project 52, week 27

this summer, phil and i have tried to be more mindful about taking our kids out on one-on-one dates.  we realize that special alone time with mommy or daddy is really hard to come by when you're one of four and that time is only going to grow in importance as they get older.  on the other hand though, finding that chunk of time to slip out for that special date can be challenging.  because most of the time, we prefer to stay together when phil's home and rely on a zone defense between the two of us.  but the kid dates means that one of us gets to go out with one kid while the other one is left behind managing a 3-on-1 situation.  and because things are busy.  and we are tired.  and most days, the goal is to keep them all alive and fed and into bed so that we can finally collapse on the couch and veg.

so while we haven't figured out a good way of doing this regularly, we are at least doing it more often, which counts for something, right?

so these are phone pics of my summer dates with each of the kiddos.  i let each of them choose what they wanted to do with our time together.

lauren chose a frozen yogurt date.  chocolate fro yo with white chocolate chips.  she has simple requests and makes things easy on her mom.

allie went on a trip to the mall to buy lauren's birthday present (ok, ok, it *might* have been an errand disguised as a date but she got the longest chunk of time!) and chose a cookie to share with me when we stopped for a snack.

and mikey chose a bowling date and a stop at mcdonald's afterward.  just the two of us.

love spending time with each of my kiddos.  they are each so wonderfully unique and light up my life in different ways.  now i just gotta figure out how to carve out more time for moments like these...