I love spring, part 1

Mabes&Co would like to take this opportunity to thank the following sponsors who made yesterday so awesome.

1. My great friend from high school, Catherine. Armed with the friends & family coupon she sent, Mabes and I took some friends to the outlet mall and spent a fair amount of time (and money--but hey, they were great deals!) at the Ralph Lauren Factory Store. We've recently realized that Dave's dress shirts are bigger than they need to be, because frankly he's swimming in them. So I've begun replacing them with proper-fitting shirts, and Catherine's discount was so helpful in getting Dave some really nice shirts for a great price. Yay, Catherine!

2. Ainsleigh and Donovan. And Sarah, because even though the card didn't say so, I'm pretty sure she helped out. They had wanted to get Mabes a "bucket o' bubbles" for her birthday last year, but sadly, by August, Target was no longer carrying summer toys. So last week they sent a gift card with instructions to go to Target and get said bucket and bubbles as an early birthday present. First of all, Em was enthralled with the picture Ainsleigh sent. It says "Emaline" and "Ainsleigh," though when Em "reads" it out loud, it says, "Hi Mabes, here's for your bubbles, it's Donovan, Ainsleigh's a big girl and uses her spoon not her hands." (Because if only mommy and daddy use utensils, Mabes would rather use her hands. But if Ainsleigh is using utensils, well then, they must be cool.)

3. Maintenance, for getting rid of the nest a wasp was building on our balcony. Yeah, I know it's their job, but it's just nice to call the management company and put in a maintenance request and have someone come take care of it. Because it used to be when I called maintenance, it was me. Or Dave. Or if it was a particularly tricky task, a coworker. I'm enjoying being on the other side of the management coin. I totally would have taken care of it on my own, but we pay an "extermination fee" of $1/month, and I'd rather take advantage of that than buy a $5 can of raid.

So with a wasp-free balcony, Mabes and I set out with our bucket o' bubbles. She was giddy.

Trying out her new toy:

Happy as punch that she can blow bubbles:

Bubble glasses:

Trying to catch bubbles on her wand, only to be disappointed when she pops them:

Trying to make an Ainsleigh face:

4. Dave's grandma, Granny. We spent last weekend with Dave's mom, and Granny made homemade banana pudding. On Saturday night, by the time Dave had dessert, Mabes had already filled up on barbeque, fried chicken, corn sticks, and hush puppies and was too busy playing to eat dessert. Before we left, Jackie packed up the leftover pudding, along with barbeque, chicken, hush puppies, etc. as souvenirs of our trip, though next time we may need a bigger cooler! After dinner last night, Dave shared some pudding with Mabes. To say that she loved it would be an understatement. Any description I attempt wouldn't do it justice, so here's a picture:

Just picture this face after every bite and a loud, "Mmmmmmmmm! It's gooooooood!"

So thank you to everyone for making our day awesome. And thank you spring for finally coming. I didn't realize how much I missed leaves on trees and warm weather, but I'm loving this!