The "girly-girl" mission!

Those of you who know me from childhood know that I wasn't exactly the most girly-girl. I was never really interested in painting my nails, wearing pink lacy dresses or spending hours beautifying myself. So you can imagine the trials I go through as a mom of a "girly-girl" who changes her outfits and hairstyles multiple times a day, insists on buying black, sparkly legwarmers and leopard print scarves with her own money, has hair accessories to match every outfit, etc. Leah's teacher even commented to us at her conference that "Leah sure knows how to accessorize!" Apparently, her scarves, sunglasses and hats frequent the classroom (thankfully she's a good student). So we're always trying to find this balance of raising Leah to know modesty and self-confidence but to also make some choices for herself and exercise some independence. So for her 8th birthday, after a few years of begging and pleading, I decided it was time for Leah to finally experience having her fingernails painted. And if I was going to make this giant leap toward letting my girl grow up a little, I was doing it right. So I surprised her with a visit to the nail salon to get a real manicure. (Last time her non "girly-girl" mama had one was the day before her wedding, um, nine years ago. lol!)

Here's my absolutely elated 8 year old getting her first manicure:
Ah, the finger soak.

Drying those flourescent pink fingernails. Note the daisies on the thumbnail that only cost me $5 extra. ; )

Oh and her American Girl doll had to get girly for her birthday too:

You gotta love my little girl! Happy Birthday Leah!