A special day for Handley

We had a great Labor Day weekend.  We enjoyed a low-key weekend at the lake and left bright and early this morning.  We were heading home in time for Handley to go with her friend, Grace, to the American Girl Cafe for lunch to celebrate Grace's birthday.  She had invited Handley and another girlfriend and this was something Handley had been looking forward to for several weeks.  It was an especially a big deal because Handley got to ride in Grace's car, without us.

I got a text from Grace's mom with this cute picture of the girls having lunch. 

Harper was not thrilled with the idea of Handley leaving and as we stood on the porch and told Handley and Grace's family goodbye, Harper watched from inside, peering out the dining room window.  As soon as we came inside she burst into tears and was so, so sad.  I know this is just the beginning of her getting disappointed when Handley gets to do something that she doesn't.  Thankfully, it didn't take her long to cheer up and she had fun running errands with Robby the rest of the afternoon.

Handley got home just in time for us to get her changed and for us to load everyone up for tennis.  Harper was so happy to see her that she kept hugging her over and over.  It was so sweet.  They were fighting a minute later, but still sweet to see how much the love each other.  Handley went on and on about how much fun the lunch was and she even came home with a new little toy puppy for her doll.  She was happy that Robby could come watch her at tennis, since he is usually at work on Monday afternoons.  Hudson was also happy he was there and spent a lot of the time practicing his balancing and standing alone, something he is very proud of and getting very good at!

This evening as I was helping Handley pick out her clothes for school tomorrow, it was extremely quiet in the other room.  I poked my head in Harper's room to find Hudson surrounded by all of the contents of Harper's bottom drawer.  All of her panties and PJ's.  The girls thought it was hilarious and soon it turned into a PJ's party with them tossing them around and squealing with laughter.  I'm glad I had my phone handy to grab quickly and capture that fun!

After we got everything cleaned up, it didn't take him 5 minutes to find her bathing suit cover-ups and give a repeat performance.  And that is why the girls' bedroom doors usually remain closed.  That and the fact that his other favorite thing to do is toss around all the American Girl Doll shoes, clothes and accessories all over the floor in Handley's room.

One other quick thing I don't want to forget.  This evening I was helping Handley write a thank-you note to Grace and her mom for taking her with them today.  I was spelling a word for her and told her the letter "a."  She looked at me and said, "A, that's a vowel...A-E-I-O-U and sometimes Y."  I asked her how she knew that and she said Mrs. O'Kelley told her and that they sing a song about vowels at school.  Only a week in Kindergarten and she is already surprising me with stuff she knows.  I couldn't believe it!