family date

After filling our kindness jar again, it was time to plan our family date. The kids wanted to go ice skating, which is what we did last time as well, haha.  The day of our outing turned into kind of a mess.  We were supposed to get the boat out of the lake in the morning, but due to miscommunications, we ended up waiting around for hours, and the kids were fighting so much.  I threatened to cancel our family date probably 10 times and just the thought of doing something special to celebrate their kindness seemed ridiculous.  Kevin has been the voice of reason lately, and he mentioned to me that the whole day was a bit of a mess, and that we needed to just get out of the house and on with our day.

The ice skating rink is located inside the Parks Mall, which meant that it was crazy busy due to Christmas shoppers.  I really didn't think the rink would be busy, but I was definitely wrong. We waited almost 45 minutes to pay and get our skates.  Last time we only skated 20 minutes, so it seemed like a lot of effort for such a small time on the ice!  But the kids were totally into it and we skated for about an hour and a half.  Just look at those happy faces...

Colby looks like he's about to fall, but he was just being a goof.

The silly boy wanted his skates highlighted in every picture, haha.

Kevin and I took turns skating with the kids, and they both did much better than last time.  Brooke even wanted to skate on her own at the very end.  Of course Colby wanted to follow suit and promptly slipped, felt backward, and hit his head on the ice. Thankfully, we were about to get off the ice so I could calm him down without loads of spectators.

To complete the date, we ate in the food court and rode the carousel.  We all really enjoyed the family time, and it was so refreshing to get out of the house and do something fun.  I love being home, but I also know that getting out of the house is good for my sanity.  The change of scenery does everyone good :)

We are holding off on the kindness jar for the rest of December since we are working on filling the manger with straw to prepare for the birth of baby Jesus. Each kind deed means one more straw in the manger.  This is a tradition we did in my family growing up, and it's definitely a favorite as it helps focus on the true meaning of Christmas and showing love for your family.