Shopping and butterflies....

This morning we woke to a beautiful blue sky and promises of the perfect summer day. Last night before bed, the girls selected the Sertoma Butterfly House as their activity of choice for today. We had a bit of a rough start and I was afraid and frustrated that all my good intentions were going to be doomed. Now in this situation, Monday's Jessica would have freaked out and then spent the remainder of the day alternating between being pissed at the girls for fighting, arguing, etc. and pissed at myself for freaking out about the girls doing normal kid type things. But alas, Monday's Jessica had taught Tuesday's Jessica a valuable lesson and Tuesday's Jessica tried an entirely different tactic. A brief but stern discussion about choices, both good and bad, and how your choices dictate how your day will go and we began the day all over complete with brand new good morning greetings and hugs. This new approach seemed to do the trick and away we went ready to embrace the day.

Because our school supply shopping was taken care of months ago (thanks to those handy school supply kits), we have very limited shopping necessary to prepare for the looming big day. One major item on the list is new tennis shoes for Ella. Last year shoe shopping turned into an several day, pull your hair out of your head Olympic event and took us forever. This year, Grace unexpectedly stumbled across the perfect pair of sneakers a couple of weeks ago leaving us with just Ella to attire. Her decisive nature paired with her intense dislike of shopping caused me to conclude this would go quickly and it sure did. One trip around the shoe section at Kohl's, three pairs tried on and one pair singled out as the winner in less than five minutes. Yay Ella! Selecting the all important "1st Day of School" outfit turned out to be a bit more time consuming but boy did we hit the jackpot. After a spin through Target, a fast lunch at Wendy's, a buzz through JCPenny's (so Ella could admire this ultra fancy dress she has been thinking about for a couple of weeks), we meandered into Old Navy. As we walked through the entrance, Lily muttered under her breath, "We're going in here? I hate this place."~which she says every single time we enter this particular store. Much to our delight, all clearance items were 50% off the clearance price and we seriously did a number on said clearance racks. As we were leaving with ridiculous smiles pasted on our faces, Ella said to me, "I guess shopping can be kind of fun. Did you have fun, Mom?" Jeans for $5 and happy faces all around me, how could I not have fun?

Our shopping escapade took much longer than I had anticipated and although we were running short on time, I had promised the Butterfly House and I was going to make good on that promise. I sure am glad I did too. What a peaceful, lovely place to spend an hour. We strolled around the room, taking pictures while oohing and ahhing.

I took the photo below right after Ella asked me what the butterflies were doing and I explained they were eating. It looks like she was becoming one with the butterflies and figuring out how she would eat if she were a butterfly.

My three beauties...

Awe and awwww....

At one point, I exclaimed to Lily, "Oh Lil, look at this one. It's so pretty". She came over, took a look and matter-of-factly informed me, "I call those ones fellas". Well, of course you do! What else would you call them?

Waiting and hoping with all their hope that a butterfly will land on them....

And here is Ella on our way home, drying off her sweaty pits after a long hot day of shopping and butterflying! Phew! Who knew having fun could be so much work?

What a great day! I'm so glad we started over. It made all the difference and without doing that, I would have missed out on a fabulous day with my fabulous girls. I'm anxious again tonight~anxious to wake up tomorrow and see my three favorite girls' beautiful faces.