Retail Therapy

Emma was sick at the beginning of the weekend, but she rallied Sunday for Nana's birthday party at the farm.  We've had a wonderfully full time enjoying good visits with friends ever since Hannah arrived Thursday night, and yesterday we retreated for a little family time.

After homeschool lessons, we headed to the mall.  Emma was feeling much better and was fever free, but still low energy, so she was quiet and still, content to ride around in the stroller.  That never happens.  Ever.  So it was a good day to cash in on a mall visit.

Hannah and I stopped in Vera Bradley to look at hipsters, which we both have long admired.  It just so happens that style was on sale in a fabric that we both L-O-V-E.  It has pink!  And orange!  So we got matching purses.  But I'm not going to carry mine when she's in town.  Because matching with your mother is super uncool.  Even if your mother happens to be super cool.  Not that poor Hannah knows anything at all about that.  :-)  I'm also not technically telling anyone that we have matching purses (Except on this public forum) because it would be crass of me to brag about how I match with my daughter, who, by the way, does just so happen to be super cool.

Anyway, while we were in Vera Bradley the sales lady asked Emma if she had her own Vera yet.  I assured her that a Vera made the short list of things this four year old does not yet call her own.  So, she asked Emma what her favorite color was and then proceeded to GIVE HER a purple Vera Bradley purse!  How sweet is that??

We then skipped into Clair's for some fancy hair clips because we've decided to grow out bangs.  It's like saying, "We've decided to have seven root canals".  There is no cute and sweet way to grow out bangs.  It's just a clip and bear it scenario.

You can certainly try diverting attention away from the hairdo with a brand new, super cute pillowcase dress.  That helps.  The dress was on sale, and it just so happens that I just bought some cute spring fabric to make a pillowcase dress as well, so I can now flatten the one from Hanna Anderson and use it as a pattern for a perfect fit...no guessing on the arm holes or the length.  So, for the price of one dress I really got a dress AND a pattern.  That's called retail therapy justification.

On our way out of the mall we happened to walk by Cinnabun.  And they happened to have cinnamon rolls for 50% off.  And we happened to put together a spontaneous and slightly naughty plan for supper.  I did add scrambled eggs and sausage to make it appear like we were having breakfast for dinner, but the massive Cinnabun which occupied 3/4 of the dinner plate made it pretty clear that we were having dessert for dinner.  Did you know that when you buy an entire box of Cinnabuns they send you home with two containers of extra frosting???  Hello.  We died and went to spring break heaven.

Anyway, I took a dozen pictures of the kids enjoying supper, and I can't get them to download. For some reason my card reader is rejecting my memory card.  This is a problem which will force me to the camera store today, which is an errand I have been meaning to run since Christmas.  On the plus side, I have no lasting evidence that will ever force us to confess that we consumed 4,523 calories for supper on March 5th.

One last thing.  Emmie got a new Hello Kitty bracelet at Claire's.  Partly because she was such a good girl at the mall, partly because she looked so pathetic riding around listlessly in her stroller with droopy eyes and a runny nose, partly because she needed a darling accessory to keep in her VERY OWN VERA BRADLEY purse, and partly because I had $1.25 worth of change burning a whole in my wallet.  Anyway, the bracelet has become a collar for Pink Delicious, who is our very favorite stuffed animal.  This morning Emmie informed me that they are "genuine pearls from the sea".  That was $1.25 well spent, apparently.  How do four year olds know stuff?  Where did that come from??  She was talking about it while I was "picking her off" in the carpool line at big girl school.  I just love it when she mixes up her vocabulary.  Keeps me smiling, which is always a good thing.

Today we're off to worldview classes for homeschool.  It is a gorgeous day outside, and I can hardly wait to enjoy it together.  Our routine is so fun when Hannah is home to ride along and participate with us!!  We are trying to balance having fun and enjoying her while also keeping up with the work we need to do for our outside homeschool classes, which are still in session.  It's about as easy as growing out bangs, but we're juggling!