A Girls' Day

Way before we thought about doing a night with our little fellas, we've been in the midst of planning a girls' day.

I am not sure there are any little girls who love each other much more than Hadley and Anabella, and we just knew they needed a day dedicated to doing girlie things together. Every time we planned something though, things just didn't work out - one kid or another would be sick, snow would threaten, or something else would come up. Finally, finally, finally, after several months of anticipating it, they got their girls' day (and we did too)!

The first couple shots I snapped that day are enough to show just how much they adore each other. This greeting is typical Hadley/Anabella style; they hug and hug and hug each other for the first few minutes every time they see one another. Precious.

The one thing I didn't like about our boys' day is that I felt all the flashiness of Chuck E. Cheese was somewhat distracting and the fellas sometimes ran in separate directions. While I don't think these girls would ever get too far from one another, I told Stacey I thought it might be better to just spend a day at home doing a few special things with them where we could really focus on enjoying the special little nuisances of watching them together and she agreed.

That said, we decided we would take a short outing for some lunch to get things started out right before more fun at my house. Stacey loves Spluenkers - a local burger joint with very fresh, real burgers, so that was our destination.

Anabella wanted to hold Hadley's hand as they walked across the parking lot and help her in and out of the car seat. She always refers to her as "my Hadley," and Hadley has pretty much always goes along with whatever and where ever Anabella leads. 

Again the price was right! $2.50 for a burger, fries, and sweet tea! Hooray!

More lovin'

The kiddie ice cream cups were only $1.50 too - and Stacey's treat! Hadley loved her chocolate one, but Anabella was sweet on her Mommy's chocolate cherry cheesecake flavor.

After lunch we swung by Granny's to pick up something Stacey needed, and guess what? We picked Granny up too! We'd invited her earlier in the day, but when she heard the little girls pleading from the back seat of the van for her to get in and come along, she couldn't resist. Dropping all her plans for the afternoon, Granny climbed right in the backseat ready for what we had in store.

Back at the house, we started out with a little princess dress up session. Hadley chose her favorite dress (Snow White), which is much too long on her, and fancied it up with some shades, a necklace, and an ice cream purse.

She knows how to accessorize.

Anabella tried on one too but thought it was itchy, so she opted for the fairy wings and a tutu. With a headband, necklace, and Hello Kitty sunglasses, she had her ensemble complete.

 

They liked looking at their new outfits in Hadley's little mirror.

Next came manicures and pedis. Anabella wanted to do Hadley's, of course. She always loves taking care of her girl.

Anabella wanted me to paint hers. While Hadley just chose one color for her hands and another for her feet, Anabella was more creative - a purple and teal pattern for that girl.

We went downstairs after the polish dried to find a few more dress ups, and I remembered that I had a bracelet art set that Mom bought for Hadley which I had planned to let the girls design. Candy stickers to wrap around their bangles and jewels to add some glam made for another great girls' day activity.

Look at those fabulous nails :)

Granny even got in on the dress ups this time around...

It's not often Granny will pose for a picture.

Uh-oh! Look who showed up and crashed our girls' day escapades...Dave had taken Caleb and Reid out for lunch and to the library for a while, but when it was time for the littlest man to take a nap, they showed back up at the house. Thinking we'd be upstairs in Hadley's room, my engineers headed to the basement, surprised when we turned up down there.

When Anabella had to head home, Hadley cried and cried after her cousin. She and I both vote for many more girls' days to come!

Boys' Night Out With The Mommas

I absolutely love my cousin Stacey. 

When I was in elementary school and she was in high school, she used to babysit her sister and me after school. When she went off to college, she even let us come stay with her one weekend. And, I can't tell you the number of memories I have of her taking us to the pool or out on some shopping adventure or to the movies. I'm not really sure why she always let us tag along, but I was definitely glad she did. 

When it was time for me to get married, guess who volunteered to throw me a shower? And, when I was pregnant with Hadley, guess who pulled out the fancy party stuff again? Yep, Stacey. She's always been there for me.

God in his perfect timing has really blessed me not only to have her in my life but that we both had our little ones at around the same time. Our kids make perfect playmates which over joys my heart, especially since I get to spend even more time in my adult years with one of my favorite people!

Most of our play dates usually center around our visits at Granny's, but recently we thought it would might be a good idea just to take the boys out by themselves for a special outing focused on them. Since Caleb has been asking to go to Chuckie E. Cheese's for over a year and I knew there was one near where Stacey and her family live, I suggested that option and they were quick to agree.

Dan wasn't too interested in Chuckie, but Caleb liked him (especially when he had a sign that said "Follow Me" for the kids to get free tickets)!

To be honest, part of why I hadn't taken Caleb yet was that I expected to be nickel and dimed to death. I didn't really remember from my childhood how much these things cost, but Granny warned me that when she took a couple of my cousins several years ago, they just kept wanting token after token for the machines. Really though, with our coupon, it only cost about $15 for both of us to have pizza and sodas and a cup of tokens. You can hardly go out to fast food for that these days and we were there for almost three and a half hours. I was definitely happy with that and it was completely enough to satisfy Caleb; he never even thought to ask for more. 

Actually, I think they had as much fun climbing in the playground equipment as anything else. 

I don't think the newer Chuck E. Cheese in Winchester has any of the toys to climb in which is part of why I opted for the one in Manassas and was glad I did.

Caleb pretty much never has soda (I mean like I could probably count on one hand the number of times he's been allowed to have any and even then it was usually just a few sips), so when he got the opportunity to pick what he wanted from the machine, boy was he happy!

I thought the pizza was actually pretty good.

Stacey took a few pics for us on her phone.

Aside from climbing around, eating pizza, and sipping sodas, we got in plenty of arcade games too. I wasn't sure how much there would be to do for kids that were the boys' age but again was pleasantly surprised.

(P.S. Excuse the poor photo quality. I took my point-and-shoot one vs. the Nikon so I didn't have so much to lug. It makes a huge difference!)

You could tell Dan had been there before and had some skeeball practice under his belt. While Caleb was tossing balls up on top the machine or in the gutter, Dan was really racking up the points. He is really impressive for his age - just look at his score!

What Caleb lacks in skill he makes up for in style. Just look at that form. 

One of their favorite activities was this roller coaster simulator. Just look at their faces in these pics. 

They had to wait in line for a long time both times they rode it, but it sure looks like it was worth the wait.

The bowling game even gave us 10 whole frames for just one token! Actually all the games were only one token thankfully.

Caleb impressed me with his basketball skills. Make that's where his niche is?

I think Dave was a little jealous that the mommies got to take the boys on their night out, so maybe next time he and Cliff will have to get their turn. I sure did enjoy my night out with our two special fellas and, of course, Ms. Stacey!