A December Weekend

As mentioned in my last post, my weekend would begin with a date with Walker on Friday. 

 

 

 He decided on Red Robin as his restaurant of choice and had his meal (pepperoni pizza) picked out long before we left that evening. It was so much fun to drive there and listen to his little voice chattering on and on behind me about what we were going to do and asking one question after another...after another. He was especially excited about the milkshake that I promised him he could get in place of the usual juice or milk. When his brownie mint milkshake finally arrived he couldn't believe the size of it. The next sequence of pictures is Walker explaining to me that they didn't have any kids' cups left so they had to give him a "Mommy sized" one.

 

After dinner it was on to Christmas shopping for his sisters.  This was my favorite part!  It was heart warming to see him carefully select a gift for each of the girls that he knew they would love.  It was fun to see how well he knew each of them and wanted so much to surprise them with something special just from him.  And when I say surprise I mean tell them what their gift was the second he got in the door.  Luckily Allan managed to intercept him and get the gifts hidden where he will hopefully forget about them until Christmas morning.  All in all my evening with my handsome boy was wonderful and so rewarding.  I hope that we will continue to make our one-on-one time with each of the kids a priority as there is so much we learn from them when they are on their own without anyone or anything to compete for our attention.

 

Saturday we were off to the mall where Allan and I split the kids, the older two with him and baby with me, and got some more Christmas shopping done.  They were all so good that we took them to watch the sea lion show....sort of.  We went to the upper level and let them sit and watch it from above.  They didn't seem to know the difference though and were thoroughly entertained either way.

 

Lillian was far more entertaining than the sea lions though as she screamed and clapped her hands every time the sea lion so much as shook his head.

 

Several months ago Allan and I decided to make a more concerted effort towards setting Sundays apart from any other day of the week.  We decided that we would not allow television or video games or iPad games etc. on Sundays, except for America's Funniest Home Videos that we watch together as a family before bed and the Book of Mormon cartoons that we have.  I quickly learned that if given the choice the kids would watch those Book of Mormon videos all day so we had to revise our rule a little further.  I expect the kids to find productive things to do and I spend as much time as I can reading, baking, and writing letters with them to help keep their mornings full as we wait for 1:00pm church to roll around.  On many, MANY Sunday mornings I feel like I am fighting a losing battle, particularly the mornings that Allan is at meetings.  By the time we are finally ready to head out the door all three of them are often in tears and I am quickly on the way there myself.  There are so many moments that I want to give in and turn on the TV for just an hour so that I can shower or do my make up or get dinner in the crock pot.  I have to keep reminding myself that I am trying to teach them an important and valuable lesson about the Sabbath day and that my commitment and consistency will make the difference.  But then there are days like today where it all comes together and I can see the rewards of my efforts and feel hopeful that maybe I can win the battle for Sundays after all. 

 

This morning the kids found one productive and imaginative thing to do after another without my pleading.  They got along beautifully, taking turns and using their manners and involving their baby sister when needed.  Their sweet voices and laughter mingled with Christmas carols and followed me around the house while I prepared dinner and primary lessons and my heart leapt with the possibility that this could be our Sundays more often as we continue to persevere.  I had to get a few pictures so that I could look back later, on the more difficult days, and take strength in knowing that the good days are so very good.

 

 

 

Some day my hope is that Sundays will no longer just be "church day" or "the day without TV" but will be a day that they look forward to because of the uninterrupted peace and quiet that they can enjoy on those days.