Special Days

I'm not sure how many of you remember or even watched the reality TV series called John and Kate Plus 8, but long after the show has ended there are a few things I remember about how they balanced so many children. While the show ended on a depressing note and there were some intense family issues, one of the positive things it inspired me to do was create individual time to spend with my kids. Though John and Kate were parenting twins and sextuplets, I remember them taking a day out for each child to do something special that was unique to their personality/interests. As our family grows, I want to make this a habit for us as well so that everyone feels they are receiving the attention and love they need as individuals rather than just collectively. That said, one of our goals this summer was to try to take time to spend with both Caleb and Hadley doing one-on-one activities age appropriate for them. 

I already posted about our camping trip with Caleb earlier in the summer, but we also wanted to take him to the drive-in, knowing he would love the experience. While we felt okay breaking the bed time rules for him to stay up and watch the first of the double feature presentation, we didn't think this was the best option for Hadley. Without her normal bed time routine, we feared a cranky girl who might disrupt other movie watchers. To avoid this scene, I asked Mom if she would mind keeping her for the evening so we could do this special outing with our boy. She agreed thankfully, and we were off! Hadley was happy to be left with her doting grandparents of course, and Caleb was thrilled for the opportunity to play on the playground before the film, gobble up popcorn and candy, and watch Monsters University under the stars. I love the atmosphere of the drive-in as well, sitting in the cool night air at the old timey outdoor theater, so I was as happy about this bonding event as my son was.

This was a popular playground attraction even when I was little. I'm a bit amazed they are still there, but not much has changed really so I shouldn't be. They've done great at preserving this place!

He kept saying, "This is the fastest horse on the farm!"

I asked them to layer the butter in our huge tub of popcorn! I'm sure the OB would completely disapprove. Shh!

After devouring his portion of the king size Reese's peanut butter cups, Caleb told me he didn't like that kind of candy. (Uh huh, yeah right, Buddy! Your face says it all. )

Since we usually do special nights with Caleb when Hadley is having her slumber parties at NaNa and Pop's, I also wanted to make sure that our sweet girl gets her fair share of personalized quality time with us when her brother is being loved on at their grandparents'. Though she is still too small to appreciate or participate in a lot of the outings we want to do with Caleb, I try to choose more low key adventures that I know she'll enjoy. Usually, we just stay home and one or the other of us give her lots of attention while the other tries to get something accomplished around the house, but one night we decided to lay our chores aside and get her out of the house to play with both of us. Our location - the nearby park. While we've been there numerous times, the fun of having the full attention of both parents seemed to make it especially enjoyable. No one else was in the park but us ,and it was so relaxing just to enjoy her without worrying about where her brother might be running off to or other kids knocking her down. I know these evenings alone with her will get even more special the older she gets, and I can hardly wait!

While the individual time with each of them was wonderful, there were other special evenings when we stopped to take time for all four of us to be together. Most often it was to play in the yard or visit family members as you saw in my previous posts, but on other occasions we tried new things. For example, one evening, we took advantage of the 50 cent ice cream cones Burger King offered this summer. Since we are pretty careful to limit sugar intake with our kids, this was an especially unusual treat for these little ones. 

Mmmm!

Hadley shared a cone with Daddy since she was too little for her own. She ate the last portion of my cone as well, and when Caleb got to the bottom part of his, he too offered it to Hadley like we did. What a sweet boy to share his ice cream!

While it is sometimes difficult to remember to lay down the to-do list and plan these quality time experiences, I'm going to try to keep things like this on the calendar from now on so I don't forget. They may be few in number as we juggle three babies, but I hope that they are days they'll remember feeling loved uniquely.