This month I have had 2 "girls weekends" planned. My second one is starts tomorrow with the arrival of my two California sister in laws. My mom, sister, three sister in laws and I are going to spend a weekend here in Vegas together with no husbands or kids. I am sure it will be so fun. It always is with this group. It doesn't even matter what we are doing. I just love all of them and it is fun to be together.
Planning these girls weekends got me thinking about my own little girls. So I decided to do our own "girl's nights" in between my "girls weekends." So, for the last three nights I have had a "girl's night" with each of my girls individually.
Monday night Lauren wanted to have a bubble bath in Mom's tub. This was followed by coloring together, eating ice cream together, going out to look at the stars together and then reading together. Jonathan slept in another room so Lauren could sleep in Mom's bed with Mom and watch the city lights out of our bedroom window as we fell asleep. She insisted on sleeping on "Mom's" side of the bed. So I went to Jon's side only to have her move 3/4 of the way across our king size mattress to lay right next to me. :)
Sabrina's night was next. She planned out our night with a list. After the others were in bed, she wanted to watch a show with me, eat ice cream, color, and read more of her book. She is reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Luckily for me she was at my favorite part where Aslan delivers himself to the witch in place of Edmund. We talked about the symbolism and she figured it out without any help. I love that book. After a couple of chapters of reading, we too fell asleep looking at the city lights.
Ann Marie's date was last night. It was much the same as the others. The night started with watching a show, then coloring, star gazing, researching constellations on the internet. Then she "tested" me on my knowledge of Primary songs. She told me a song to sing. I had to sing it and if I messed up a word I had to start over. I had to learn about 6 songs perfectly. Lastly we went upstairs to go to bed. Jon's back demanded our bed back. So Annie and I went to sleep in the nursery where there is a queen size bed.
Together, we went through some of the Camille only things and filled the cedar chest with all her things. We organized some of the other bins of baby clothes and blankets. We shared our favorite memories of Camille and then went to sleep.
Before crawling in bed we said our prayers. Unlike normal, I said my personal prayer aloud and focused my prayer on that child, how grateful I am for her, what I hope for her, and how much she is loved.
I know once our baby Noble comes out, these "alone" times will be sparse and I want each of my girls to know how individually loved they are. I enjoyed our "girl's nights" and hope to do many more in the coming years.
23 comments:
I love the idea of individual girls nights. I actually got a little teary-eyed reading all the fun things you did together. I'm pregnant too, so I'm SURE the hormones are a big part of that. Anyway, what a great idea.
This may sound a little nerdy, but I love so many ideas you have shared (and some other people) with their children, that I want to write them down and if I am ever blessed to have children, do them. :) Such a precious idea. :)
Sounds wonderful. Thanks for sharing. You are clearly blessed with some pretty neat daughters...and they are blessed with (and by) you!
This is so cute. I want to start something like this. Except I only have boys. My oldest is 3 1/2 and my second is 5 weeks. I want to start having a special night for my older boy. I think he feels a little left out with the new baby. But I oviously can't call it "girls night" any suggestions??
HI Stephanie!
What a great idea--you really are an angel Mother.
And I just love the name "Noble"...I'd never heard of it before and now I think it's just great.Have a great getaway with the women in your life!
That is so wonderful. I know they will treasure these moments with you. My parents had individual date nights with us and I treasure the memories of my time with just mom and dad.
What an amazing idea!! I love it!! I have done girls nights where I take them to do fun things, like one night I took my oldest to see a late night showing of a movie she had wanted to see or to get ice cream, but I had never thought of doing it that way! Thanks so much for sharing that. Your girls will remember that always!!
what a great idea to do with your girls! my dad used to do that as we were growing up on fhe night after fhe he'd take each one of us at a time on an extra special outing. we called those special dates "turns". jamo sometimes does it now with our boys and i think it's adorable.
have fun this weekend! tell you cute sisters hi for me :) hope you get to go to a good show.
Your girls will cherish this one on one time they have with you. They will know for a surety that they are loved and appreciated. Good for you for showing them what's important! :)
I'm all teary eyed and I'm not even preggers. What a beautiful way to celebrate the relationship you have with each one of them. Special mom you are! tfs.
I was just thinking about this last night, and then come on here and you wrote about it. I was trying to think of creative ways to spend one on one time with my kids before this baby comes and you and some of the others have given me some good ideas, Thanks for sharing! Have a wonderful weekend!!!
What a great idea! My favorite part was the personal prayer idea. What a neat thing to do when kids are so aware of what others think of them. Its good for them to know how much their parents both here and above, care for them. Thanks for all your neat ideas!
Have fun with all the fabulous Harris ladies!!
Brilliant idea. I especially love the simplicity of the idea. no extra money or gas spent, just time.
CAN'T wait for our weekend together. I need some steph time too (and a little bouchon, let's be honest) :) I even promise not to steal your side of the bed... see you in a day!
What beautiful memories you are making for your girls!
You know, I have never wanted a weekend away from my husband--not even to go play with my favorite sister. Maybe four or five hours away, and then he could take me out for the evening to finish off a fun day.
That said, I admit that I do kind of look forward to him going out to do boy things with our sons, so I can have a girls-only evening/day/weekend with my daughters. How fun! I love the idea of individual girl nights, too.
And here's an idea for when Noble is much bigger: I have a friend who has her young teenage son take her on dates once a month. Real-live, he has to call her on the phone, open doors for her, etc. dates. This is his practice to learn the right way to treat his future dates. They both have a great time.
Love ya!
Anon,
I LOVE that idea of having Noble take me on a date to learn how to treat girls. Thanks for sharing. That is one I will use in the future for sure!
Steph
those moments will make sweet memories for your girls! What a neat idea. Glad you are getting some girls' time in too before you become attached to a nursing baby for awhile :>) Jon is a saint for giving up his bed!
Thank you for sharing. I love this idea. I have one daughter and am due to deliver in a few weeks with my son. I have worried about my daughter feeling left out after the baby comes so maybe a "girls night" is just what we will do this weekend. Thanks!
As the mother of five daughters (ranging in age from 29 to my 15 year old twins) I can assure you that having one-on-one time with your girls will open lines of communication that will be so important as they grow up. I've done that since my oldest was young and that time is so wonderful. I still try to get out with my three married girls as often as our schedules permit and the twins just love the time alone without any sisters around.
Don't forget to do Daddy-Daughter Date's! My dad usually took out all 4 of us together, but we would get dressed up in our Sunday best, my dad would give each of us a flower (usually from the back yard- we didn't care!) and take us to get ice cream. We loved it!
That is what homeschooling is ALL about! See "A Thomas Jefferson Education" by Oliver Demille!
I was SO touched by what you did for your daughters! They will remember that for the rest of their lives! I, too, have no children but I hope to remember some of your AWESOME ideas for when I do!!! What a gift!!
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