We made it to the long weekend and the official end of summer! As bummed as I am about my girls moving out, I do love this time of year with a little more of a schedule and structure and fun things always on the horizon to look forward to! I have so many fun ideas for fall! I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately but I can feel myself coming out of it and getting excited to decorate and work on my projects again. YEA for that. :)
Sharing a little re-cap of move in day and Ad’s dorm room! We snapped this pic above a couple of days before we took her to Texas.. last family dinner before college!
These 3. When did they grow up!?
We ended up flying with the blue bags.. we just double bagged them all to be safe and only put clothes (soft items) inside.
Move in day! Ad was so excited and her fun energy helped me feel more excited! At her dorm/college we had a check in time at 9 am and we had to be done by around 5 pm because activities start for the kids and they wanted parents to say good-bye. We knew there would be no time for last minute Target/Walmart runs to get this or that so we had to have everything ready! We made a trip to Target the night before to get some larger things we didn’t have room for on the plane and her roommate’s sweet parents let us ship some items to them because they just live an hour away from the school and were driving. That saved us!
I snapped this picture waiting in the carpool line. There were so many groups of kids out cheering as the cars pulled in! They unloaded our bags and took everything up to the room.. her bags made it to the room before we did! Quite a system.. we were impressed and it was a such a fun welcome to her new home away from home.
We met her roommate’s sweet parents and all got to work unloading clothes and opening boxes.. no time to waste! BEFORE..
{Blue Comforter Set – comes in other colors too!}
and AFTER! These cute girls picked out everything themselves and planned the whole room and they did such a good job! We didn’t finish the room before Kenny and I had to leave. The rug was backordered so her roommate’s parents brought it and the headboards and a few other things a couple of days later (seriously so grateful for them!). But we got the girls mostly set up and ready.
{Sleepyhead Mattress Topper}
I heard from friends that this was the best mattress topper so we tried it and Ad is loving it even more than her bed at home.. ha.
I wish I would have taken more pics of the mess happening during set up.. stuff everywhere! We actually made the bed last so that we could set items on her bed while we were putting everything away.
{Dorm Room Bedskirts}
I didn’t snap a pic of under her bed either! We have a dresser and a couple of these organizers underneath for clothes and extras. I also put a little rug on the floor and we pushed her drawers back against the wall so Ad is also using this spot as a quick change area too. One of the first times being so short has paid off! ;)
{Bed Shelf}
This cute little bed shelf is perfect to hold her phone/alarm and water at night!
{Shoe Organizers}
We made the best use of her small closet and put shoes over the door. I forgot to get a pic of the inside of her closet but I was so grateful for the hangers I shared in this post! They were the only way to fit all of her hanging clothes.
Lunch break!
{Dry Erase Calendar}
We got these cute dry erase boards for over the girls’ desks. Ad has always liked wall calendars.
{Dressers with Charging Station/Lamps}
We had these cute dressers that we planned to put in-between the two beds but because of the room layout we couldn’t put the beds side by side facing the same way so we put the dressers together between the two desks.
Snapped this before her roommate hung her calendar.. it turned out to be a cute work space for them!
{Fairy String Lights with Pictures}
Ad really wanted pictures of family and friends hanging by her bed and the command hooks were not working with me! I hung the string lights and they fell down. I hung them again and they fell again. I finally got them to stick (3rd time was a charm) so we’ll see if they last! So far Ad says we are still in business. :)
Good-byes were hard.
We each hugged her and then we all 3 just hugged and cried for a few minutes. I felt sick to my stomach walking out of that door and driving away. We had to drive to Dallas that night for an early flight home the next morning and I don’t think I stopped crying! We all 3 had a rough/sad night but the next day Ad got up and got dressed and went to every single activity and by the end of the night she had already made so many new friends.
By night 2 we were getting happy texts like this. They make me cry but happy tears! The BEST texts to get.
Also we don’t do much line dancing in San Diego.. ha.
All the FaceTime calls help so much too. Her roommate’s mom brought the headboards! :)
We flew home the next morning and had to shake off the physical/emotional exhaustion because it was time for round 2 with Ellie! She’s only 25 minutes away from us so MUCH less stressful and hard. I’m so grateful I still have her close! Snapped this pic quick loading the truck. She couldn’t leave behind these stuffed animals from friends. :)
{Comforter Bedding Set}
We have been taking our time with her room. We got all of her things moved in and her bed ready quick before school started (this cute comforter set is the same set I have in my guest bedroom!). We added this bookshelf and this cute shower curtain a few days ago and are going to finish this weekend. Love that we’ll get to see El again and FaceTime Ad! It has only been one week with them both gone but wow.. I miss having them at the house. It feels so quiet! It’s definitely helping me to know that they are both off to such a great start and happy. I’m just taking things one day at a time over here. :)
There are so many good Labor Day sales going on and I’ve been working on a fun round-up post that I’ll share tomorrow! I’ll show you what I just ordered on sale too. Lots of my favorite things are marked down so we’ll talk soon. :) Thanks for all of your love and support. So many of you have reached out here or on IG with sweet encouraging messages or to say you are going through this hard stage with kids moving out too (or that you remember it well).. it means so much to me. I’m incredibly grateful to have you all in my life! Even if you’re a silent reader. We both know we’d be close friends in person. ;)
Have the best Saturday!
xoxo, Erin