A Girly Day

This year for Christmas we tried something a little different for our family.  Instead of lots of gifts and presents to open Christmas morning, we chose just three for each child, patterning after the three gifts the wise men gave to Jesus.  For us, one gift was something special our child wanted, one gift was a gift of books they would enjoy, and the last was the gift of our time... a date that would happen sometime this year.  Although I wondered how the "delay" in actually getting the time gift would work out, we have found that anticipating it and planning it out has been half of the fun! 

So the day Ainsley and I had planned together was going to be a "Girly Day"... full of fun, frills, and all things GIRL!  We decided to do our day on Ainsley's dance picture day, so our first girly event was hair and makeup for Ainsley.  She was a great sport and slept in sponge rollers for me.  I must admit, she didn't even complain about the rollers (unlike her mother at that age) and had lots of curls to work with in the morning. 

So we set off to indulge in the world of "girlyness" and get pedicures.  I was joking with the ladies at the spa that I was in my late twenties the first time I ever got a pedicure, and have only had a handful since then, and then here's my four year old daughter getting her toes all cute!  But it was worth it! 

Ainsley was very shy and wasn't quite sure of the whole experience at first, but she soon warmed up and we got a few smiles out of her!  In the end she had very precious toes... complete with a heart, flower, and lots of sparkles!

With our pink toes, we headed to the dance studio to take recital pictures.  I was so nervous, (why... I have no idea???) but it ended up going great and her class was adorable! 

 Here's my dancing princess looking beautiful, and so grown up!  

 With pictures behind us, we headed out for lunch... Ainsley's choice!  Of course we had to go to Burger King (curse those restaurants with an indoor playground!) but she was delighted with her choice, and we had so much fun talking throughout our lunch!

Of course every girl that has a day out and about has to do a little shopping, so we headed to Wal-Mart to check out their toys and clothes.  I had to giggle as I watched her shop, looking at this outfit and that one... holding up different outfits to see what I thought.  Too cute!   

  Finally we agreed on a cute little sundress for summer with some matching pink shoes in our cart as well!

Before we left Wal-mart, I surprised her with one more special thing... a new bike!  She had been using Liam's Thomas the Train toddler bike with a princess basket on it, but it was now way too small for her.  She was thinking that she was going to get Liam's old red bike, so she was very surprised when I told her that she could pick out a girly bike all for herself! 

With our shopping behind us, it was now time to head to an art studio to paint some pottery.  Since Ainsley is my artist and enjoys all art activities, I thought this would be fun for us to do together. 

Of course she picked out Belle to paint!  Which is not the way to start out easy!  But, we had lot of fun painting her, and in the end I think she'll end up looking somewhat like Belle!

  Before our day was done, I had one more surprise for Ainsley... a stop at the Children's Museum.  She is such a fan of any children's museum, and she was super excited to be able to go with just her Mama and not the boys!

We made pizza and went grocery shopping...

had crazy puppet shows...

put out fires and did every one's favorite... the ball drop!

We played hard and had so much fun together!  By the end of our super, special girly day...

we both felt like this....

I can honestly say that I think this was Ainsley's favorite Christmas gift she received... and it was probably one of my favorite ones to give.  The gift of time is something that stays with you forever... builds and grows the relationship you have with one another... and is more precious than anything I could ever wrap up! 

 My sweet Ainsley girl, thank you for spending the day with me.  I had no idea when God decided to bless me with you, that days like these would be so precious to me!  I loved to see you smile and laugh on this day.  I loved seeing your eyes light up with each special thing we did.  I loved talking with you at lunch, holding your had as we walked through the museum, and having the chance to just focus on YOU!  What a super special day this was... it will be one I won't soon forget!