While the boys went camping...

The girls went shopping!!

After we tearfully bid farewell to the men of the house to brave the evening in the wilderness for the Fathers and Sons campout, Savannah and I decided to make the most of our man-free weekend---or rather, 16 hours. It is pest control season. We dried our eyes and headed to the mall. It was high time I instructed her in the ways of all things girly.

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Our first stop-- Victoria's Secret. The fragrance side of course. I had some perfume to exchange from Valentine's Day. I was a tad nervous the store wouldn't let me make an exchange because it has been so long, but decided to wait until I selected my items to worry about it. We then proceeded to smell everything that sprayed in the store and tried on multiple lipsticks before settling on two. The exchange went smoothly, and even though my driver's license was at home underneath the copier -- (blast that birth certificate application!), they still let me make the transaction. Victory!

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Our next stop was the shoe store. Payless Shoe Source to be exact. It drives Kyle bonkers that I shop there, so I usually go when he is out of town so when he comes back, he is so focused on how much he missed me that making a few, er um...several shoe purchases at the store is quickly forgiven with a good, welcome home smooch. In his perfect world I would settle on a pair or two of really nice, high quality shoes instead of my closet-full of bargain buys. While I see his point, I actually think my shoes are of decent quality. And if I can get them for under ten bucks, it's not a bad thing if I change my mind about them in 6 or 9 months. (I don't usually do that) The irony in all of this is that Kyle owns more pairs of shoes than I do. But we'll save that discussion for another day.

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As predicted Payless was still having their famous BOGO (Buy one get one half price) sale and I bee-lined for the toddler section. Savannah is in dire need of some Sunday shoes, as both pair that fit (she is a 4 WIDE) are two different shades of pink. She likes that, loves it in fact, but not every dress she owns has pink in it. Last Sunday Kyle cleverly selected a light pink bow to match her light pink shoes, even though her dress was black and white, so he made it work. My early morning meetings are paying off!

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I have been trying to wean Savannah off her hot pink sparkly shoes she is so determined to live in, but for a while that's all she wore ( since when does a 15 month old CARE about what shoes she wears? I had to put this behavior to a halt because I am determined to be able to dress my daughter until she is at least 27.) Thankfully, she has finally discovered the comfort and practicality of sneakers. We found some ADORABLE white ones ($5 pre BOGO) and some pink ones to grow into ($8 pre Bogo---I wish they had them in my size). We then found exact replicas of her sparkly ones that just happened to be her size (Also $5 pre Bogo). This was not a coincidence. The last time I saw these shoes was on clearance back in December before Christmas, I swear I snatched the last pair. This was meant to be. The pair she owns currently is no longer church acceptable since she wore them running through the mud last week, so it is completely justifiable purchasing replacements. I then found some black dress shoes for her to grow into, white sandals she can wear with virtually every dress and outfit, (no white dress shoes fit her fat feet unfortunately, but it's summer so we'll let her bare those toes) and of course I couldn't stop while I was still hot--- I found some awesome pink pool sandals.... I know, I know.... I just couldn't hold back. She just better not have a growth spurt in the next 2 weeks or I am going to feel ridiculous. As fast as infants grow, it is ridiculous anyway, but I'm hoping they'll at least take us through the summer.

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And then of course it was my turn. Fortunately Savannah has the right shopping DNA in her and still had some patience left (I handed her some Dora Jelly shoes to examine) to allow me to search. I quickly found 2 pairs of comfortable and cute sneakers...

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So that added up to a total of 8 shoes. The damage? Including tax was 78 bucks and some change. Not bad for a shoe glutton....As you can see, I am clearly enjoying all the benefits that come from having a girl. Happy camping, boys!