girls day

it was originally going to be just a few hours but it turned into an all day shop-a-thon!  madelyn and i left the house at 10 and didn't get home until after 5!  (we did stop at the grocery store too.)  i was utterly exhausted - and still had to put it all away and make dinner.  it is nice to shop when matt can watch some of the kids, but shopping on a saturday is just not ideal.  it didn't help that it was the last weekend before school starts so everyone was scrambling for supplies.  since we didn't have an open house, i couldn't ask questions about the list so i just bought what i thought was best and we will see...

the school supply that proved to be the most difficult to find was the "supply box".  first of all, there are hardly any sold because almost everything is a bag style.  and then the ones that were available just seemed too small or were too plain for madelyn.  after the fifth store, i suggested that we go back to target, get the plain pink one and then we could pick out some rhinestones to personalize it.  here is the "before"...

... and the after.

she is pretty happy with the result and so am i.  i brushed off as much of the glitter as i could - like almost scrubbing it off - in the hope that her backpack and desk are not covered with it!  glitter was not my first choice but madelyn wanted it to look like "snow".  the glitter went in the recessed squares and rhinestone 'clusters' were glued on the raised squares.  madelyn laid out the 'pattern' for the clusters, but i glued everything down.  i picked out some heavy duty glue and we sanded the plastic where we were gluing in the hopes that everything doesn't fall off in the first week.

we also picked out a first day of school outfit. we didn't do much in the way of clothes shopping because she didn't really need much beyond jeans - which she hates.

now we just need to label her supplies and load up her backpack for the first day!

it was really nice to spend the whole day with madelyn on her own.  after the women living well conference, i wanted to ask the kids (and matt) how i could love them best and try to get an idea of their love languages.  it was nice to hear that i knew what madelyn's were, but i think that it will help me meet them by having them written down and revisiting it twice a year.

she is such a neat little girl.  i truly enjoy her company. which is good since we are in a sea of testosterone here!  love.