Happy 8th Birthday, My Sweet Katrina

Our first stop was the Goodwill (we had to stop at the library and the Goodwill was nearby...we couldn't pass that up). Katrina purchased 10 items of clothing and four stuffed animals and a cute purse for $22. She's a smart shopper like her mommy!

After the Goodwill, we headed to the mall and our date at Claire's. Katrina really wanted her ears pierced, but she was nervous. First you can see her with the Claire animal to squeeze while the deed was being done. Then you can see her afterwards. She didn't cry or scream or flinch. I was proud of her! It's hard to see the earrings, but they are cute pink flowers. After getting her ears done, then she took advantage of a 1.00 sale that was going on and picked up some other goodies at Claires.

Next we had lunch at Chick Filet, then Katrina wanted to stop in the arcade. She was excited to see they had Skee Ball, but even more excited to find out the game was broken...in a good way...The balls kept falling down without her putting any money in. Of course, she wasn't getting points or tickets, but she loved throwing all of the ball...what could be better on your birthday, than unlimited Skee Ball!?

She also got to take a ride on a magical carousel.

Before leaving the mall, we stopped at Sears to look at what they had available. They had a beautiful dress that was on sale (40% off). Katrina fell in love with it and as she tried it on in the changing room, she was talking about how she always dreamed of having a dress like this. So here she is in her dream dress.

Katrina's grandmother sent her a lovely bathing suit, but when we tried it on, we discovered that even though it was a one piece bathing suit, it was missing more material than we were happy with, so we took it to Walmart and exchanged it. While there, Katrina bought two pairs of summery shoes and we picked up a birthday present for her friend who is coming this weekend (who had a birthday on the 5th). Shopping is hard work and we worked up an appetite, so our next stop was Cold Stone Creamery.

We stopped at A.C. Moore's to pick up some ribbon I needed and Katrina found 14 lovely fuzzy bears that came in a rainbow of colors. This was one of her favorite finds of the day....a quarter each. Jack wanted to be in the picture too!

Our last stop was Toys 'R Us. Katrina had received a 3.00 gift card from the store in honor of her birthday. She still had 11.00 left and that was where she wanted to go for her final stop. What she didn't realize was that I knew birthday children get special attention on their special day. She was tickled not only to receive these mementos, but she loved hearing the customer service attendant announce that it was her birthday over the loud speaker.

And lastly, the icing on the cake was when Katrina deposited .50 cents into the sticker machine on the way out of Toys 'R Us and got the Hannah Montana Sticker she wanted most. It just doesn't get any better than that, folks!

I cannot possibly begin to say how much I enjoyed this special day with my daughter. I think we will be making it an annual event. Happy Birthday, sweetheart!