How much fun can you pack into one day?

In honor of G entering kindergarten, we started a new annual tradition: "Back to School - Mama/Daughter Day!"

It's a day in which everything's about having fun with each other and enjoying a rare whole day together, just us girls. My girl's going to be busy with school for five days a week soon. It will be a long time before we have another week day in which to do whatever we want.

We left the apartment bright and early (poor Daddy was sick, but was a trooper and watched the boys). G and I were ready for our day:

Say "Mama/Daughter Day!"

First stop: Starbucks, so Mama could get some coffee and the girls could split a blueberry muffin, of which G delicately picked at, and Mama pretty much devoured. Then we headed to the hair salon and G and I got our first haircuts in probably at least a year.

G had never been shampooed before!

G wanted her hair short, so I said "Go for it!"

G was pleased with the final product:

No more tears during morning brushing! :)

Then G and I went to Target and got her some new hairclips and some pencils for school. Then we went off to the Farmer's Market to pick out some veggies for dinner this week. G and I decided to be "sneaky" and we stopped by the apartment and left the veggies at our front door, crept back to the van, and called Daddy to tell him we had left a "surprise" outside the door. G found this covert operation hilarious.

Then it was time for kindergarten Open House. G got to meet her teacher and see her classroom. My big girl asked if she could "explore" the classroom "on my own." I watched her wander around the room from a distance, happy she didn't need me by her side to feel comfortable in her classroom.

Standing outside the school's garden

She was a little nervous, but also excited. Then the excitement became tempered with hunger so we left to grab some lunch. Per her request, we headed to the local Wegman's for sushi, of all things.

A whole lotta sushi!

Munching down

After eating our fill of sushi, G and I split a chocolate chip cookie and got back into the van to head to the local version of a "Chuck E Cheese."

Of course I had forgotten to bring socks, so three bucks later G and I were wearing new socks and playing a crazy game of tag through the intricate climbing area. We played and played and played (of course Mama took a few breaks because playing chase through a tunnel is hard on the knees!). You'd think that this would be the point at which the day was over, but nope! There's more!

G and I headed across the street from the play land to stroll in the mall. This was special because we went into stores that I would never take a 3-year old or a 1-year old, stores like Claires or Hallmark, stores G has wanted to browse in for ages. It had been a while since lunch, and we had played so hard at the play land that G and I were hungry again and sat down to share a soft pretzel before leaving the mall. From there we went to the grocery store to buy poor, sick Daddy some ice cream and then we finally made our way home to make the boys pancakes for being such good sports the whole day.

I had to take time off from work to spend this day with her. We had laundry piling up that needed to be washed. Randy wasn't feeling well. There were many other ways I could have spent that day. But sometimes it's important to take a day off. To focus on just one kid. To listen to your kid. Ten years from now I will still have laundry to do. I'll still have work to get done. But my little girl will never be heading to kindergarten again. This is a day I'll cherish forever.