Girls' Night Out!

Tonight, Ella and I had our first annual (I really want to make it a tradition) girls' Christmas shopping night. We had SO much fun! Really, the only thing that would have made it more perfect would be if we had snow.

We left for an early dinner at Bagger Dave's here in Berkley. It is a burger and fries place that I thought she'd like because it is family friendly and has an electric train that runs on a track near the ceiling. Well, not only did she like the train, she got to turn in on for the night! She was so excited and every time it went around our heads, she said, "There goes the train!" Thankfully, the restaurant was pretty empty. I also decided to splurge and let her have her first "milk shaker" (she chose vanilla),which she loved. I did not tell her it was ice cream, just let her take a drink and she got a big smile on her face and said, "Oh, that's GOOD!" She also loved their fries, which are probably about the best I've ever had. As we were leaving, she was admiring the purple pen the server left me to sign the bill and he gave it to her. Perfect... it matches her purple coat, hat, mittens and boots. She loved it. I was not as thrilled, but can regulate the use of a pen pretty easily.

Then it was off to Somerset and the Build-a-Bear store. George really needed a bath, according to Ella, and we needed to get some gifts. Ella chose a Tinkerbell fairy dress and silver shoes for Abby's bunny, Ariel. George seemed to be quite interested in a Detroit Lions uniform. We'll see if it ends up under the tree. (; The staff there is pretty good at stealthy sales technique. All I did was raise my eyebrows at a sales girl who was walking by and she smoothly took the item from behind my back and Ella never saw a thing. I felt very Mission Impossible.

We walked by Santa twice, and I lifted Ella up so she could see him in his castle. She was not interested in going inside, but she was not terrified, either. We're headed in the right direction. While we are not going out of our way to make a big deal about Santa, she is so into fantasy and make believe that she is just SO into him right now. It's cute and I am quite sure she'll be able to believe in Santa and grow up well adjusted. I think Scott and I made it okay.

Then it was off to Target to finish up our night. It was not as exciting, probably because we are there at least twice a week anyway... hmm... we were definitely there yesterday as a matter of fact and I think Ella has been there 4 times in the past week. Wow. Anyway, we did what we needed to do and then came home to tell Scott and Benjamin (who were "being boys") about our fun.

Tonight was probably one of my best times as a Mom so far. Ella was so good and loved having all of my attention, doing new things and being a big girl. I have a feeling that Scott and Ben will not complain too much if Ella and I do the lion's share of Christmas shopping from this point forward. Heck, we can probably buy our own gifts while we're at it and they'll be happy as clams doing whatever they do when they are "being boys".