For the last several months, I have wanted to get away with the girls for some special time together. We have done short trips for coffee or to run some errands...but we have never had any real type of extended time...until this weekend! And what a sweet time it was!
They had no idea we were going anywhere until the night before we left. Bryan and I got them out of bed, gave them invitations to go with me (in the morning) to Seattle for a day and a half, and Bryan gave them each $50 dollars to spend at the outlets on school needs and a little bit of fun, too! The only time they have ever seen $50 is from family on their birthday so they were SO excited!
In fact, after we had been shopping for a couple of hours at the outlets, Grace held out her arms and said, "Mom, I can't believe we are actually carrying bags. I can't believe we have actually bought stuff instead of just looking!" My eyes filled up and my heart warmed up and bubbled over in giggles.
I love having a big family, but there are sacrifices that sometimes have to be made in a bigger family...and it blessed my heart over and over to see the excitement in my girls eyes as they tried on clothes, exclaimed over sales, and did happy dances with me when, at the checkout, it was even less than the sale price said!:)
We made our way to my brother and sister-in-law's place (they moved to downtown Seattle back in the fall) and met up with my brother Paul (and his girlfriend, Sarah!) for dinner. It was so fun to WALK to dinner and back. Although, I probably could have done a lot more walking after eating my birthday cheesecake!:)
Michelle took a good part of the day off on Monday and we had fun spending it together! We walked to Top Pot Doughnuts for a mid-morning treat and then walked down to Pike's Place to look around. The girls didn't care much for the crowds :) but they did get a kick out of the "gum wall". They were not exactly sure why their Aunt Michelle gave them gum while we were walking with the instructions to "chew, chew, chew" but once we got to the wall, it all made sense!:) I think Grace was a bit grossed out.:)
We made our way to one of the malls and had fun with Michelle!:) She is one pretty special lady...it's a blessing to be able to call her "sister" and that my kids get to call her "aunt"!
Our time away was full of sweet memories. I was thankful for extra time to talk to Grace and Faith. Thankful for the honest conversations we were able to have (yep...I even asked them to tell me one thing they like about me and one thing they don't), thankful for the fact that "three" wasn't a crowd and it was still personal and special although it wasn't "one on one". I was so thankful to the Lord for all the times we just laughed together, for the little things I learned about each of them that made some of the bigger things make more sense, and even for the all the times they kept mentioning how great it was that Dad would watch their brothers and do all that he did so we could get away. I loved that they loved their Dad even more for his sacrifice though he was not with us!
It was not "Sleepless in Seattle" but it sure was "Sweetness in Seattle"!:)
They had no idea we were going anywhere until the night before we left. Bryan and I got them out of bed, gave them invitations to go with me (in the morning) to Seattle for a day and a half, and Bryan gave them each $50 dollars to spend at the outlets on school needs and a little bit of fun, too! The only time they have ever seen $50 is from family on their birthday so they were SO excited!
In fact, after we had been shopping for a couple of hours at the outlets, Grace held out her arms and said, "Mom, I can't believe we are actually carrying bags. I can't believe we have actually bought stuff instead of just looking!" My eyes filled up and my heart warmed up and bubbled over in giggles.
I love having a big family, but there are sacrifices that sometimes have to be made in a bigger family...and it blessed my heart over and over to see the excitement in my girls eyes as they tried on clothes, exclaimed over sales, and did happy dances with me when, at the checkout, it was even less than the sale price said!:)
We made our way to my brother and sister-in-law's place (they moved to downtown Seattle back in the fall) and met up with my brother Paul (and his girlfriend, Sarah!) for dinner. It was so fun to WALK to dinner and back. Although, I probably could have done a lot more walking after eating my birthday cheesecake!:)
Michelle took a good part of the day off on Monday and we had fun spending it together! We walked to Top Pot Doughnuts for a mid-morning treat and then walked down to Pike's Place to look around. The girls didn't care much for the crowds :) but they did get a kick out of the "gum wall". They were not exactly sure why their Aunt Michelle gave them gum while we were walking with the instructions to "chew, chew, chew" but once we got to the wall, it all made sense!:) I think Grace was a bit grossed out.:)
We made our way to one of the malls and had fun with Michelle!:) She is one pretty special lady...it's a blessing to be able to call her "sister" and that my kids get to call her "aunt"!
Our time away was full of sweet memories. I was thankful for extra time to talk to Grace and Faith. Thankful for the honest conversations we were able to have (yep...I even asked them to tell me one thing they like about me and one thing they don't), thankful for the fact that "three" wasn't a crowd and it was still personal and special although it wasn't "one on one". I was so thankful to the Lord for all the times we just laughed together, for the little things I learned about each of them that made some of the bigger things make more sense, and even for the all the times they kept mentioning how great it was that Dad would watch their brothers and do all that he did so we could get away. I loved that they loved their Dad even more for his sacrifice though he was not with us!
It was not "Sleepless in Seattle" but it sure was "Sweetness in Seattle"!:)
Comments
I'm so glad you had the opportunity to go to Seattle for a fun time with your daughters. I know first-hand how rare those Mother/Daughter moments can be. I'm also pleased to hear that you believed Bryan's "sacrifice" story (or at least the girls did). But do you really know why your boys were smiling when Mom came home? :) Could you ask your husband to post some of the pictures from his time with his sons! I think we would all be amused and amazed by what they all did together while you were gone! Bryan is such a great dad, too!