Pretty Princess Dress

This weekend Ellis and I went on a girl's shopping trip for a very special occasion.  Her daddy has invited her to attend her first daddy/daughter dance.  She is very excited!  Although I know she has no concept of what this is all about.  :)

When we discussed that she would need a pretty dress and we looked in her closet, she let me know that she needed a pretty pink princess dress.

We have been reading this book a lot lately.

It's such a cute book.  On each page it describes a different aspect of a dress like ribbons, lace, sparkles, etc, but then it always says "but this is not my dress", until the last page when all of these elements are put together and then it says "this is my dress!"

So this book was to be our inspiration for our shopping day.

While Ellis and I headed out to the mall, the boys were going to have guy time at Papa's house which they were thrilled about!  The idea was that they would play a game called Axis and Allies.  It's a World War 2 game way beyond their years, but when the boys recently came across it they couldn't wait for an opportunity to try it out.

So Saturday morning was guaranteed to be a fun time for all. :)

Ellis and I began by reading our book for inspiration. 

Then she got a purse and put lip stick (chap stick) in it and we were ready to go.

We made sure to bring our book along.

When considering where to look I remembered that we had great success finding Ellis a pretty dress for her baby dedication at JC Penny's.  We never shop there, for whatever reason, but I figured they may have what we were looking for.  I was hoping to find something shiny and fluffy. :)   When we got there we found some very pretty dresses.  I assumed my girly girl would ooh and ahh over each dress, but instead she got sidetracked.

Apparently socks and frozen t-shirts are much more fun!

I pulled out all of my personal shopping skills and decided to choose some dresses to give Ellis a few options.

After agonizing for about 30 seconds, she made her choice and we were ready to go.  She actually first chose the white dress on the right, but when I showed her the book, she changed her mind and chose this pink one.  I think she did a pretty good job finding a similar dress.

The best surprise was when we checked out the dress was $8.99!!!  At that point I was convinced that this was the absolute PERFECT dress!

Don't you think she did well? :)

We went and had lunch together and Ellis got to ride one of the little rides.  I told her to choose one.  I was thinking that without the boys around she would pick the pink choo choo train, or the pink ice cream truck, NOPE....she picked the Ninja Turtles ride.  :)  I pretty sure she was thinking of her brothers.

When we got to the car I put the dress out so that she could have fun looking at it while we finished our shopping.

When we got home she wanted to put her dress on and immediately she began twirling.  This picture is blurry but it shows her enjoying her dress. :)

This special time of preparing Ellis for her first "date" will be a memory I will always treasure.