mended

{I'm all better now - 99.99% sure. Smiles and hoorahs. !. Being sick is for the birds.}

So, anyway...
I was talking with one of my sisters when she was last here about this grand idea:
Each parent goes on a one-hour (or however long) date with each child every week.

Great idea, no? Well, we thought so. So we are trying it out.

Being the oldest, Spencer went first. It just so happened that he got to go on a date back to back in the same evening. He went fishing with Weston for an hour, then came back and we all ate home-made pizza on the back porch. (Katelyn totally took a huge role in the making of the pizzas this time. After all, it is her favorite food.)

After we ate, he and I took the four wheeler to "Ireland" to climb rocks. (That's just what we call it because it's really rocky and grassy and hilly over there - don't know if the real Ireland is this way or not - never been there.)

Earlier in the day, I had picked clothes out for him and made him a "Clothes Kid" (when you lay out your clothes on the floor to look like a person) on the floor in his room. Just before dinner he came down wearing the clothes with a huge smile on his face. He really liked that I had picked him clothes to wear - and his nice jeans, too. He kept asking me if I was going to "wear that" on our date. I guess that he has something against baby spit-up and pizza sauce - who knew? I changed before we left, for his sake.

As we climbed the rocks, I was just praying that we wouldn't have any encounters with rattlers {rattlesnakes - for you Lay people}. Instead we encountered much rock chuck (groundhogs/whatever you call them) poop.

Spencer wore his "lucky glove". Good thing.

We had so much fun. I sometimes forget how cute and charming Spencer can be.

Moral of the story: Taking these sweet, loving children out ONE ON ONE - even if it's just for a ride or what have you - is totally otally awesome! Just do it. They'll love it, you'll love it, everyone behaves better and you get to know, and, yes, therefore love, that darling little person all the more.

I highly recommend it.