This is only the beginning

Tonight I sit here fondly remembering the days when I could walk into any store and purchase any outfit for my beautiful, sweet curly headed daughter, take it home and she would wear it. I could pick out dresses and skirts, jumpers and button down shirts, skorts and pants. She would wear it all. No questions asked. No fits. No arguments. Just pure unadulterated compliance.

Then something happened.
I guess she grew up and got a mind of her own.

We went shopping tonight.
We went to one store to purchase one outfit. It took one hour. I came home with one headache.

Everything I liked, she didn't. Everything she liked, I didn't.
She wanted peace signs and t-shirts.
I demanded a skirt and nice top. It is for Easter, after all.
She must get her strong will from her father, because I still have mine.

The biggest issues seemed to revolve around the "budget." Apparently it's a little tricky for young shoppers to realize that a "40% off your entire purchase" coupon doesn't always make everything affordable. As bedtime quickly approached I finally had to put my foot down. Either we're leaving the store or we're buying something that we can afford. She agreed to pay the $13 difference out of her own money and we cheerfully exited the store with these:

a cute embellished cami
(not pictured: orange tank to go under "low cut" cami.
Thankfully she does have a strong sense of modesty)

sweater to wear over cami/tank combo

fun tie dye skirt
(at least my blue jean girl agreed to a skirt with no screaming!)

Have I mentioned how thankful I am for school uniforms. I'm not so sure we could do the school clothes shopping thing every fall!

By the way, can someone please tell me when my daughter got old enough to go in the dressing room by herself to try on multiple outfits? That's just such a "grown-up" thing to do.