theater to sign his new book.
We were in. At least I was in. I knew the girls would want to go. There was just one problem. Cody was signing books after my surgery. I crossed my fingers that Daddy would be willing to take the girls.
Of course I didn't really have to sell him on it. He knew how much they would enjoy it and thought it would be a good post-surgery treat for them. I went to buy the tickets that same night. Because I received the press release before it was widely published I was one of the first people to purchase tickets. And, I do mean one of the first. The girls had tickets #3 and #4.
We didn't tell the girls they were going to see Cody Simpson until after school yesterday. We told them not to plan too much after school since they had some prep work to do in their room. Daddy plans to paint their room while he's off work this week. It was a good cover story.
Daddy picked up the girls from after-school chorus and the blond twin immediately started lobbying to stay home with Mommy while Daddy and the brunette twin ran all the errands to get everything needed to paint their room. She triumphantly announced that Sissy was going to the store with Daddy, but she would stay home to take care of Mommy. When I told her she'd want to go, the blond twin said, "Mommy, Daddy said I could stay home with you because you need my help." Daddy laughed as he walked in the door.
Finally I handed them the tickets and told them if they finished everything on the list they could go do this tonight. They stared for a moment as they read the tickets. They asked a couple of questions. They started shrieking and jumping up and down. We just laughed. Daddy went to take some ibuprofen to ward off the inevitable headache to come from being in a theater with hundreds of tween and teen girls.
We were eating a snack when the blond twin asked when Daddy was going to the store. We had to tell her that she didn't have to go to the store after all. She was very happy to discover a trip to the hardware store wasn't on the list of things to do before seeing Cody Simpson.
The girls called me after they settled into their seats at the theater. They were so excited they could get out their words fast enough. After Cody sang a few songs and talked a bit, it was time to sign books. The audience was called in ticket number order. For whatever reason #1 and #2 weren't at the front of the line. Our girls were there.
The blond twin had her booked signed first. As Cody chatted and signed, someone asked if she could take the blond twin's photo for the newspaper. Daddy said it was fine. The blond twin had a few extra moments with Cody while the newspaper photographer took a couple of photos. The brunette twin said she couldn't stop smiling at his Australian accent. She said he was so polite that he even talked to Daddy. Cody thanked Daddy for bringing the girls and said, "Good day mate."
When they came home the girls were uncontrollably excited as they told me all the stories. At a quiet point during the performance the brunette twin yelled, "I love you Cody." He looked in her general direction and said, "I love all of you too." The blond twin remembered everything he said and couldn't stop talking about his accent. Then she swooned and said, "Mommy, he's is so dreamy in person."
Daddy survived nicely. The girls noted that he might have been the only male in the crowd. I told them they better appreciate their father's willingness to take them to see Cody Simpson. Daddy said it wasn't as crazy as he expected and it was actually fun to be there with the girls. I doubt he'll sign up to do it again if I'm available for these things, but it was a great way to end a crazy few days in our house.