Girls' Weekend

Mark is off at a Men's Retreat this weekend for church, so I thought I'd make the most of the time alone with the girls (as if we don't have that ALL the time anyway!) and do some special activities with them.

On Friday, we made TJ's pumpkin pancakes for breakfast, went shopping at Cotton Babies (where they got to sit in on a Baby Signing class), ate Qdoba for lunch, and then explored the wonders of the American Girl store.  Luckily, Rory slept the entire time we were in the American Girl store, so I could focus on Taylor as we browsed every single doll and doll accessory offered.  She is in love with the McKenna doll, the American Girl Doll of the Year (meaning she and all her merchandise disappear at the close of 2012) who also happens to be a blonde, blue-eyed gymnast (Taylor's ultimate aspiration).

On Saturday, we kicked off the morning with a trip to Tony's Donuts and the girls' simultaneous gymnastics classes.  Then we got all dolled up (dresses, nails, and a light dusting of make-up) for a fancy tea party picnic in the living room - complete with snazzy ham and turkey sandwiches, cookies, two flavors of tea, and an assortment of cookies.  Rory just licked the creme out from between the Oreos...about SIX of them!  As we finished up our tea, I put on a Strawberry Shortcake movie.

Then we headed outside for lots of tree climbing (the girls, that is!) and leaf pile jumping (I was in charge or raking the piles).  Taylor is shocked that Rory can climb just about as well as she can!

It's been a really special weekend my two girls.  Hopefully Mark's retreat was refreshing for him too! We'll see him probably around lunchtime today.