Thankful for a Little Girl's Day Out

Yesterday we drove over to a nearby town (which is really only 15 minutes away) to spend the morning with Millie Janalee's little friend Ann Phillips and her mommy.  Hillary and I went to school together, and her brother and I graduated together.  So we go way back.  Your fun fact for the day is that she and Russ actually dated (or maybe just "talked"...I'm not 100% on the facts) before Russ and I started dating.  Ha!  She ended up marrying a Russ...just not my Russ.  Now, don't you feel enlightened?

Sweet friends

Anyway, we met Ann Phillips and Hillary just as they were pulling out in the stroller.  We took the girls on a beautiful stroll through downtown toward the local library for storytime.  This was both of our first times at storytime, and we were hopeful the library wouldn't throw our busy 15 and 16 month olds out.  The children's section of the library was perfect for toddlers!  The computers were toddler friendly, there were puzzles and playmats, and there were even fun little interactive cars.  The storytime lady came out with blankets.  The older children began quickly helping her lay all the blankets out for seating.

Very into the crayon book!

Listening so well

Millie Janalee and Ann Phillips stayed pretty busy, but occasionally they made their way over to listen to the story as the lady read.  One of the older girls had to push Millie Janalee out of her way so that she could see, because Millie Janalee was taking her time scooting past her.  Oops!  Haha! 

Two girls...one puzzle piece.  Ha!

Mostly the girls carried around random puzzle pieces for the entire first part of storytime...helping them flex their sharing muscles as you can see above.  Ha!  The little girl beside them was obviously distracted by the cute little friends.  Hillary and I quickly found another puzzle piece on the floor to replace the one taken by the winner of this interaction.  All was well.  And they had no clue they were learning to share. 

Hillary reading to her little love

Once the puzzle pieces grew boring, the little friends took books off the library shelves and played with the toys meeting new friends while the storytime lady finished her first book.  Ann Phillips loved finding all the puppets while Millie Janalee plotted her escape routes to use for multiple escapes later that morning.

The girls playing with new friends.

It didn't take long for storytime to grab the attention of these two sweeties!  "I'm a Little Teapot" was next.  All the children stood to make their handle and spout.  Millie Janalee and Ann Phillips watched closely as they tried to figure out just how to make their little bodies into teapots.

After "I'm a Little Teapot" and "If You're Happy and You Know It", there was one last story...narrated on the iPad.  Hillary and I are pretty intrigued at this idea and looking to get these for home.  Ann Phillips wanted to make sure she was right in the action during this story.  Ha! 

After storytime, we let the girls play around awhile as the crowd thinned out.  Millie Janalee browsed the board book section taking book after book off the shelf.  The teacher in me was cringing, but I figure she's not the first toddler to take all the books off.  And I did put them back in the end.  Between taking books off the shelves and playing with friends, she only tried to sneak off three times or so.  Hillary and I had blocked one entrance with our strollers, but there were two more.  I'm still not sure how she did it.  I was standing right there every time.  She wasn't trying to escape the library, but she sure did love running the long aisles of adult books.  The library worker helped me find my little runaway a couple of times, and she was running toward me with a big smile on her face like "Did you see what I did Mama?!  It was so fun!"  I now understand why parents put leashes on their children.  Seriously, I knew she couldn't roam far, so there was no reason to panic.  It is a small library.

After all the fun was had, we took the girls strolling to a downtown restaurant for lunch.  Millie Janalee stayed entertained by Ann Phillips and her funny mama.  We enjoyed a yummy lunch full of conversation about the girls and headed back.

The girls were exhausted by the time we made it back to Hillary's.  Ann Phillips enjoyed a little nap during the stroll too.  We said our goodbyes and were asleep before we arrived home.  It was a fun little girl's day out!

We are thankful for our little sweet friends and a beautiful day to enjoy!