Best Friends Necklaces

SISTER STUFF!! I LOVE sister stuff. The weather has been beautiful lately so we decided to spend our Saturday walking around the outdoor mall. After getting some things we needed and letting the kids play on the playground the boys wanted to go through the apple store so Ave and I decided to go into Charming Charlie's and look at all the fun accessories. Emma was fast asleep in the stroller. We were having fun looking at all the cute earrings and necklaces when we walked by the kids section. Avery walked over and started checking out the necklaces. "Ohhhhh!!!" Look Mom how cute these necklaces are!" Avery said excitedly. Picking them up I assumed they had packaged them incorrectly as I saw that there were two necklaces on the one tag. Then I realized what they were. Best friends necklaces. Now I was the one leaning over to Avery talking excitedly. "Avery do you know what these are???" I asked her. "These are best friends necklaces. You keep one and then you give one to your best friend." I then told her about my first best friends necklaces that were shaped like two pieces of a heart and you could put them together and then they said Best Friends. I remember having many different BF items over the years as a little girl. I laughed remembering my best friend mood rings, ahhh mood rings that was an interesting fad. I told Avery she could pick one out and asked her who her best friend was. Claire, Sophia, and Emma she quickly replied. There was a pretty good selection of necklaces but she kept going back to these little hot pink roses with words Best and Friends on small little tags. Looking them over they were $10 for the pair. Wanting to have her get one but not wanting to spend twenty bucks in friendship necklaces for five year olds I told her she would have to choose one friend to give it to. Her response was so sweet. "Mom if I give it to Claire then Sophia will be sad, and if I give it to Sophia then Claire will be sad." she thought for a minute. "But Emma is my best friend and my best sister, so I will give it to Emma." I looked over at my sleeping toddler wondering if she realized what an amazing big sister she has and handed the necklace to Ave and started towards the counter. We checked out and Avery insisted on carrying the bag. "I can't wait to show Emma our necklaces!!" she said as I reminded her to let Emma sleep for now. As we continued to walk to mall every few minutes Avery would peer into the stroller to do a status check to see if she was awake yet. Finally Emma started to stir and instantly Avery was about an inch from her face talking in her "little mommy" voice that she uses for Em. "Emma guess what? Avery got a surprise for you! I got you a special necklace for us to be matching...." she said holding the necklace at Emma's face. Emma looked at it groggy and barely awake not yet registering any emotion on the subject. Avery hugged her. "We are best friends Emma" she said as I scooted her back a little so Emma could wake up a bit. When we got home Avery wanted to put them on so I had them both go into the bathroom and stand on the step stairs together so they could see themselves in the mirror. I put them on for them to see and then they spent the next ten minutes giggling and holding them up to the mirror. Avery grabbed her rose and pulled it forward. "Emma hold your flower" she told her "now click it with mine like this" she said as she demonstrated it. "Then we say Best Friends!, okay Emma now you try it, let's do best friends, hold your necklace." Completely obedient Emma held out her rose and Avery clinked them together and happily yelled Best Friends! Emma smiled. By the end of the night when Avery would call "Emma, let's do Best Friends..." Emma would run and find her holding her rose out and then they would clink, Avery would say the familiar phrase and Emma trying to join in would mumble something close as she could. I may have been warm and fuzzy all night about these two. Avery is such a good big sister, she seriously loves being a big sister and has always, always been so inclusive of Emma in whatever she does. Emma loves her so much and most of the time will follow whatever Avery tells her to do. I am so grateful for moments like this to watch their little sisterhood develop. It is so precious to me. I love when they are getting ready for the day and decide that they want to wear them, or when I will hear them playing in their room and all of a sudden stop to do their best friend thing. It is pretty sweet.