Glamour Girl

This morning I took Ethel to a story hour at the local Barnes and Nobel.  It was a Fancy Nancy story hour with Valentine's Day crafts.  Ethel didn't want to go at first, but yesterday when I told her we could polish her nails, she was all over it!  I knew that some of her classmates would be at the event, and that rather sweetened the deal.

We haven't had any one on one time in a while, so I decided we should make this morning a special one.  I started out by polishing her nails.  She chose pink for her toes, purple for her fingers.  I have to say that doing someone's nails is not easy when their younger brother keeps hopping on and off the bed.  At first, Fred wanted me to do his nails, too, then when I got the brush close enough to his hand, he jerked it back and said, "No thank you".  :)  I think Daddy was happy about that one.

Can you tell she was getting pampered today?

She had already chosen to wear her Snow White dress, so the wardrobe selection was simple.  What came next was accessories.  What should we pick from the dress-up bin?  Well, why not unload the bin to find out?

She finally chose her accessories, for the most part.

The finished product, my Fancy girl.

The story hour was so much fun.  They served sugar cookies with red sprinkles and had Valentine's Day crafts for the kids. They had a bin of dress up stuff for everyone to embellish their already fancy outfits, too.  Not pictured, but I did wear my tiara and chose from the bin a soft purple boa to add to my ensemble. :) 

Everyone was dressed in their fanciest attire.  Ethel questioned whether she was dressed fancier than Fancy Nancy, to which I replied, of course.  You're the fanciest.  And she was.  She wasn't horribly interested in the craft, I think there was too much commotion because ALL the girls swarmed the tables trying to make bookmarks, cards, and color pictures.  That's OK.  Mommy took one for the team and made the crafts, and won't the kids be surprised when they see them on the table on Valentine's Day morning. :) 

After the story hour, and after the crowd thinned, several of the parents and I let our girls explore the books and dress up things while all talked about how we should certainly do a play date in the near future - with or without the kids.  One of the moms even suggested starting a book club, and asked me to spread the word.  Why yes, I think that would be wonderful! 

Being a special day, Ethel and I went out to lunch.  We don't eat out often.  I think the last time we ate out was possibly on our vacation back in September.  Ya, eating out is a huge treat in our house.  Ethel was thrilled that she could have waffles and breakfast stuff for lunch when I took her to IHOP.  Her eyes just about popped out of her head when she saw the "Funny Face" on the menu.  A chocolate pancake decorated like a face with whipped cream, cherries, and chocolate chips.  Wow.  A sugar cookie and now this!  On top of that, I let her order a chocolate milk!  Holy cow!  What could be better????

She was so sweet.  She got compliments on her fancy clothes from several patrons who passed by our table.  It was really nice sitting across the tiny table from my fancy girl.  It's so amazing to sit across a table from your child and realize that they are this grown up.  We were out to lunch, like girlfriends getting together.  She sat nicely, remembered her please and thank yous, and used her napkin.  She asked questions, talked to me about the story time, and told me all kinds of facts about dinosaurs.  Her perfect skin, her beautiful blue eyes, her soft blonde hair, her electric personality, her quick wit, her thoughtful smile, and a mind as sharp as a tack.  Is it wrong to be jealous of your daughter?  :)

At the end of our special lunch, Ethel requested a balloon, because she'd seen some other kids with them as they left the restaurant.  She wanted blue and orange, so I told her to pick one, she could only have one balloon.  "No, Mommy, I have to get one for Fred, too".  She's got a big heart, too.  So we got our two balloons, thanked the kind staff who told Ethel how pretty she looked in her fancy dress, and headed home.

Fred and Daddy had their own time together today, having lunch at a greasy spoon in town.  Fred was more than thrilled when he saw that Ethel had brought him a balloon. 

My princess and my prince.

 

It was really a great day.