Spring Break

Lily Grace was on Spring Break last week and we had the absolute best time.  While it felt more like winter break we still made the most of every moment.  Our week was filled with either snow ( Yes, you read that right.  It's midwest living.) sleet or rain, but we didn't care.  We were even blessed with an extra day off this year.  Gracie got out on Thursday the week before.  
We didn't waste a minute.  We bundled up and ticked our way through her annual spring break bucket list.  
We had so much fun and this morning's inevitable return to school came quick and early.  
No worries!  We are on the countdown to summer break!

Ready to go and yes, my child is wearing a bathrobe.  Who doesn't put their robe on over their clothes to travel to ensure they are cozy??  Have mercy!  

And the bathrobe is just the tip of the iceberg.  She also drags along half the house.

We refused the let Matt tune us out.  You know Chicago is only 156 miles from us but I swear sometimes it feels like forever.  Needless to say, Gracie and I try to keep things lively.  Poor Matt!

Matilda played at the Oriental Theater.  This was the first time we had been to this theater.  It was so ornate.  Everywhere you looked, even the ceiling was draped in gold or tiles or sculptures.  

All seated and ready for the show to begin

The props and stage decor were amazing in this show

On our way to our favorite breakfast spot in Chicago when the snow starts even though the tulips have sprung.  That snow would follow us home to Indiana, get harder and hang around for much of the week.  Throw in the wind and brrrr!

Of course we swung by American Girl to check things out and we got the biggest laugh when Matt photo bombed LG.  

LG's birthday is only two weeks away and we had to go into the Lego store so she could at least touch the Mindstorm EV3 Lego Robotic that she is so hoping for. 

When we returned home, we made a trip to Vera Bradley.  Gracie Cakes wanted to use her coupon and part with the money she's been saving so she could by herself a new hipster.  She was thrilled and couldn't wait to get home to change out her purse.  Actually she didn't, she did most of it in the car ride home. 

We enjoyed manis and pedis before meeting daddy for lunch one day.  Boy!  Running out in flip flops in the cold rain proved to be one of the coldest pedicures I have ever gotten.  Then I had to ride with the heat on high in the floor so I could dry my toes to put my socks and riding boots on for lunch.  Gave us a good laugh nonetheless.  Gracie opted for a manicure.  She's afraid to get a pedi after this little old lady got ahold of her toenail cuticles.  HA! HA!  We all get a good laugh teasing her about that.  

And in true Lily Grace form, her daily outfits didn't disappoint.  This is her: it's 37 degrees outside raining without a lick of sunshine and I am about to hit the scene outfit. The scene being the hip and popular Fresh Market- just the grocery y'all.  Needless to say, I was way underdressed on this particular cold and rainy day beside all this. Oh!  And no worries, she toughed it out for the sake of being cute and threw on a pair of flats with this outfit. 

One whole day we spent doing a lot of this for Gracie's upcoming birthday party.  We finally just moved everything into the living room and set up shop as the rain pounded the windows.  LG worked on outfits for her paper dolls and Molly just enjoyed the company. 

When you ask LG about her favorite day of Spring Break, she doesn't say Chicago, or shopping or going to see the movie Zootopia, a trip to the bakery or a morning browsing for library books or any of the other things.  She is quick to tell you it was this day.  The day we didn't care that it was raining cats and dogs and cold.  The day we moved all of our sewing out of our sewing room in the basement upstairs into the wide open living room for any guest stopping by to see. The day we spent about 6 hours confined to this area poking ourselves, cutting and ironing fabric and learning how to tie a sewing knot.  The day it looked like a fabric shop blew up in the house.  The day we belted out tunes and sang along about God's love with Lauren Dagle.  The day her mama didn't worry if the clothes were folded and she wasn't asked to make sure her shoes were picked up and neither of us noticed or payed attention to the others mess, just the conversation between us.  We just were... we were in the moment having a good time, sharing our creations, laughing and just hanging out.  You know....it was my favorite too.  I will cherish it always.  I am very blessed to get to share these times with Gracie and each and every one of them mean the world to me.  Especially those that from the outside look like nothing too special but actually are so much more...more than even I realized until I heard her share this day with a couple of people who asked her about what thing she had done that was the most fun. I didn't know it meant so very much to her as well.
Thanks Gracie Cakes for another awesome spring break and even more wonderful memories!  123