Ella's 11 Year Old Pictures & Girly Date!

I took Ella to get her pictures on Sunday, February 28th. Owen and I had been there exactly a week prior to get his pictures. The ladies that were working that day were also working this day. They remembered me and apologized again for us having to wait so long for Owen's pictures. 

This was the first year that Ella picked out her own outfit for pictures without any input from me. I think she did a beautiful job! 

My sweet girly is growing up! 

She chose to bring Kyra and Winter with her. The three pictures above are the one I got digital images of, but the wallets I got to use as Thank You cards have Kyra riding on Winter. I love how JCPenney's encourages the kids to bring something that represents their personality right now. It's fun to look back at the past pictures and see what they chose to bring with them. 

Prior to going to JCP's we had some time before her appointment so we stopped at Value Village to shops or a bit. Ella really wanted one of those plastic Sterlite 3 drawer containers to put her dolls clothes in. We ended up finding one, but it was back in the area where the workers price things. Thankfully I ask a guy if we could buy it and he said yes and he'd price it right away. We ended up getting it for only $2.99!!! I also bought Ella a pretty necklace. 

After her pictures I told her we were going to go out for a late lunch at a restaurant. I wish I could have taken a picture of her face. She was SHOCKED! She stared at me and then said, "Inside!!!" Yes, baby girl inside the restaurant. Thankfully Olive Garden has an online wait list. We had been on the list since we got to JCP's. After finishing up there we headed over and checked in. Our table was going to be ready in about 5 - 10 minutes. We went back to the van to wait, but then Ella realized she needed to use the restroom. We went inside to do that and my phone got a text saying our table was available. 

It was SO nice and normal to be eating at a restaurant! Our waiter was amazing and so friendly. I feel like everyone is so happy to be getting back to normal, so happy to see others and so happy to have a job! 

Date Day With Zeke!

The very next day after Jack's date was Michael's turn to take Zeke out. He gave Zeke the option of going to Bullwinkle's or going to see a movie. Zeke chose a movie....he wanted to see How to Train your Dragon 3. They went to the AMC in Federal Way that used to be the cheap theater. It's still cheaper, but not as cheap. 

While Michael was getting popcorn he gave Zeke money to go play on the Arcade Games. 

Cute racer! 

AMC has our favorite popcorn out of any movie theater. They had this deal where you bought this bucket for a little more than a regular large popcorn cost, but then you can bring it with you each time for the whole year and get it refilled for half the price it would normal cost. That bucket is HUGE too! 

Zeke and Daddy had so much fun together on their date and I was so happy that Michael took pictures of their time together! 

Date Day With Jackson!

This year we've been trying to be more intentional with taking the kids on individual dates on top of spending time together doing fun things as a family. Earlier this year I had a date day with Owen when I took him to his birthday pictures. After the pictures he wanted to go eat lunch at MCD's so that's what we did just he and I. Michael took Ella out to MCD's one day prior to taking her to gymnastics class. It's just such an easy way for the kids to feel special. 

In the past if one of the kids happen to get to do something fun with one of us the other kids would be super jealous instead of excited and happy. Since we're being more intentional about it the kids are genuinely excited for each other and excited to see what fun they get to have with either Daddy or I. 

Because of life it had been months since we'd taken Owen and Ella out. Jackson had been the most excited about getting a date with Mama, but he had to wait and wait and he was so patient. I had asked him at one point what he wanted to do on our date day and I thought he say MCD's, but he surprised me and said he wanted to go mini golfing. One day when I was online I just happened to notice that there was a Groupon for Bullwinkle's Family Fun Center and they have mini golf there. I ended up buying a Groupon for each of us. So everyone in our family has a game card with 150 points on it. When we left for our date on a Saturday morning I didn't tell him where we were going so it would be a surprise. 

He was totally surprised! When we drove up and he saw the building he immediately said..."We're going mini golfing". The last time we mini golfed together was here years ago and it was so fun! 

The weather was beautiful a little brisk, but in the sun it was perfect! It also wasn't super busy...I knew I wanted us to get there as close to opening as we could so we got there at 10:30am. I figured that most birthday parties wouldn't start until closer to noon. 

There are two courses at Bullwinkle's...I would say I like the first course the best! 

I kept score for us! 

Jackson got 3 hole in 1's!!! 

We decided to not do the final hole on the first course so we wouldn't lose our ball and then we moved onto the second course. It seems like everyone does that. By that time there was definitely more people so we had to skip around to different holes so we didn't have to wait forever. In the end we were there for a 1.5 hours and we only spent 38 points from our game cards. We still have so many points on our cards for future date days! 

After mini golf we had to run to Lowe's to get Michael some Moss Out and then we headed out to lunch at Wendy's to finish off our date. We've just recently figured out our kids really like Wendy's...Praise the Lord for something other than MCD's. 

It was so much fun just being with Jack. He's normally my kid that I have to drag words out of his mouth, but we had a great time and conversation was smooth and natural. I love this guy and I hope he always enjoys going mini golfing with his Mama!