Foresting and Kid Dates

Katie and her friend Frances have discovered that warm weather means a plethora of garter snakes in the forest.

The bridge is the favorite spot for these three...using big sticks to play with leverage, small sticks and dandelions to throw in the stream to play with the current.

{Dancy, Thora, Samson}

One day he might go over...

Thora has a flower garden in the forest!

Crossing the Creek

Train Game!

This little boy adopted Katie the one time we saw him in our forest group. His mom said he likes to play with older girls, but they don't usually let him. Katie knew just how to handle him, though!

Foresting always ends like this. There are four kids in this picture.

After wayyy too long living with Dancy's overly long, thin, tangly, hair that got in her food all the time, I finally told her it was time to chop. Dancy already had a date scheduled with Shad, so Shad just added the haircut in. Same as her sisters, Dancy loved all the chat time!

And then they went ice skating! And took loads of pictures of and with each other. Dancy loves her new haircut, but loved it even more when she got home and Katie said it looked like Black Widow's hair from Infinity War.

Quick nap in between dates...

{Dancy, Shad, Katie}

That same evening, Shad had a date scheduled with Katie. They got a box of ice cream cones (and had to eat them all, so that meant two each) and walked around the mall. Then they ended up at Big 5 where Katie got all hoppin' excited over volleyballs and wanted to buy a yellow one for me for Mother's Day. She's awesome like that!

Katie liked this hat at the comic book store.

The kids have been earning dates with parents because I decided that'd be a good reward for their sticker charts. Tommy, Katie, and Dancy earn a date when they complete a level of ABC Mouse (a curriculum supplement app we use for school), and Thora earned two dates for filling in her "Big Girl" chart twice. We've been coaching her out of the threenager business. We're so done with that. Shad and I have always thought it to be important to take our kids on dates so they get one-on-one time with us. But life gets in the way sometimes, so I decided that'd be the best reward for them...forcing their parents to make the time for a date. And we do try to get it in right away. Thora has been waiting almost a month to go ice skating with Shad, though. It's summer and we're crazy busy! She picked ice cream at Costco for her first date with me. Tommy also had a date with me where we went to the comic book store and bought a comic book, then got Boba. I just need to be better about taking a picture or two on my dates.