Whoa mama!

Today Piper had off from school and I took off from work for a mom-daughter day.  We went to the Mall of America and headed straight for Nickelodeon Universe.  We went on rides, had French fries for lunch, Dippin' Dots for dessert, and giant cookies for the car ride home.  It was so fun to get to spend a day with Piper!  I can't wait to do it again :)

The end result

This is what multiple French braids in wet hair looks like a day and a half later.

Strike a pose

Dan went shopping at Macy's for a new suit today (and found a great one right out the gates!).  The ladies and I went into an empty window display and did some catwalking.

Then we played at the indoor play area of the mall and had Jamba Juice.  Modeling made us thirsty.

Braids!

Tonight after her bath, Piper wanted 16 braids in her hair.  I'm good, but not that good.  We compromised on 10, with a promise that I'll work up to 16 in the coming weeks.  This took us an hour!  We had some entertainment in the form of my iPhone and to be honest, it's these kinds of moments where I feel like Piper is apt to share the most about her life, thoughts, friends, etc.  When it's easy to just... talk.  So I'm up for the 16 braid challenge, because it comes with some quality conversation :)

Killing time in the cold

What do you do in Minnesota when it's 30ish degrees outside?  Go to the trampoline park with your bestie!

What does your three year old sister do after that?  Conks out!

 

What do you do next now that it's reached a balmy 40ish degrees?  Go to two playgrounds, and run around with no jacket on!

We had a very fun Saturday hanging out with Kellan, Piper's daycare bud and friend of 3 years.   He's like the sweetest big brother these girls could have!  After a day of fun adventures, his parents invited us over for dinner.  They also have a 4 year old girl who gets along great with Piper and Teagan both. (She was w/her mom at a baby shower this afternoon so couldn't join us in the jumping.) It was a very fun day.  Of course, we left their house questioning how we went wrong with food and why their kids eat EVERYTHING and ours eat NOTHING, but that's par for the course whenever we're invited over to someone else's house for dinner nowadays.  :)

Psych!

Yes, yes we were just playing without jackets a few days ago.  That Mother Nature, she's always up for a good gag!

Faith and friendship

These two little ladies play so well together, and are so kind and respectful of each other.  Love this new budding friendship that developed from Faith Formation class!

Today Piper was invited to Livia's house for a playdate :)  She loves having friends over, but really loves seeing other kid's homes.  I think it's an age thing - all of her friends want to see her house and show her their house.  It's cute - but befuddling.  And a little exhausting after a long play date, when you drop the kiddo at home and Piper and friend have created an elaborate plan for how to get Piper inside the house, for a 'tour'.  And then you don't know if they really want to let you in, or really would prefer you leave because they weren't prepared for a house showing...  :)  (This is why kids are carefree, and adults are stressed; our stress is confounding to them, which might be a signal to us that if a six year old can't wrap their head around why the state of your house matters so much... maybe it shouldn't be such a big deal after all.)

It runs in the family

Tonight while Piper and I were at an appointment, Dan took Teagan to the Maple Grove library.  She had a lot of fun there - sounds like they've revamped their (already very popular) toy section.  While they were there, Dan said "Make a happy face so I can take a picture to show mom!"  Lol, this is what he got:

 

She is so crazy!  We adore this silly little goofball!

A spoonful of sugar

Tonight we took the girls to see Mary Poppins, performed by Park Center Senior High.  We were in the second row center, and no one was in the first row.  So, we were essentially front row!  And it was such a great performance.  Mary Poppins and Bert were played by two extremely talented young actors.  The girls loved it, and were so mesmerized that at the end the woman sitting next to us leaned over and said "What impressively well behaved children you have!" 

I'm trying to convince Piper that Robin Hood at a local junior high is worth a shot, but she said the advertising poster is too boring (an arrow through a piece of paper on a tree).  Maybe I can still swing her over to my side - I think she'd enjoy it.  We're trying to expose the girls to live performance so they realize there are avenues besides TV through which one can seek entertainment :)