It’s still August, which means I’m still going on “girls’ dates” with each member of my fab five.  This past weekend, on my way home from the mountains of North Carolina, I took the long way home so I could stop by Knoxville for a little date with MacKenzie!

For each “date,” I pick what we’re doing, mainly to keep the girls from asking to be taken to Disney World and also to keep things as fair as possible.  For MacKenzie’s August date, I decided that we’d spend an hour or two playing at her bedroom in her dad’s apartment in Knoxville.  While that probably doesn’t sound like a very thrilling date to you, it is something that MacKenzie routinely mentions to me — how she wishes I lived in Knoxville so we could have fun at her apartment, on her own turf.

When I showed up, it was obvious that MacKenzie had been preparing for my arrival.  She presented both a gift bag and card to me as soon as I walked in the door.   The card read: “Just a little something for you because everything you have done for me. P.S. You funny.”  It’s okay, you can cry at the darlingness of it all; I did, too.

Ready for another dose of preciousness?  The gift bag was one of the bags I put her birthday gifts in from a couple of weeks ago.  Even more precious?  For her birthday, I gave her some “do-it-yourself” craft kits because she’s very into those types of things right now.  So, for my “gift,” she had made the crafts for me.

She also threw in some Silly Bandz.  It’s serious when a child offers you her Silly Bandz.

Once I had properly oohed and ahhed over all my gifts, MacKenzie and I got down to business: the business of shopping, that is.  She had set-up several toys throughout her bedroom that she wanted me to “buy” so she could ring them up on her cash register.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough pretend money to cover everything I decided to buy.  As you can see from the picture below, this greatly grieved MacKenzie.

Luckily for me, she was able to give me a discount and I was able to purchase my jewelry, clothes and perfume in La Boutique De MacKenzie… with change to spare!

In addition to playing several rounds of “store,” we laid out and counted MacKenzie’s collection of Silly Bandz because, hello, everyone needs to take inventory of their Silly Bandz collection at least once a day.  Obviously.

When we finished playing, MacKenzie was hungry so I took her to Arby’s for some popcorn chicken and girl talk.  We discussed school, boys and why I cannot move into the apartment that is available for rent directly above her apartment.  Or marry her dad.  Or move into her apartment.

I can’t wait until September’s date with Miss MacKenzie!