"Hm...Daddy Doesn't Have One of Those!"

I've mentioned before that we take the girls to the dollar store to shop for gifts!  That way, they can pick anything they want to give someone without having to understand a budget.  That day will come, but for now, this sure is entertaining!

I brought my camera along when I took Maggie and Gracie shopping for Aaron's birthday so that YOU could feel like you were tagging along with us!

You're welcome :)

Oh, Leah was at school when I took the little girls (don't tell them that I called them "little girls"...they have a lot of feeling about being called "little girls!"), so I took her later!

Anyway, Christmas is in full swing at the dollar store, so these hats were definitely worth consideration!

When Gracie tried on the Santa hat, I said, "Hmmm...Daddy doesn't have one of those!" 

That's my standard response.  I feel like it leaves the door open for a lot of fun things!

Maggie found a hat that was, quite possibly, even more fun than Gracie's!

They decided against the hats, so we moved deeper into the Christmas area.

Naturally, there was a polar bear (?) puppet.

There's a lot to love about a 3-year-old and a bell!

After they touched/considered/examined about 85% of the Christmas paraphernalia, we moved on to the books.

Aaron is a reader, after all!

This might come as a surprise, but the dollar store didn't really have Aaron's type of books.

Obviously, we stopped to consider some dog toys.

Raise your hand if you have any of these at your house!

Is it just me, or does it take forever for the stiffness to come out of those washcloths?  The girls love these, and we have a bunch of them!

Oops...we forgot to show you the castle!

Psst, it's really a lighthouse, but I let her think it was a castle :)

They were momentarily sidetracked by the creep-tastic Halloween masks.

Then, Maggie considered a handheld fan,

while Gracie thought about the Mardi Gras beads.

They finally settled on some stuffed animals!

Super fun!  

Aaron got to open his gifts before supper on his birthday!  Usually, we open gifts in the morning, but the evening before Aaron's birthday was filled with conferences, so we didn't have a chance to wrap the presents.

There was a lot of excitement,

and happiness,

and cuddles!

Instead of a cake, Aaron likes Chocolate Caramel Truffles.

It's kind of a mountain of chocolate!

A great way to celebrate a great guy!