Aurelia's Sleep-over

It's been quite awhile since Aurelia spent an overnight with me, but all of the stars aligned for this to happen last night. After her family dropped her off, we went to Perkin's where she enjoyed buttermilk pancakes, bacon and apple juice for dinner. She asked to go there because she thinks Perkin's is "fancy." Following that, I took her to a local Dollar Tree store and told her she could buy whatever she wanted for $3. To my surprise, she had never been in a Dollar Store before. She was quite amazed at all it had to offer.

Initially, she looked at the Halloween items. Some of those items were rather "tacky," or even "spooky." She picked up a big, black rubber rat! Thankfully, she only giggled over it and then put it back. Then she discovered there were long aisles of toys! And there was another aisle of craft and school items. I could tell she was enjoying this! What joy she had looking at all of the helium filled balloons.

After scanning most of the aisles, she made her way back to the toys, where she chose a package with a blue plastic pony with long blue, glittery hair, a comb and two star barrettes. She also chose a set of "jewelry" for a bride: a pearl necklace, a silver watch, a big plastic heart to hang on the necklace, a beaded bracelet, a wedding band, and an engagement ring, plus a wedding certificate. And then, the pièce de résistance, a large pink and purple lollipop! You would have thought she won the million dollar lottery. I have to say, I had fun watching her evaluate everything and then happily take her choices to the checkout line.

There's the lollipop, which Aurelia said tasted grape and cherry, plus the blue horsey next to her. No, I did not let her eat all of it. 

Sporting the new jewelry: beads, silver wrist watch, wedding rings, and bracelet.

This morning we opened the purchases and she had fun playing with them while watching some TV. Before lunch time, we got dressed and and went for a little walk outside to gather pretty fall leaves. After picking up a nice collection, we brought them into the house and pressed them between waxed paper – to make them last longer.

Assembling the leaves onto waxed paper

Covering the leaves with a second sheet of waxed paper

Pressing the sheets of waxed paper between two sides of a brown paper bag

Lifting the waxed coated leaves off of the waxed paper

Now the leaves are ready for display and will last for weeks.

After lunch we watched the Disney movie, Cinderella. What a delightful time we have had!