shopping

This weekend's bright spot was a trip to the mall. Weird right? I hate the mall.

One source of tension this year has been Molly needing clothes but not wanting to shop, with me in particular, although she is not much of a shopper in general. We have had good luck with clothes trades in the past, but sometimes you just a few new things to fill out the wardrobe.

I had to drive Noah to the mall to meet his girlfriend (!?!!?), and the girls came along because we needed a present for an upcoming birthday party. I don't know why I'm explaining why we were at the mall, except perhaps to say that it is a rare occurrence and was a plan made at the last minute.

After we gave Noah a head start so he could enjoy his date without his mom and siblings following him and after buying the birthday present and some Starbucks, we went to Sephora to buy eyeliner for Molly to wear in her play this coming week. That was a lot of fun, trying different things. Hanaa drew a picture on her hand with lipstick and eye shadow.

Then we headed to Old Navy to get Molly some shorts. We looked through the girls' and women's sections with no luck. Everything was too short. We tried the men's department, and (predictably) everything was too big. On to the boys' department where we found the perfect shorts, hurray! I also hastily grabbed some sports bras for her to try at the same time. I didn't say too much about them, but clearly she needed some as she took them with her into the change room. We left the store with some much needed additions to Molly's wardrobe with a minimum of tension and strife.

If I had tried to make a plan with Molly to go clothes shopping, I don't think it would have turned out as well as it did. I love that Molly has her own sense of style, and I love that she doesn't let the gendered departments in clothing stores keep her from finding items that work for her.