Lex's turn

Miss Alexandra turned seven on Oct 4th. I decided that this would be a birthday to give her something other than toys.

She was still feeling just a little sad that Lorelai and I had spent an entire Saturday together.

Grandmother/Granddaughter days have been a favorite for both of them since Lex's first one at the tender age of three. To show you what I did for her, I will share the little letter that I inserted into her birthday card.

Grandma Sorenson, would like to invite
Miss Alexandra Louise Sorenson
To a day of fun and fashion.
Starting next Saturday the 10th of October at 11:00.
We will start with a visit to Jo-Ann Fabrics where Alexandra and Grandma will look through Pattern Books to find a pattern of Alexandra’s choice. Finding the right pattern will then be followed by carefully selecting the right fabrics, notions and trims with which to make a dress that Alexandra will have designed.
Following the trip to Jo-Anns Grandma and Alexandra will then go to the restaurant of Alexandra’s choice for a nice Birthday lunch.
After the lunch Grandma will drive Alexandra back to her home and will then set about making Alexandra’s dress for her.
Please RSVP no later than five minutes after reading this letter.
Lots of Love from Grandma Sorenson.

I can assure you that once she realized just what the letter was saying she became extremely excited. So excited that I realized I had my RSVP answered way before the five minutes were up. Although I still pointed out to her that she needed to officially give me her answer.

The Proprieties MUST be observed after all.

A little tweaking was needed with the time. Lex had a soccer game that same Saturday at 1:00. Even though Donald and Lisa have more or less decided to not have her continue with soccer, we all agreed that it was important for her to finish out the season.

Consequently, we moved the time back to 2:20ish.

I went over a little before 2:00 so I could be there when Lex got home from soccer. Well that, and to visit with Lisa and Elisabeth a bit.

It took a little longer for us to leave on our date than had been planned but it was okay. I figured that she must be pretty hungry after soccer so I moved our late lunch to the front of the line.

At first Alexandra wanted to go to Azteca.

We had just been there for her birthday dinner the week before. I steered her in the direction of a different place to eat. With a minimum of manipulation we happily decided that Applebee's would be perfect. Lisa and I had gone there with Shawn and the girls one night in May because both our hubby's were working overtime that night.

Alexandra had been less than thrilled with the children's menu offerings. I did what any good grandma would do. I gave her several bites of my steak and baked potato, much to her delight. So when I mentioned Applebee's she quickly remembered how much she had loved that steak and potato. I told her that was fine. It was for her birthday so if she wanted a grown-up dinner then brother, she could have one.

Lucky for me they were still running their 2 for 20$ dinner and appetizer special.

Our food took a while to get to us, but eventually it came and we enjoyed our picks. I got the shrimp and fries by the way.

SIDE NOTE: I can not believe how much food restaurants give you. I think there were close to 22 shrimp there. Plus fries and coleslaw. I don't think I even finished half of the shrimp and I probably only had 7 or 8 fries. Too much food. And if you ask for a half order they look at you like you have monkeys flying out of your ears. Aaaand, if they actually do have half orders they are maybe a dollar less. What a scam!

Well, Lex and I just sat there and ate and talked and talked and talked. I love one on one time with my granddaughters. It's amazing just how much of a real conversation you can have with a young child.

Since it was too late for lunch and too early for dinner we decided a new term was in order for the meal we had just enjoyed.
Alexandra came up with Linner I think, and I put forth Dunch for her consideration. She thought that the whole topic was so funny that we branched off into a whole other topic of conversation and never did decide on the proper term.

Well, we crossed dunch off our list and headed to JoAnn Fabrics.

Alexandra was a natural when it came to choosing patterns. She took the easy way out and decided she would have one of everything. I could so relate. I have more patterns that have never been used than ones I actually do make into something.

Fortunately, I was able to help her narrow it down to two different patterns. One being a pattern I already had at home.

Next up fabric.

I cannot overstate enough just how much she loved picking out fabrics. It was harder to narrow down the fabric selection than it had been the patterns.
She was so taken by all of the costume sparkly satins and sheers. There was this one rather gaudy, but still beautiful, (in it's way) shiny red metallic looking red square with a black background fabric that for a minute I wasn't sure if we would get out of the store without buying at least a small piece of it.
Fortunately cooler heads prevailed (mine not hers) and we decided that it would have been very nice if we were planning to make a costume but not really appropriate for a school or church dress.

We eventually settled on a darling dark blue diagonal plaid corduroy and a lovely pink snowflake embossed (with sequins) corduroy. There wasn't a lot of the blue but I should be able to make it stretch for the dress pattern she liked.

There was plenty of the pink.

So much so that I got enough for a dress for both her and Lorelai.
Lex was having such a great time that she didn't mind at all being generous.

Alexandra was having so much fun that every time I mentioned that we should probably get going she insisted that we would be cutting short her date with grandma, much too soon. Watching her have so much fun made it just that much more fun for me.

We did finally finish up at JoAnn's. A quick walk through the Halloween aisle stretched out our visit long enough that Lex had to agree she had definitely gotten her money's worth.

Besides, we still needed to go have hot chocolate.

Lex made sure that she didn't miss out on any of the wonders that Lorelai had been shown the Saturday before.

Starbucks here we come.

We not only enjoyed a hot cocoa, but I decided to go one better and let her pick out a pastry for us to share. She chose a nice thick slice of Pumpkin Bread.
I tore it in two and let her have the biggest half.

As we drove to Starbucks it was already starting to get dark outside. Alexandra felt most satisfied that we had been gone long enough for it to turn dark.
I told her, as we were walking into Starbucks, that by the time we came out it would be really dark.

And it was.

This was a clear sign that it was time to take my little Princess home.
So I did.
She was bursting with details of our day and couldn't wait to impress mama and daddy with all that we had done.
She probably did take a tiny bit of a perverse pleasure in telling Lorelai all that we had done.
It doesn't take much for Lorelai to feel ill used, and sweet little girl that she is, Lori wanted to show her big sister the Pez dispenser she had picked out for Lex while out grocery shopping that afternoon with the parents.

I swooned over that Pez dispenser to let Lorelai know that she was still just as important to me as always.

Being a bit of a Diplomat is a big part of successful grandmahood.

All in all it was a great day spent with a great little granddaughter.
I think a precedent has been set.
I doubt I will ever buy another birthday toy for these little sweetheart's birthdays again.

And that's fine with me. One on one time is so much better than some toy that will never be played with longer than that first week.





Here I am saying goodby to a sad-that-she-didn't-get-to-go-Lorelai.