Daddy Daughter (and Son) Date

Madeline attempting to show us a new way to go down playground slides
Eva and her favorite hair accessory!
Owen, having a great time with the crew!
This is the picture from our soggy outing earlier this week (that I mention below). Eva is holding the beeper that lets us know when our food is done. I found it very comical that they still gave us one of these, even though we were the only customer in sight. She is so happy.


So, Eva and Madeline have been working very hard to earn a weekend outing with Dad. Eva had to earn 20 days in a row of waking up to a dry bed (this is a long story that I will have to blog about later), and Madeline had to earn 20 days of playing the piano (without Mom nagging her:). Charts have been all filled up with stars for about 2 weeks now, but Marc had not (until this weekend) had the time to take them out. Originally, it was going to be a one-on-one date with Dad as the grand prize. We quickly realized that it was going to have to be a "double date" as available dad time was very limited this conference weekend, and we did not want to have to push it back another week, for fear old habits would be reverted to in protest :).
As the girls got ready this morning for their outing, I pointed out to Marc that Owen would feel quite left out if he did not get to come along as well. He has been sleeping through the night lately, and should be duly rewarded. Oh, to be alone for 2 hours all by myself!......an especially exciting thought after Dad's several consecutive late-nights at work this past week. I was giddy about the idea, but tried to appear forlorn as my 4 favorite-people-in-the-world piled out the door. Free at last.....ahhhhh.....free to......okay, all I did was go through that ever growing pile of papers in my bedroom. We need to hire a family secretary to file for me. I wish I could say I did something luxurious....like I went to the spa and got a facial, but no, I filed papers-- and thought about finishing those taxes of mine that I keep putting off.
Marc took some pictures of their outing, which consisted of a trip to Madison Square Park, and a refueling stop at the Shake Shack (unbelievable shakes, fries, hot dogs, hamburgers etc...that my arteries can only handle monthly). It looks like they had a great time. I take absolutely no credit for dressing them this morning. Madeline is wearing Santa socks, and Eva is wearing one "monkey" sock and a dark blue floral one. Gotta love daddy stylists. Oh, and how do you like that red headband? Red is the new black, I heard. Goodness, when will it end?!?
The last picture is of Eva at the Shake Shack with me earlier in the week. We were supposed to go with our ward to the park and the outdoor Shake Shack eatery as a little group birthday outing. Of course I showed up 30 minutes late, and by that time the group had disbanded and gone home because of the darn rain. But, we had taken that train all the way to 23rd street, and I was going to have me some frozen custard and a hamburger! So there we stood. In the rain. In the cold. Eating ice cream. That morning Eva said two things in a very confused 4-year-old voice, "Mom, where are our friends?" (I had promised her oodles of ward-friends to play with) and "why are we eating outside?" I don't know Eva, I don't know......