walk with me

pat was going to be home late last night.

so, instead of my usual "put them to bed a little early and say they can read books in their bed and collapse on the couch with my bowl of ice cream and computer", i invited each of them to go on a walk with me. just me and each of them individually.

bailey NEEDED this. i had been trying to get to that girl for 2 days. i knew this would do it. but i knew i couldn't JUST take her on a walk. and someone suggested trying to do something "just lincoln and i" so that i can ENJOY him. so...this is what i came up with.

i had to dig deep. i was done before i started.

i started with bailey. because she was truly my target. then lincoln, because he is learning to wait and i didn't want him to have to wait too long. then sawyer. {these walks were 15 minutes long...nothing too intense!} then i put the 4 youngest to bed. then i took joshua. then rebekah.

THEN i collapsed on the couch with my ice cream and computer. and a slitting headache. so i crawled in bed at 9:15 pm. that's CRAZY for me! i am a night person. i LOVE to be up at night. i normally have to FORCE myself to go to bed at 10. and then i read for another hour. that 5 am alarm comes all too quickly...

i'm so glad i did it. i paid for it. i was miserable afterwards. but, looking back through these pictures and remembering the time spent focusing on each one individually?? it was SO worth it. will i choose this every time? no way. but i'm glad i did last night. so so glad.