26: The Dress

First off, we are all fine. The tornadoes seem to have gone to the east and west of us. We got a little rain and wind, but thankfully that was it. Katie did have fun hanging out in the closet though. Is it just the novelty of it being clean?
After school today we went shopping for Katie's very first dance dress. This Friday is the Father/Daughter Dance at her school and she is SO EXCITED!! We started off at Marshall's, but they had nothing on the racks. Well, nothing I liked. Katie on the other hand likes everything. Her first choice was a white flower girl type dress. She had already asked that her dress be white, and her shoes ... and her GLOVES! Then she found this red dress. It was hideous!! It was a bad shade of red with a slight handkerchief hem of red tulle. Oh, it was garish! And she loved it. She was almost in tears when I told her I would not buy it. She did finally agree not to get it after I pointed out that she could not wear white shoes. So, we walked out of Marshall's without a dress (though of course not empty-handed). We ran in Shoe Carnival, which was very disappointing. Then we headed back to the mall area (yes, I still refuse to call that mess a mall). We decided to hit JCPenney just in case. The girls 4-6x section was sparse. We checked in the bigger girs section and THERE IT WAS.
She fell in love with this dress. I am not entirely sure why. She said the skirt is soft, like it was the most wonderful thing in the world. And it is black (no luck on the white dress) which is more her style. And the top is a bit glittery. It is a size 7, and will need a slight adjustment on the shoulders, but she loves it. She was very proud of picking it out herself! This is probably also the first time that she has actually tried on a piece of clothing in a store. She did not want to take it off, but I made her (bad Mommy). Then next door to Payless where she found some glittery pink shoes - the dress has a pink flower on the top. And we were finally done! Connor was very patient through most of this experience, but by the end he was hungry and wanting to be held. Katie picked Abner's for dinner, so we had chicken while Connor got some yummy rice cereal.

And tonight for a treat, I made an old family favorite. I have not made this in forever, but it is so delicious. I just have to keep myself from getting addicted and wanting to make it every couple days. Jiffy yellow cake and hot chocolate sauce. I guess it does not have to be a Jiffy cake, but it is the perfect size since it only makes one layer. The sauce is pure sugar ... 1 cup of sugar, 1 tbsp cocoa, 1 tbsp butter, about 1/4th cup of milk - stir it all up and heat until the sugar dissolves, stirring constantly so you don't scorch the sugar, and a little vanilla flavoring (I just use the cap). So very yummy, and so very comforting on a cold night.