Date with the kids!

Last week I was out of town for a couple of days. I know it is hard on the kids when I am gone, and it is hard on John too. Getting kids ready for school by himself? Just not easy! Remembering everything they need, well I usually do that! I just hoped Amber practiced her spelling for her test on Friday! Who knows what really happens when I'm away. It was probably party time all day long!
I felt bad that circumstances took me away one day longer than planned. I needed to make it up to my girls. I think Amber has the hardest time, she always feels slighted, like she's getting such a bum deal all the time even if I am home! So I had a plan. I was going to take Amber to see a movie on Saturday. Well, then I thought it would be fun to go on Friday afternoon, but I couldn't find one at a reasonable time. But the University of Utah had a gymnastics meet that night. So I decided I would take her to gymnastics! She was so excited to go somewhere with me. But the allure of gymnastics soon wore off. She got bored and we left about halfway through. I guess I can't expect an almost 7 year old to enjoy the same things I do! On the way home we stopped for ice cream. She was so excited. It was such a treat for her. I'm so glad I had the chance to take her somewhere by herself. I had fun with her.

So, the plan was to take Amber to gymnastics and then take both girls to the movie on Saturday morning. On the way to gymnastics Amber said, "Mom, you can just take Emma to the movie tomorrow because I came with you alone tonight. Then Emma can be with you by herself tomorrow." What a sweet little angel I have. I didn't really expect this attitude to last, as I fully expected her to want to go to the movie in the morning! But I love how thoughtful she was. Just the mere mention of letting Emma go alone on Saturday tugged at my heartstrings!

Saturday morning rolls around and yes, Amber wanted to go to the movie. So I loaded both girls into the car and we went to the theater. I took them to see Princess and the Frog, although Amber had already seen it! They loved being able to do something with me. It has been a long time since I have taken them on a date with mommy.

After the movie we stopped at Carl's Jr. for lunch since it was getting late in the afternoon. One o'clock is late for us, especially for lunch. The girls were hungry and I didn't want to hear them complain the whole way home! So we pulled into the drive through and Amber says, "Wow, mom, this is the second day you've done something nice for me!"

Am I really that mean? Okay, so we really haven't done much together and we haven't been able to eat out a whole lot lately. Financial circumstances have prevented us from splurging on the non necessities. I guess I didn't realize how hard that has been for my kids. They know they miss out on a lot, but I've really tried to do things with them. I know that I need to make a better effort to spend time with them doing things they enjoy.

Since Monday was President's Day the kids had a day off school. So in the morning I took them to South Towne Mall where they have this little dinosaur play place. They loved being able to get out of the house! We were there for quite a while. But the kids started getting tired and it was getting too busy for my liking. When the kids had to wait in a line of about 15 kids just to go down the little slide, that is too many people in a small area! They were starting to trip over everyone! While we were there, Jenna showed up with her kids. What a pleasant surprise. I wasn't really expecting to see anybody I knew as most people had other plans. It was nice to see her for the short while we were there!

Needless to say, we all had a good weekend. The kids were all happy to have had special time with mommy!