This morning Charlie wore her “Watermelon” dress by Vive La Fete. Every summer when we travel to Tennessee to visit the Bischoff family we make a stop halfway in Louisville, Kentucky. There is a store called Animal Crackers there, and it is the most darling little store you’ve ever seen. They happen to specialize in smocked children’s clothing (which you know I have a thing for), and they also have pretty amazing end of season sales. This was a purchase I made last summer, and as you can see, it’s still pretty long for our little girl. Good thing she’ll get wear out of this one next summer, too!

This weekend we had the pleasure of being invited to a 4th of July dinner at the home of one of Vann’s colleagues, Ms. Elizabeth. Ms. Elizabeth has an amazing view of the museum campus and Lake Michigan, and Charlie got to see Chicago from 25 floors up!

We dined on hot dogs and potato salad, and some out-of-this-world brownie dessert. Ms. Elizabeth was such a gracious host and allowed our toddler the run of her lovely home, and we were happy that Charlie did fairly well staying out of trouble. In honor of such a special affair, Charlie wore her 4th of July monogrammed bubble by Chez Ami. So cute!!

Charlie got her 4th of July weekend started off right with an impromptu playdate and lunch with her friend Lauren. They wore themselves out at the park and ran around the square chasing “duckies” for awhile, and then sat still at lunch and ate their food like the big girls they are. Charlie is sporting her fancy $4 dress that Mommy found at Walmart. Gotta love that!

Awhile back I picked up a cute rainy day toy for Charlie at our local Timeless Toys. It’s called Crazy for Cupcakes, and it’s a set of 3 mix n’ match cupcakes that your toddler can take apart and switch the cups, icing, toppers, etc. They are supposed to help hand and eye coordination and they smell amazing, too (kinda reminiscent of Strawberry Shortcake dolls)!!

We broke them out today, along with the two tea sets she got for her birthday last year that I had put away (just to change things up from time to time) and Charlie enjoyed a tea party with her new cupcakes and all of her friends. I did remove the toppers for now, just to avoid losing the small pieces…oh, and choking, of course.

I think I’m going to get her a second set for her birthday…you can find them at Action Toys.

Yesterday was Daddy’s birthday. Charlie decided not to nap and was so wound up by 6 pm, I thought she might spontaneously combust. Add to that some good old fashioned Jewel-Osco yellow cake with blue icing and we had a little spinning top on our hands!

Daddy came home to a clean house and dinner on the table, a special occasion to be sure! 😉

Happy birthday, Daddy!!