Date night, first edition…

I believe it's becoming a tradition….last week had two dates with two of my most favorite people! The school supply lists came in and so I scheduled solo Mommy Dates with Carson and Avery. Talk about fun!

First, I took Avery. She is what I describe as tentatively excited about Kindergarten. She knows her teacher (same angelic teacher Carson had last year) and so that helps. It also helps that her Big Brother will be right nearby to help her if she should have need of anything. She knows that she's supposed to be excited, but I don't know that it's quite sunk in for her yet how big and wonderful a change is around the corner.

Well, for our date night, we grabbed her school supply list and headed to The Wal-Mart. We had everything picked out in a matter of mere minutes. She was like lightning with her decisiveness. I'm pretty sure that everything that could be pink is pink - including her new monogrammed and personalized pink backpack and lunch box which we ordered online.

We jetted out of The Wal Mart up the road to The Mexican Restaurant where we thought it would be cool to sit on the same side of the booth like big girls. We shared cheese dip and tacos and on the way out, the cashier gave her a quarter to buy one of those gigantic hallow balls of purple bubble gum…which we rarely let the kids have…and which she later regretted saying it went bad too fast.

After that, we sped down to Branson to the only theatre in the area still showing Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. I highly recommend this movie to anyone with kids! It was fantastic. It'll definitely be on the "buy and watch a million times at home" list for when it comes out on DVD.

After securing our tickets, popcorn and M&Ms, we embarked down the hallway to our theatre. We were giddy that we were the only ones there! We marveled together at the idea of having the whole place to ourselves. Avery took her liberty and tried out nearly every seat in the room searching for the best view. Once she found it, I settled in while she ran up to the front of the theatre and began dancing to the movie commercial music – it was her usual Pre-school Hip-Hop meets Beginning Ballet routine.

I was delighted and as great as the movie was, I would have rather watched her all night. She is one of my best friends on earth. I couldn't be more thankful for the gift of mothering her. A true treasure of heaven right here in my own home. Amazing.