Walking, Walking

While Madeleine may be sad to have her sister back at school, she is at least LOVING the fact that we've resumed our walking route to and from school.  What with the pool closed for the season and the fact that we're trying to keep our house super clean for showings, it seems both girls have a lot of pent up energy.  And a hopping skip-run to and from school is just the cure!

Yesterday, as we walked to pick up Julia, Madeleine was in a cheery mood.  We passed by a house with a man outside, his back to us, working in his yard.  I usually greet any people we see on our walks, but since he wasn't facing our direction, I walked by in silence.  Madeleine was feeling the spirit, however.

MADELEINE: (as we walked by the house) Hi!
MAN: (turning around to see us, smiling) Hi!
MADELEINE: Mama.  I said "hi" to that man, because I wanted to be NEIGHBORLY!

Way to go, Madeleine!  She went above and beyond to be neighborly in this case.  At least one of my kids is not shy.

On today's walk home from dropping Julia at school, Madeleine decided to delightedly skip-run ahead of me, before stopping dead in her tracks to have a conversation with herself.

MADELEINE: Are you guys okay?
MADELEINE: Yeah.
MADELEINE: Okay, c'mon guys!

The invisible guys must have come on, because Madeleine began skipping once again.

ME: Oh, who's with us today?
MADELEINE: Thackery, Emily, Dani, and Allison.  And Max.

So apparently despite the gap of months since we last did the commute to and from school, Madeleine has picked right back up where she left off, playing "Hocus Pocus."

As we walked, Madeleine conversed with some of her invisible friends.

MADELEINE: Come on, Emily, in the MOVIE "Hocus Pocus" you were, like, SEVEN or EIGHT!
ME: How old is Emily right now?
MADELEINE: Uh, she's eight.
ME: Oh.  Okay.

A few moments later, disaster struck, but Madeleine was able to offer a quick fix to the problem.

MADELEINE: Mama!  By accident, I turned Emily into a CAT!  So...so...I had to quickly UN-turn her.  I had to turn her BACK to a human.
ME: Oh, good thing you were there to save the day!

Phew.  That was a close one for Emily.

It's good to have the Hocus Pocus gang all back together now that the school year has started!