We found the perfect shoes at Nordstrom's...I think...but they didn't have her size in stock, so they are shipping a pair to my house. The sales lady assured me I can return them if they don't fit her. How am I supposed to know if the new shoes fit? I thought the old ones did.
There was a display of plush toys right next to the shoe department and they had a whole shelf of Bobo dogs. Bobo is Emma's lovey that she takes to bed with her every night. Unfortunately, I did not have Bobo with us at the mall, and when she spied the Bobo convention at the Nordstrom's, she was extremely excited. The sales lady wrestled with her to get one shoe on, and the minute she let go to pick up the second shoe, Emma was off toward the shelf, returning moments later with an arm load of Bobos and squealing excitedly. It was all fun and games and cute and charming until it was time to leave Bobo and his 17 identical twins on the shelf as we pulled away, barefoot and Bobo-less, in our stroller.
All of Nordstrom's felt (or heard) our pain and sorrow.
We wandered the mall for a bit, not accomplishing much of anything. We went to my favorite clothing store to check out a big sale, which, as it turns out, doesn't start until tomorrow. We went to Pottery Barn to get a cute candle holder that I saw several weeks ago and can't stop thinking about, but they were already sold out of them. Finally we came to the kids soft play area in the mall, and the boys begged to let Emma go play for a few minutes. Obviously, it was swarming with germs and I immediately dismissed their desperate pleas. Then one boy piped right up.
"But Mom, we're supposed to be having a fun day together and so far all we've done is all your stuff. This day is mine too."
"Did you say mine too, or swine flu??"
Okay, germ infested play area it was. Yippee! We dosed up on hand sanitizer and took our shoeless tot into the crowded mass of runny nosed bacteria spreaders. Where, I will have to admit, she had a marvelous time and was lovingly and playfully accompanied by two very helpful and charming big brothers.
Then we washed our hands. And then twice more.
Tonight I asked Buzz if he would take me out on a dinner date. The sky was slightly overcast, so Mr. Weather Watcher checked two or twelve online radar sources and noticed there was a chance of rain. Since things looked unpredictable, we chose a restaurant close to home so we could get back quickly if we needed to. Things looked fine when we walked into the steakhouse. No sooner had we ordered our food when the kids called to tell us the warning sirens were going off in our neighborhood. We flagged down our waitress and asked her to kindly box our meal to go. She was sweet and speedy and had us out the door minutes later. By the time we got to the car the sky was black, and in the few minutes it took us to drive home the storm bore down heavily on our neighborhood. As we were driving down our street we watched a huge tree in our neighbor's yard fall to the ground. :( We got home, set our dinner on the kitchen counter, and joined everyone in our storm shelter, which is our guest bathroom. The storm was really fierce, but it moved out quickly, and for all the ferocious wind and thunder and lightning we only got about a quarter inch of rain.
Once things calmed down we sat around the kitchen table and shared our cold date night meal with the kids. I had baby back ribs - YUM! Not exactly the evening I had planned, but it turned out to be the best part of the day.
Tomorrow I am slated to take Hannah and a friend shopping. They need matching dresses to wear to a Bible Bowl competition this summer. This is the third year in a row that I have embarked on a shopping trip with two teenage girls to track down the one dress in the entire city that both girls can agree on and afford. The first two years of agony and defeat were apparently not enough to persuade me that matching dresses are a tragic idea. I'm apparently operating on the "third time's a charm" philosophy. Tomorrow I will set out -- two teenage girls, two young boys, and an infant in tow -- to find THE dress for this summer. I'm quite sure it will be at the very first store. And it will probably even be on sale. I'm sure they will have the sizes we need, in the colors we want, at the location that is most convenient for us. Because that's the way these things usually work out, right?? :)
