The Salvateenies: Anjali Turns Five!

July was set to be a super-social month for the Salvateenies, and this was the busiest weekend all month. On the 9th we had Colleen's bridal shower, then the 10th is our good friend Anjali's birthday party! Anjali and her brother were the first kids to meet the Salvateenies way back in the hospital and the babies were looking forward to celebrating with her.

The party was scheduled for mid-morning, right smack in the middle of nap time, and would feature 20 or so pre-school-aged kids. We elected to show up at the tail end of the party and hang out in the aftermath. The biggest concern of the slew of social engagements was, of course, Caroline's wardrobe. Months ago, I bought her an adorable purple and green dress with matching accessories for her cousin Danielle's wedding and two days later found a dress in the wedding colors (black, white, and yellow), so she wore that instead. I figured she'd wear the purple dress to Colleen's shower, but the week before that, I saw the adorable red and white dress that seemed more "sun-dressy" for an outdoor afternoon tea. So the purple dress got put off for another day, because it was too dressy for Anjali's party too. But Caroline still wanted something nice.

Aha! That's right! She does have another dress! A few weeks ago, Grandma and I took the babies to the mall to escape the heat. I wandered into Gymboree and checked out the things on the sale rack and found a beautiful olive sundress with pretty embroidery. I hung it on the handlebars of the stroller to look at something else, then the boys started fussing and we decided to leave. At the other end of the mall, steps from the parking lot, my mom saw that the dress was still hanging on the stroller and we needed to get fussy babies home to be fed. So we left the mall ... and, technically, stole the dress. Not to worry - we did go back the next time we were at the mall and pay for it (the price had dropped another few dollars ... and I found $20 on the ground on the way out of the mall that time - KARMA!), but we still refer to it as the "shoplifted dress".

Anyway, the shoplifted dress was the perfect choice - cute, but casual, and in a color palette that was sure to please Anjali's Indian Ammamma. I'd have a picture for you, except that Caroline projectile vomitted all over it within ten minutes of our arrival at the party.

Luckily, she had a cute onesie in the diaper bag, and she seemed much happier once she'd been cleaned up and changed into that!