Shopping Day

Well, today marked the first of I am sure many shopping days with the Mizell girls. Carrie and I planned last week to take the girls to have their Valentine pictures taken. Of course we'd pick the nastiest day we've had in weeks... it rained all night and pretty much all day. Not to worry though, we met under the overhang at the mall, loaded Allie and her stroller in my car, then I followed Carrie to park her car, then back to the overhang where we unloaded both strollers, both girls, and all their gear... Carrie waited with them while I parked my car and made a run for it in the rain.... Whew, we were breathing hard already and the day had just begun!

Our appointment was at 11:00, and we were on time, but unfortunately the Picture People were not. After waiting about 20 minutes, being coughed at by some sick toddler, and nearly being hit in the head with his balloon (by the way, if the mom of that child stumbles across my blog, I am very lovingly encouraging some different discipline ideas in your home, because whatever it is you are or are not doing just isn't working....and I am REALLY glad that I have some volleyball experience (well, not really, I played (more like sat on the bench) in middle school, but still....) because had that ginormous bouncy balloon ball thing hit my baby girl or her best friend, Allie Claire, well I might have suggested the discipline thing right then and there and it might not have been so "lovingly"... ANYWAY... 20 minutes of waiting and chaos in the waiting area, and we were up! We decided Belle would go first and she was a doll... Then we got both girls together and they were precious... it was something trying to get them to both look and smile at the same time and it was hard to find a pose that they could both do. (Annabelle's not really doing much except laying--and Allie's been holding her head up by herself since birth, so her neck muscles are a little stronger than ours). So, the photographer thought it would be cute to make Allie lay on her tummy and then Annabelle lay on her back. Well that sounds cute, but here's the thing--Allie doesn't much like being on her tummy, and to make matters worse, when we put baby Belle on her back, well, we thought the girls were going to have their first fight right there! That pose didn't work... this one did though. (this is a picture of the picture, because I am pretty computer illiterate and I don't know how to use our scanner).

We also got individual Valentine shots of the girls and both got Valentine cards... and both turned out super cute!

Finally around 2:00 we hit the food court for some Mommy-nourishment... aka Chik-fil-A... I know, I know, for someone who is trying to get back to their pre-preg size, Nature's Table would have been a much more sensible choice, but after all that picture jazz, we needed something fried and dipped in sauce. (Have yall tried the new Chick-fil-A sauce? It is awesome. It's like a creamy honey mustard mixed with BBQ sauce... mmmmm, it was great...)

Next it was onto our other missions... a church dress for Belle and some shoes for Allie. We stopped in Gymboree and just look who had to try on sunglasses for summer! You KNOW I had to buy them!!! HOW CUTE?!?!?

After today's shopping trip Carrie and I have observed and are wondering why the elevators in all the 2-story stores are on the opposite sides of the stores (and in the men's department) and why don't they open into or close to the baby/children's department?) Here are the girls waiting to get on the elevator, which was located on the top story by the lingerie department and on the bottom floor by the men's department... oh well, what's more walking, especially when you're needing to walk off the Chick-fil-A you had for lunch! ha...

Whew, after looking in almost every store, we found what we were looking for and it was time to head home. Here's Carrie & Allie getting packed up and ready to head home.

Of course we had to make the traditional stop at McAlisters for a sweet tea for our drives home... and Carrie, I'll pull a Forest Gump on that one...."that's all I'll say about that"-- hee hee!

What a fun day!! Thank you Aunt Carrie & Allie Claire for coming and spending the day with us!

We can't wait to do it again.

How blessed I am to have such a wonderful best friend and how excited I am that our daughters will grow up together so close in age! Speaking of blessings and being thankful, while we were driving to meet Carrie this morning, I looked in my rear view mirror and got a very familiar feeling. When Cooper and I would be in the car, I would look back and see him looking out the window, being so sweet, just staring out. Many times, in those silent moments in the car, I would be overwhelmed with love for him and gratefulness to God for my sweet boy. Today that same feeling came over me, when I looked back and saw that big red bow on top of the sweetest baby girl head I've ever seen. She was just staring out the window just like her big brother loved to do. I am so thankful for both my children and I am so very thankful that God chose me to be their Momma.

On a very random note, will someone who watches American Idol answer me this... What's up with so many of the contestants auditioning barefoot??? Have yall noticed that?

~annie~