Bear's Birthday Extravaganza

I don't envy winter babies by any means.  Having 26 summer birthdays under my belt, I think I can safely say that they pretty much rock.  Swimming, fresh local fruit and berries, basking in the warmth of the sun...these things will never happen for Bailey's birthday.  (unless we win the lottery and decide to celebrate her birth in Fiji)  So, you can understand that we were perplexed when we realized that Bailey's birthday was not only in the middle of the work week, but also smack dab in the middle of winter.  What's a fun-loving crazy kid to do? Well, one nice thing about Bailey is that she's definitely not picky.  As long as she's around people and bright things (preferably with buttons) that she's allowed to touch, she's a happy camper.  So, after a birthday breakfast of PANCAKES, we set out to go toy-sploring at Toys R Us.  Bailey had a gift certificate and after much, much deliberation, decided on a cute little Abby Cadabby Sesame Street doll.

After exploring the toy isles to their hearts content and getting a complimentary crown and balloon from the lady at the check out, we headed to Audrey's favorite place in the world, which conveniently happens to amuse the heck out of Bailey as well.  When telling the girls we're headed to the mall, I might as well announce that we're going to the carnival.  First off, we hit up Barnes and Noble, where the girls played with their awesome train set, made a lot of friends and sat on the stage reading books that we had no intention of buying. 

Next on the list? Old Navy.  We weren't there to shop--the girls were there to visit some old friends...mannequins to be exact.  For some reason, any time we walk past Old Navy, Audrey and Bailey both run, screaming into the store and start hugging all the mannequins in the front display...and once they've had their fill of loving on their plastic extended family, they head back to the kids department where Bailey sits on the bench with a plastic puppy and pushes the little button that makes him talk until it stops working. These are the things of childhood, folks! Take note!
So, after reading and socializing, we headed to Claire's for a bit of dress up.  Bailey loooves the sunglasses display and Audrey could basically spend the week looking through their lip gloss selection. You heard it here first: These girls are living. the. dream.

After a fortifying lunch of chicken nuggets and lemonade, the girls racked out for a nap before we headed to the theater to see Bailey's favorite movie of all time...in 3D! This was really the defining moment of the day: Bailey and Audrey both rocked the 3D glasses and it was actually more entertaining to watch them watch the movie...since, you know, I've seen it hundreds of times already. 

 All there was left to do after BEAST! was to eat some sushi, buy jellybeans at the candy store and then go for a ride on one of the toy cars at the mall exit. 

Even though there was no sunshine or seasonal fruit involved, it was a pretty epic day. More importantly, Bailey had an awesome time...and so did her sister. It was her half birthday too after all!