special date

on monday for amelya's birthday we had a date. it was so special to me. it's a rare treat to get one on one time with amelya. {something we are going to change!}
earlier in the day she asked if i was going to dress fancy like her. so i did. here we are before our date.

when our church planned a women's ministry workshop for her birthday, i originally wasn't going to go because it was on amelya's birthday. it was for knitting. then shaun and i talked and decided if amelya wanted to learn, it could be a special birthday treat. she did!

the sunday before her birthday we went to red robin for lunch. amelya really wanted hu hot, but because she didn't want to make breigh sad about not going to red robin, she said that was fine with her. (what a big girl!) so shaun said he would come home from work "early" (i say "early" because it was 515. but it's early for him.) amelya and i went to hu hot then for dinner, before heading to knitting.

i had a blast. more than a blast actually. it was so fun hanging out with her. she got a special treat for dessert and enjoyed eating with chopsticks. i stared at her a bit, wondering when she grew up!

when we got to knitting, we were a tad bit late, so there were quite a few ladies there already. they all knew it was her birthday and wished her a happy birthday...by singing to her. i seriously almost cried. it was just so sweet and i know made her feel so special. (it made ME feel special. lol) we learned to knit and fellowshipped with our sweet sisters in the Lord. knitting just so happened to be at amelya's "bff's" house. so it was a great bonus. AND one of her other close friends were there. so she had a lot of fun.

we didn't get home til about eleven o'clock. and she stayed up the entire time home. i took her to kwik trip on our way home...it's a 'routine' thing for me to do on my way home late at night for a treat. we enjoyed some glazer donuts on our way home. and talking. it was just so fun to talk to her. and to hear her heart. it blessed me so much to hang out with her.

and i hope i succeeded in the goal of making her feel extra special on her birthday. i've always told shaun that i feel special each day to him. but what i want most on my birthday is to feel extra special. so i do my best to make sure my kids do, too.

one little thing we do is put balloons in their bed the morning of their birthday. it's something my mom did for my sister and i, and i always will remember that.

the next day i told shaun we NEED to do at date once a month, one of us take one of the kiddos alone. it doesn't need to be extravagent. but it will be special. we've talked about how we've wanted to do this, but now it's become a need. they are only little for a short time, and we need to make the best of the time.