Gate (Date) Night

I love my husband. For many reasons but the one that stands out the most lately is is his willingness to be an awesome godly father to Maddax and Makenna. My sister and her husband take their kids out on date nights to give them one on one attention and so we decided to borrow this idea. (Note: most of our cool ideas come second hand from my sister or from a book she has lent me. She rocks)

Makenna favorite thing to play or be right now is a princess so we went with that. During regular devotional time at home we make mention of how Makenna is a princess in Gods kingdom and she loves to hear that. Now we have added that she is daddy's princess while she is here on Earth. She often asks if she will one day get rings like monnie has from her prince daddy. We tell her yes when she is older. Chris makes every attempt to tell her daily she is daddy's princess and you can see it in her eyes how much she loves to hear him say that.

We planned a date night for her and daddy to go out and spend some quality time together. She kept calling it a gate night. Like her daddy she tends to mix up words. I find it rather cute and attempt to write them down in a journal I have been keeping for her since I found out I was pregnant. Sorry for the tangent. Back to the story. So Makenna and daddy headed out the door. She was smiling from ear to ear knowing she was going to be out with her prince without the Queen (Me) tagging along. Daddy lets her do more things than monnie would. I guess every once in a while will not hurt. Right?

Chris took her to Mr. Gattis to eat pizza and play games. I for one would rather not eat there. Can you say High Fructose Corn Syrup. Yuck!!! But Makenna loves it. I think more the atmosphere and the games to which she gets tickets to buy treasures (JUNK). She came home later so excited from her date with daddy. I tucked her into bed and she said, "Daddy will always be my girl." She is not really good at using genders appropriately in conversation. She meant, "Daddy will always be my boy."

I am so glad he is developing that realtionship with her. It makes me fall in love with him all over again. And I am so thankful that our heavenly father so wants to have those kind of realtionships with us. We do not have to wait till he is off work for us to have time with him. He is always willing to listen and offer answers. May not always be the answers we want but Thy will be done.

First (THIRD) Haircut

Well my little man will soon be turning one and it is about time for his first haircut, or so I thought. Come to find out Chris had trimmed his hair on two prior occasions without my consent or camera. Needless to say a got a good sound lashing but since I never really noticed a change in his hair I figured he was a good barber. Chris cuts his hair once a week and besides the neck trim, which I complete, he is pretty competent.

Camera, check. Kid trapped in Bumbo seat, check. Bib on backwards to double as a hair catcher, check. So Chris began to snip while I began to snap (the camera).

Mister Maddax was not as compliant, per Chris, as he had been for the 2 prior hair cuts. Needess to say this was not the look I was going for. Either Chris was cutting with one eye closed or he was standing with only one shoe on.

Take II.

I told Chris to get the clippers. You would have thought I was the expert hair cutter. It was all bad. I guess Chris was used to trimming his hair by looking in a mirror not from standing behind the head itself. I took over and worked my magic. After a refresher course, Chris was returned the clippers to finish so that could take more pics.

When it was all said and done my little man was now an adorable prince ready for BOOT CAMP. I guess we will stick with the high and tight, for now.

Turn your hearts to your CHILD

"And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers..." Malachi 4:6

This translates to," If you turn your heart to your child, then the child's heart will be turned to you." If we want to win Makenna's heart we need to put time into activities that mirror her love language "QUALITY TIME."

With the vast amount of snow that was dropped from the heavens this morning we knew God was saying, "go out and play with Makenna." Chris and I reluctantly put on our cold weather gear, if you could call it gear, and faced the elements with a joyful 4 year old. We played outside for about an hour doing all the fun things a child would love to do in the snow. Chris shoveled the driveway into a large pile that Makenna and I packed down. Then we began the meticulous job of carving out the inside to her igloo. She helped pull out the snow and even crawled inside a few times before it was finished to monitor its progress. It was finally finished and it fit not only her and daddy but also a rotten Maddax, who got introduced to his first experience with snow. She loved it and enjoyed every minute spending time with Monnie and daddy. By the way we loved it too.

We spent the evening trudging around town near and far in hope of finding an adult sled for Chris and I so we could conquer the slopes here in town. Not a one to be found. Wal Mart, Dicks, Target, TSC, Meijers and a second Wal Mart all left us empty handed. Time had ran out and darkness was upon us as well as the beginnings of the second wave of snowfall. We decide to call it quits and attempt it tomorrow after breakfast.

The evening concluded with the first of many, I hope, family movie nights. Makenna and I popped popcorn (microwave popcorn can cause cancer FYI) in a popper I got on clearance at Kroger. She loves to help cook. Then daddy, myself, and Makenna piled into our bed(which Makenna loves) and watched the movie "Cars". She was so excited. Like a kid in a candy store. We made it just like the real movies. Big bowl of popcorn, lights out, Sprite (rarely ever gets soda), and Zero candy bar (also rarely ever gets and my favorite). The three of us snuggled up on the bed and enjoyed every minute. Not of the movie but of being with each other uninterrupted and completely devoted to the moment. When the movie ended we decide to let her sleep in our bed (her most favorite thing to do). She smiled at me and I smiled back. I so love that little girl.