A Case of the Mondays

 I love Mondays.  Mondays are Jer's day off, and consequently, we usually enjoy date days on Mondays.  Today's date day consisted of a trip to Applebees.  Ellee and Jer played an intense game of Tic Tac Toe, while we were waiting for our food.    

In case you couldn't tell, our daughter absolutely adores her Daddy.  They have such a special bond.

This is what happened when we assumed that the lemonade that we ordered came with Ellee's kid's meal, but in reality, it didn't, so she got double drinks with her meal today.  She was pretty excited.  

My amazing sister sent us this gift card, which is truly one of my favorite gifts ever and we used it to pay for our meal.  (Thanks Sarah!)

After Applebees, Ellee and I hung out at the mall, while Jer went to see a movie that he had been wanting to see.  We appropriately started out trip out with a visit to Cinnabon.  Sigh.  That place is amazing.  

Afterwards, as per Ellee's request, we rode the escalators in Sears a few times.  Ellee had a few "Elf" moments when working up the courage to step on, some of which were pretty comical.

But, by the end of our three rides up and down them, she had found her confidence.  

Afterwards, we ventured out into the mall.  It's amazing how, even after a month of Christmas shopping, the stores still have ways to lure you back in.  75% Sale signs were everywhere but we did pretty good, just buying a few things at Bath and Body.  

After the mall, we checked out one of my favorite stores ever... Trader Joe's (not at&t).

Trader Joe's is just happy, and whimsical, and filled with all kinds of organic goodness... and pretty flowers too.

It's an incredibly fun store to wander around.  Everything is cleverly packaged and labeled, though apparently not always in it's rightful place.  

As I was picking up raw organic sugar and seaweed snacks, Ellee got ahold of the camera and took the following pictures.  It's always so fun to see what it is that captures there attention.  

I'm just so, so curious about this picture.  

And how cute is this can of pineapple?  Seriously, I'm totally a packaging girl, and I totally bought this because I like pineapple, but also because it's just really cute.

So that summed up our date day.  Double drinks at Applebees, %75 Off sales at the mall and Organic Mini Cheese crackers from Trader Joes.  Not a bad way to spend a Monday, if you ask me.  

Also to be noted, I'm thankful that it was a day off, but I'm also thankful for Martin Luther King Jr. and his work for equality.  Christian came home from school and we were talking about the important things that he had done.  It's really interesting to hear the perspective of a 7 year old, and I was really proud that Christian seemed to understand the important of showing love to everyone.  It's something that we are striving to teach our children and it's so awesome in times like these, when they really seem to get it.