Such a Fun Weekend

Every Friday, Em has Show and Share in her class, and they're working their way through the alphabet--this week was the letter V, and she wanted a veil!  We made one together on Thursday night--the color of Elsa's dress, complete with snowflake beads on the hair clip.  When I got there to pick her up from school, she still had it on and had worn it all day!  She was really proud of it :).

That night, we headed to Barnes & Noble for "Frozen Friday."  Em wanted to wear her Elsa dress, of course, and she met lots of little friends who had theirs on too.

One of the fun things to do was decorate a cupcake, and she liked checking out the other desserts while I paid for her chocolate cupcake.

Our little Elsa was all smiles!

The cupcake station had sprinkles and mini marshmallows, so she was thrilled!

The event advertised that Olaf would be there, but Elsa was there instead.  It wasn't much compared to the princesses she met at Disney, but Em was still excited.  Mick held our place in line for Elsa while Em decorated her cupcake, built an ice castle with Legos, and made some other crafts.

Somehow, Em convinced us to buy a balloon modeling kit at the bookstore, and she wanted to make every animal when we got home.

We were up way too late twisting balloons!  Mick gave up pretty early on, but I was determined not to let it beat me--I have a whole new respect for those clowns :).

On Saturday, we went to ImaginOn in uptown Charlotte, a children's museum and library.  I read that there was a fairy tale exhibit and we decided to go check it out--I can't believe we've never been before!

There was a big typewriter keyboard, a pencil and huge stamps out front that Em liked climbing on,

and she found her E right away!

It was a rainy, dreary day, so perfect for being inside.

We were all pretty excited to check it out!

Em jumped right in and started climbing Jack's beanstalk.

She got to the top and realized she had to slide down!

This was the inside of the Beast's castle--

she sorted all of the food on his table and tried on the crown.

Here she is playing Belle's harpsichord.

And posing in the castle tower.

She practiced making boots with the Elves and the Shoemaker.

But her favorite thing by far was dressing up and playing Cinderella!  She tried on the glass slipper,

and changed dresses to take an imaginary ride in Cinderella's coach.

This is an overview shot of the center of the museum.  Now that we know how much fun it is, we'll have to go back when there's a new exhibit.

When we were done in the museum, we walked across to the 7th Street Market, where there are several different restaurants, a deli, sushi shop, and dessert bar.  Em decided quickly that it was pizza for lunch, and even got to watch them make our pizza. 

After lunch, she enjoyed a rare little treat--a chocolate ice cream cone.  She rarely has these because she eats them so slowly and they're usually a big mess, but we sat outside for her to finish it before we got back in the car to head home.

We had a great Saturday and Em was asleep as soon as we got home that afternoon.  The late naps she takes on the weekends really give her a second wind to stay up a little later and enjoy her "stay home days."