A new tea mug (and a new dog!) for Amelia

Many of you have been reading about my youngest niece, Amelia, for years on this blog, so I thought you might enjoy an update since she graced Aunt Jane and me with her presence for a shopping day on Saturday — a rarity with a 12-year-old who's usually too busy keeping up with her 18- and 21-year-old sisters! Here are Amelia and Aunt Jane having lunch at Zaxby's.

Amelia is crazy about dogs, horses, and pretty much any animal she's ever come across. When she grows up, she wants to be a veterinarian's assistant so she can work with animals all day. I asked her why not a vet, but she doesn't want to go to school that long, she says. We'll see. Her home currently has chickens, goats, a cat, two dogs, and a miniature donkey. Amelia absolutely adores her Great Pyrenees, Lily, so she decided that Lily needed "a husband," and that meant she saved her birthday money and got Luke, who seems quite taken with her already. She introduced me to him as soon as I arrived.

When we were in a T.J. Maxx on Saturday, we came across a great new "tea mug" that is perfect for Amelia. It says, "I wish I were my dog."

Check out the back of the mug! Cute! This will be great for the green tea Amelia is so fond of. I enjoyed seeing the things she shopped for on Saturday. She had several birthday gift cards left and bought some plaques and Bible verse art for her new bedroom, along with blank canvas and paints to make another one of her own. She loves Hobby Lobby as much as I do and says she will be happy to drive me there when I'm too old to make it there myself. (And I have witnesses now!)

It was a fun day, and after we got back from shopping, I was flipping through the photos on my phone when I discovered a selfie she had taken when I asked her to hold my phone at one point. Cute reminder of a fun day with this sweet girl!