May Dates

I already wrote about my May date with baby guy.  This is about the group date and A/Daddy May dates.  Apparently May is the month of dates, which is good, because somehow April snuck by with nary a date.

Sunday - air show - we took the kids to the air show.  I saw we because even though I hadn't planned to go, I went anyway.  And I was miserable.  I didn't feel well to start with - probably due to stress and lack of sleep and the previous day activities.  Then the temp exceeded 79.  Enough said.  Kids enjoyed it though.

yeah, she is sitting on his head

Then we went asparagus picking - this was by far the highlight of my day. 

 

 

Last, Daddy took A out for her May date since I had one with B earlier in the month.  They went to the races.  Crazy girl loved it and loved when she got mud all over her when someone crashed.  

 Man, I love these kids.

Mama, B, and Grandma Date Day

Today was Mama & B (& Grandma) date day and the last Mother's Day Tea I will attend as a Montessori mama.  It was a little bittersweet.  Mrs. Lehman always does such a great job with the teas and they are fun.  The littles are always so proud when they sing and recite their poems.  Part of me is ready for baby guy to move on to kindergarten (summer school starts in 24 days!!) and part of me says S.L.O.W. D.O.W.N...

B was super excited to get this party started.  The kid tried getting dressed in his Sunday best almost two hours before.  Knowing I needed him clean, I nixed it, but eventually let him get dressed an hour early.  With time to kill, we decided to play a game of Battleship.

B is still new to figuring this game out, so we enlisted some help.  

We played enough that we were almost late for the tea.  But we made it.  And it was fabulous, as always.  

 

B and some of the girls.  Love these kiddos.  Now...for a nap.  

March date with the Littles

Man I love my kiddos.  They are fun to be around and they are funny.  I wish I had thought of dating my kiddos when the bigs were little.  Times were different then, though, and it never dawned on me.  So for those of you who are just starting out in your married lives or with your little ones...date your kids.  And date your hubs.  It gives you good times and great memories.  Your kiddos will look forward to spending that special time with you and they will remember and know you liked being with them.

Okay, off my soapbox.  This last weekend was Mama/A date day and Daddy/B date day.  

A and I started out at the food pantry.  This is by far one of my fave things to do with little girl once a month.  Somehow we miss it every now and then and I cannot imagine why.  I love watching her interact with people she knows, love watching her keep my table stocked, and love watching her think it is good and fun to help others.  During this time we forget what toys we want, what shows we want to watch, etc and focus on what others need.  But we obviously don't forget how to make silly faces.

Then little girl and I rode up to CoMO with Daddy and B and we went to a Mizzou softball game.  Yes, I had some crazy hair.  I got a pic of us, but somehow never bothered to get one of the game.  Sadly, the Tigers lost by 1 to UK, but UK was a higher ranked team (UK was 8th, MU was 16th).  We still had a great time.  I tried to explain the game of softball to her.  She played tball last year, but they didn't have strikes or outs and everyone ran around the plate, so she hasn't caught on yet how that all works.  I hope we can get it figured out soon since baseball/softball starts up the end of next month!

Then we met up with Daddy and B again, who had been out hiking somewhere.  We took the kiddos to Cosmo Park, but it had been partially torn up so we didn't stay long. 

 

 

Next we went to the Columbia Mall and had dinner and the littles rode on the carousel.

 

After a full day of being outside, running around, and food (pantry and the mall), we settled in for a van ride to grandma's, complete with more food and drink and the movie Sinbad.  

I know I said it before, but date your kiddos.  Sometimes we spend so much time reading how to be good parents, researching fun things, looking into how we can improve our kids {grades, skills, chances} that we forget to just spend time with our kids.  They will be much better humans in this world when they know their parents love them by spending time with them.  They don't need more busy-ness, more programs, more sports.  They need more YOU.  Glennon Doyle from Momastery posted this picture on Facebook earlier today and it is EXACTLY what I was thinking.  Wish I had known this before.

Dating My Kids

Back in December, Michael and I had two brilliant ideas.  Mine was that we needed to start dating our kids.  His was we should start reading the Bible all the way through as a family.  Both were great and both started in January.  We have done a spectacular job of keeping up with both {so far}.  In January, Daddy and B went on their date.  They walked around at Shooter's Club and dad showed B how to shoot.  B was too scared to do it himself, but he enjoyed watching Dad.  They walked around some more, then went to JC and met A and I for lunch.  Afterwards they went to Lowe's and got a project to build together.

A and I started our day out helping at the food pantry.  Then we went to JC, had lunch with the boys, got her ears pierced, and went home to give each other mani/pedis.  

silly kids playing at the mall

scared to get her ears pierced

I'd say panicked at this point.

then happy it was all over

home pedi

working on her own nails

doing mine

  

working on his monster truck

 Today we had our February date.  First Daddy and B went to B's V-day party at Aurora Montessori.  They had a great time.  They also had a camera with no memory card.  Ahhhh...oh well, they will remember the fun they had.  

After the party, A, B, Daddy, and I went to JC to see Frozen.  Kids loved it.  Jury is still out as far as I'm concerned.  Then we ate at BWW.  Really nothing needs to be said here.  Just based on that alone it would have been a great day.  Had a great meal, then headed to Barnes & Noble where each kiddo got to pick out a new book.  We drove Daddy and A back to his car and they headed home.  B and I got a Frosty from Wendy's then I took B bowling for the first time.  That boy is a hoot.  He was super excited.  He would "throw" the ball (aka roll it gently) down the lane, then would drop to the floor, lean to the side and watch the ball go down.  All I can say is thank goodness for bumpers.  If I hadn't the bumpers for him, I would have had half the score I did.  I didn't even have good scores.  We were all tired, so we went home, where I got to fix A's hair for her date with Daddy at her school's dance.  

the kids love playing this game at the movie theatre (above and below)

BWW - one of the BEST. PLACES. EVER.

"reading" the book A picked out at B&N while A is playing at the mall

He was super excited to put on bowling shoes.

good job, B!!

Crazy kid did this nearly every time he bowled.  

or did this.  He is watching the ball roll down.

She wanted a sassy pose before her pose with Daddy.

These are great times.  I hope when they are older they can look back at these dates and days with fond memories and smiles.  Love dating my kids.