Daddy Daughter Dates

During the Christmas season Shane and I wanted to find a way to teach the girls that Christmas is about giving.  They are a little young to understand giving to others they don't know even though I tell them all the time when I clean out their toys that they are going to other kids that don't have as many toys.  I've also been wanting to get the girls to have some one on one time away from each other every so often.  Except for occasional doctor appts. or things like that, they are never apart.  If I take one of them to the store, I usually just take both of them.  Also, Aria has been pretty demanding of me lately and not letting dad do anything for her.  If she needs something, Mom has to do it.  It's frustrating for me and for Shane who can't help out with anything.

So...we combined all 3 of these needs and told the girls that they were going on a date with Dad.  Aria went one night and then Siena went the next night.  The purpose of the date was to buy gifts for everyone else in the family for Christmas.  The girls were sooo excited.  They know Shane and I go on dates all the time so just the thought of a date had them talking about it the next 2 days.  They knew who was going when and couldn't wait.

While they were gone I planned a little fun night of tunnels, forts and books by flashlight.  Shane said they had a good time and each got an ice cream cone after going to buy gifts.  They are so funny because each of the things they got were something they wanted for themselves.  So when Aria walked in the door, she said 'I got you a treat mom...Skittles!'  It was so cute.  They were both excited as they went upstairs and wrapped their gifts and brought them downstairs.  Both of them as they handed their gift to each other proudly proclaimed what was inside 'It's a Frozen matching game!' or 'Here's your present, Elsa socks!'  They were just as excited to watch them open it on Christmas morning and were so proud they were able to participate in the gift giving.

It was fun for them to get out alone and we plan on keeping up the tradition and going on more 'dates'.