Final Back-to-School preparations

So, at the beginning of the summer, Erin begged me to let her get her ears pierced. I told her then if she still wanted it done by then, we'd do it before school started. Well, today she called me on it. "Mommy, school starts tomorrow. I want I my ears pierced!" So, off to the mall we went to get it done. She chose tiny pink crystal butterflies.

 Bracing for the first ear. It went through and she cried. She didnt want to do the second. But...

 She eventually did. Poor girl. There's no warning enough to prepare you for a lady coming after you with a(n earring) gun.

But, this pic was taken not 1 min after the second ear was done. All smiles and loving her earrings now. She even picked out 2 more pairs to wear when she's finally allowed to change them.

Then, because Emali and Alvin were feeling left out, we got Emali some new earrings. We also went to Claire's and got both girls new nail polish and headbands. Then it was off to Build-A-Bear for Alvin. His favorite part of BAB is 'washing' the pet.

'Washing' his new puppy, Charley

Then, after BAB, we decided to let Alvin play a little bit in the mall's play area. Unfortunately, we couldnt stay very long because other parents decided to just drop their kids off while they went shopping. We're talking 7-8 year olds, that proceeded to raise hell and push around the little ones.