Peach's Date

Recently, in all of the {sometimes controlled} chaos that consumes our home, I've decided that a couple of my kids seem to get left out-- A LOT. This, of course, is certainly not intentional. It's the nature of the beast when you have three younger children who cry because they're colicky, or because they are two and always say no even if they really want to say yes, or because a certain preschooler can't control her emotions half the time. Somewhere between spilled milk, diaper blow-outs, two hour fits, loads of stained laundry, and disgustingly dingy kitchen floors, my older two gals get lost in the shuffle.

I really hate that they {usually} behave so well, but then they get left behind. Because honestly, I'm not Super Woman. Or Super Mom. I don't have it all figured out. The nitty gritty of it all....



Folks, I'm crazy busy and I feel incredibly guilty for how little {quality} time I have available to spend with the 4 and 5 year old children in this family!


There, I said it. Even if I do find a few minutes {and I'm not exaggerating when I say a few} where I'm not tending to a need of one of the younger three children, I really have no desire, motivation, guts, or brain-power to figure out something fun to do with my older two. Besides, if I were to start something fun, it would be interrupted in a matter of minutes. And in case you were wondering, NO, we don't even get an uninterrupted nap time because one of those three is always not sleeping for some reason or another.

And I'm missing my big girls. They do so much for our family--things I'm sure some 4 and 5 year olds don't do do. They do {mostly} what they're told to do. They listen {rather} well. And they're always willing to give hugs and kisses. And I do show my appreciation in the form of little bonuses during the day--anything from an extra tv show, to snuggle time, to an extra story, or baking something fun.

But I find that the best time we have together is when we can be completely care-free and uninterrupted. So, since it's kinda hard to kick my family out of the house and take one of the girls and go snuggle them all nap long, I take them on dates. Recently, Peach and I went on a date.

We planned to go see a movie. We thought we'd see Rio, but we ended up seeing Hop. When we were in line some friends ended up right behind us and recommended Hop, so we went to that instead. Peach got to pick the movie, of course, and I think she really enjoyed it. Okay, it was cute and I enjoyed it too!

At the last minute, we decided we'd go get a little burger and fry right before the movie. We are naturally spontaneous people, but with 5 in tow we've learned we cannot be spontaneous. But when I only had one kiddo to worry about {who's out of diapers and rather independent} plus myself, we could totally be spontaneous. And so our last minute plan to grab a bite to eat worked out beautifully.

While on our date, Peach offered up stories about her sisters, her dreams, asked lots of questions, told me many random facts about her life {which I love}, and even told me that I looked pretty. And yes, I told her she looked absolutely beautiful in her pretty blue dress. My girls do love any excuse to dress up, even if it's for a burger and a {cheap theater} movie.

These memories are certainly turning out to be my favorites of the recent past. I cherish them!