Sadie's Shopping Spree

A week ago today Sadie turned five.  Today, with the bulk of Paul's final papers mostly done, he took a break and watched the little kids while Sadie and I went shopping.  She had a birthday check and birthday gift cards and we'd spent the week talking about what she was thinking of getting.  The entire time she was clear.  No toys.  Clothes.  Maybe shoes.  

When we left this morning, she told me she wanted a black dress with a fluffy skirt.  Great, I thought.  Black dresses are always so easy to find in the girl's section...  But maybe I had a chance.  She's a 7/8 (closer to eight) now and while that means the dresses are seriously less cute (thank goodness I can sew) it also means there was a possibility her dream dress might exist in her size.

Then we walked into Target and she loudly announced that there were no dresses there that she would wear (and I began to fear that no store would have her imagined perfect dress).  There were plenty of cute dresses... but she had this vision in her head of what she was looking for and she wasn't seeing it.  

And then she saw it... the end cap for the ballet section.  Suddenly my arms were full of leotards and tutus, ballet slippers, leg warmers and three pairs of tights and I had a giggling girl at my side.  

After that I gave her a choice again.  Toy section or the mall to look for more clothes.  Five minutes later we were in the car headed to the mall.  

At Old Navy she found two dresses, two bathing suits (on clearance), three tops and a pair of shorts that she promises me she'll wear (since she's refused to wear shorts for years now).  She started calling them her "tea party shorts..."  

Then we stopped by Payless Shoes where she found a pair of tap shoes (be still my heart!  Did you know I was a tap dancer for years and years and love tap?  I do.  And we have a cement floor in the basement just perfect for Sadie and Mommy classes once I reorganize it next week after Paul's finals!).  She also found a pair of ballet slippers since her leather ones are almost too small (the ones she'd insisted on at Target weren't the kind you'd wear to class, they were satiny and slippery and more like house slippers). And she discovered a rainbow hair hair tie (see below) and a princess umbrella so that she and Mae will no longer fight over Mae's Dora umbrella.  

And since I had an awesome coupon that comes around very rarely for our favorite restaurant in the world, we decided to take Sadie there (we picked up Daddy and the babies) on the way as an extra special treat.  She wore her rainbow hair and enjoyed her spaghetti... and now for the photo montage... 

Enjoying lunch after a hard morning of shopping!

100% hand picked by Sadie.

She's ready for dance class now!

Modeling her Old Navy picks... she kept worrying because we weren't buying Mae anything and offering to spend her money on her sister.

And the dancing has begun.  Patrick is very, very interested in her tap shoes...

A special thanks to all my family members who stop by who made Sadie's Super Shopping Spree possible!  She had a blast!  She's such a girl!

Have a great weekend!