The quiet before the storm

We are ready.

We had a wonderful day so far, I have to tell you. Kaeleigh and I hit the local Dollar Tree for cheap bags of candy and decorations to go with the good bags of candy and decorations that we got the other day. We mix it up every yea. Kaeleigh doesn't really care what kind of candy she has, but I think it's important to have some real chocolate along with the smarties and gumballs. I also got a bag of Brach's Harvest Mix. I buy one bag every year around this time, fill a candy dish, and slowly pick at the candy corns and pumpkins over the next month.

Once we had cleaned out the dollar store we headed over to my favorite shopping center here in PA, the Shoppes (we say shoppies) at Susquehanna. We did some window shopping at Maggie Moo's for the cake. I knew she'd have a hard time deciding so we stopped there so she could think about it for a bit, and then we strolled. It was wonderful. We ducked in and out of the stores... some fragrance oil at Bath and Body, a pair of new earrings for Kae at Icing, and then... Williams Sonoma.

As is customary we walked into the most delicious of smells. The greeter girl asked if she could help with anything and I replied "Yes, show me where I can buy whatever smells like that". She told me it was their Maple Pecan quick bread mix and mulling spices. She pointed towards the register saying some samples of the bread if we'd like to try it (hee hee... IF). I was skeptical about the bread, thinking pumpkin would be so much better but OH MY GOD is it good. Sweet and slightly nutty. I scooped up a bag of that, some maple pancake mix (I traditionally make pancakes the morning after the sleepover), and some good popcorn oil. We got a popcorn maker gift set for our wedding and we use it all the time. I searched the store for the mulling spices but they were nowhere to be found. The sales clerk then told me that they were not in stock yet, but they decided to simmer some today anyway because of the cold rainy weather... bitches! Oh well, I guess I'll have to go back next month.

We headed back to the ice cream store and Kaeleigh picked her cake. It wasn't that much more than a Caravel cake at the supermarket, we've never had one before so I'll let you know how it is. We came home and Kaeleigh cleaned her room and decorated. I cleared out my office so the girls could throw their things in there, tidied up a little, and threw in some laundry. We are ready for the onslaught of teenagers.