A Birthday Date with Carly

I have struggled to find a gift to give my nieces and nephews. I don't want them to get attached to 'things' as much as experiences and memories. I decided to do something different and gave it a try on Carly.

I invited her to spend a few hours with me today. We first went to lunch at Chick Fil A which she lets me know is her FAVORITE place to eat -- (BTW - it is not Anna's favorite, Souplantation is the favorite according to Carly). After lunch we went out to Boarder's Bookstore. We went straight to the children's section. If you haven't been there, it is huge. I can't believe how many books there are! Anyway, I told Carly she could pick out any book she wanted. I told her we would also read any books she wanted. It was fun to watch her look around at the shelves and look at the options. The princess books were the first one that caught her eye. She was convinced that is what she wanted. As we turned to go read it, she came to a large display of "Fancy Nancy" books, games. etc. Her little eyes got huge as she said, "Alisa, this is the book I always wanted -- Fancy Nancy!" It was fun to see her get excited. We looked at the several options and she picked one out for us to read. After we read it she decided that was the book for her. She was so excited to show it to Anna! I planned to take her to a quick 'work appointment' (as she calls it), but she wasn't really happy with that plan. She wanted to hurry home to show Anna and her mom. When I told her Anna was still in school she was okay with going to me for my appointment. We had a great time!

As we were checking out we bought a gift certificate for TJ and Jared for their birthdays. Carly looked at me and said, "I don't think they will get Fancy Nancy books, I think they will get a book about skateboards or dinosaurs!" I thought that was so cute. Chelsea and Todd, let me know what kind of books they get -- Carly will be happy to know as will I.