The country mice went to the city!

Pixie and I are totally enjoying the dissipated life of a Girls Weekend thanks to the Husband and Little Man visiting the inlaws :)

Starting the day right, with ice cream following her cereal

It's beyond rare for either of us to spend any length of one on one quality time with a kiddo, and Pixie has been positively reveling in having momma all to herself. When we got home from preschool yesterday she announced that she was happy because Little Man wasn't there to "mess with me, or bother me, or tease me".

Making cupcakes

Usurping Little Man's job of filling up the chickens' water

I was a bit worried that Little Man's getting to go to his aunt's house would be cause for jealousy, but Pixie thought that going to Roanoke yesterday for much-needed clothes shopping was a glorious plan. She's been wearing the same things all winter, and a sudden growth spurt recently rendered most of them obsolete. I generally prefer shopping online for the kids' clothes, but a mall trip once in awhile won't kill me. We both slept in (till 7:20 AM woohoo) and without the Husband there to shoo and prod us expeditiously out the door, we got going sometime after 10 ;-)))

Lunch was at Chick Fil A, per Pixie's request.

I love the way kids get right down to playing with each other, with no reservations.

Once at the mall, we ran smack into one of these kid traps, and a little boy was bouncing on it. Pixie watched for all of ten seconds before saying she wanted to do it too. Well, why not...it's not like we get to do this all the time... I honestly thought she might back out last minute, but oh no! She was fearless!

The operator was having just as much fun as she was :)

Now let the shopping begin! We targeted just a few kids' clothing stores, keeping it simple. I struck out on jeans for both kids. Only Old Navy even carries Little Man's fit (slim fit) in store and his particular size was sold out. Pixie has the opposite problem, the exact same one I had as a child: curves. Anything that is big enough is way too long and/or gaps in the back. I've hemmed jeans for her before, but no luck finding good candidates today. We did get a few dresses and a cardigan, plus shorts and skorts for when the weather warms up just a bit more.

Old Navy has been a simple-cotton-play-dresses mainstay for us!

Goodbye winter, hello summer

Behold a radical departure from Mommy's usual practice of choosing durable cotton clothing and sensible shoes. She said she wanted the flip flops for when we visit Grandma and go to the beach. And, unicorns, just because :)

Of course, when at the mall, you have to take a break for a treat.

So happy

I sent this one to the bourbon loving Husband to tease him. Who knew Ben and Jerry's made a bourbon flavor?! I wonder if they sell it to folks under 21? lol

We also stopped at Eddie Bauer so I could get a few shirts. I think the Husband will be amazed haha. He left a Chapstick in his pocket and ruined one of my favorite shirts in a recent load of laundry, which forced me to realize that not only was it one of my favorites, but it was one of the few good ones I have left! I'm seriously the worst clothes shopper! (And even if I had a lot of clothes I'd still just wear the same few things over and over, does anyone else do that?)

3 for Pixie, 1 for me!

Pixie spent the whole mall trip running excitedly around looking at everything, so she was quite subdued by the time we left. We left rather later than I intended, as evidenced by this when we got home:

This trip was a reminder to me that you can adapt and your world can shrink so quickly when you leave a more populated area for the country. I used to think nothing of an hourlong commute, multi lane roads and lots of traffic. Today I was like "OMG I can't believe all this traffic! Do these lights ever turn green? What, another light already?!"

At least it was a pretty day for dealing with traffic lights. And Roanoke's ornamental trees are already in bloom, unlike ours!

I'm so glad I got to hang out one on one with my daughter and make an adventurous day out of a mall trip. Tomorrow we'll be back to puttering around, taking care of chickens and baking muffins for the early Easter church service! <3