Friday Favorites: My Favorite Day

Happy Friday! 

Today (like every Friday) I'm linking up with Andrea at Momfessionals, Narci at Grace and Love Blog, & Erika at A Little Bit of Everything Blog. 

However, I'm doing something a little different today. I'm sharing about one of my FAVORITE days ever. I've been wanting to write this post since before this blog really began & today is the day.

On one of Eric's days off in November, I decided I was going to have some one-on-one time with my oldest daughter, Emma. I was having a hard time deciding what we should do, so I decided to let her choose (in other words, I made her be decisive so I wouldn't have to). I asked her what she wanted to do with our time & she replied "go to Chicago". Well, that caught me by surprise! But, I decided to throw caution (and my usual careful planning) to the wind & be a little adventurous. We bundled up, packed a bag, and she asked if she could wear here "Anna" dress. Since I already had some good yes-mom momentum going, I agreed. 

Emma asked if we could take the train. It's an hour train ride into the city, so I was a little nervous that my sweet 3 year old would change her mind half way there. She convinced me that she wouldn't, so I agreed that we could take the train downtown. I was excited, but a little nervous because we were pretty committed at this point. If things went poorly (read: if she had a potty accident) we didn't even have the comfort & safety of our car. Being in the city at the mercy of the train schedule with a 3 year old is a whole different kind of adventure. 

So, off we went. And it was one of THE best days of my life. I enjoyed every moment with this sweet, funny, caring, silly, creative, beautiful girl. 

We got a snowman cookie from Starbucks.

We took goofy selfies on the train.

I gave her the choice of taking a boat taxi or a car taxi to the Disney store on Michigan Avenue. She chose a car taxi. She can legally ride in a taxi without a car seat, so she felt like such a big girl buckled in the back (and I definitely prayed for safety as soon as we got in that taxi)! 

Emma LOVES the Disney store. And the one on Michigan Avenue does not disappoint. From the dramatic entrance to the friendly staff, it is amazing! They all addressed Emma as Princess Anna & showed her a castle. When we finally make it to the real Disney World one day, it's going to blow her mind.

The movie screen in the back was playing "Let It Go" and Emma put on a little performance right there. She full on belted it out (because really, there's no quiet way to sing Let It Go) & even added in motions.

We decided on pizza at Gino's East for lunch. We ate way later than our normal 11:30am & we were starving! 

These are our "We're so hungry! Feed us now!" faces.

Gino's East is covered with all kinds of graffiti & our waitress gave us some white-out so we could add to it. We wrote something to commemorate our day & then I let Emma draw something.

For dessert, we walked over to the Hershey's store. I let Emma choose a dessert for us to share & she chose a brownie sundae. This thing was huge & it. was. delicious!! We LOVE sweet treats!

I carried Emma about a mile down Michigan Avenue (thus no longer feeling any guilt about that huge brownie sundae!) and we took some pictures by the river. I love our city! I couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

Emma chose taking the boat taxi back to the train station. 

We hurried through the train station & barely made it to our train on time. We were tired & sweaty by the time we found an empty seat!

Emma really wanted to sit on the upper level of the train. Once the train emptied out a little, we were able to snag some seats up top for the last part of our trip. This is a pic of us being "cool kids" and sitting up top!

I can't wait to experience more of these days with Emma & with Hailey, too. The more I said "yes", the more I got to know her & enjoy who God has made her to be. It's so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day, but I just never want to miss out on who my kids are through these crazy seasons of life. I very much feel the weight of how quickly it goes by. We're never guaranteed more time. Instead of responding to that truth with fear, I want to respond to it by making the most with the time I have. 

What are ways you get to know your kids better? What are your favorite yes-mom moments? I would genuinely love to know!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!