My Little Man

I know I've posted about our chore charts and pebble system before. This weekend was the fun end of that. Usually, the kids choose cash when they earn their 50 pebbles. This time, though, they each decided they wanted a date day. Issa chose Daddy, and my little man asked for a date with me. Be still my heart. While Daddy and Issa headed out to movies, Evan and I headed to the museum.

Our museum opened their holiday train exhibit this weekend, and Evan couldn't get there fast enough. He got to drive a red caboose:



 Really? Does life get any better?

 I love seeing the North Carolina landmarks made from all natural materials, but Evan really is just about the trains. He loved climbing up in the lookout tower to watch them all run:

 See...we were there:

 It's a horrible picture, but it was a moment. I was giggling so hard, and Evan just kept shouting, "I love my mama!" The whole afternoon was pretty hysterical. He was just beside himself that he got to make all of the decisions--no sister to share in the planning. He would ask to do something, I would say yes, and he would sigh, "Oh, thank you, mama." Sometimes it is just so nice to be able to yes!

After the trains, we headed outside to play on the drums:

 We had the whole exhibit to ourselves, and Evan banged his little heart out.

Then he was king of the sand box:

 Again, we had it all to ourselves.

This was one of the highlights of Evan's day:

 The new alpacas enjoy pumpkins, but the squirrel got there first. We did have fun watching the latest addition to the barnyard:

 After all that exploring, we needed a snack:

 A cinnamon apples popsicle was the ticket. I love this little face:

 He had just declared it "super good punch." It's serious stuff.

Evan as an alpaca:

 Then it was off to the dinosaur trail:

 He and I pretended we were t-rexes the whole trail. He thought it was hysterical that I played with him, and the crazy looks I got didn't even matter when his little face lit up as I roared and stomped beside him.

And...the bears were out:

This is the perfect time of year to watch the bears, and they were all very active. We stood for twenty minutes watching them eat and play. It was lovely.

We ended our day with hot cocoa and one more trip through the trains. He was asleep before we hit the highway, but he proclaimed it the best day ever right before he fell asleep.

It was a pretty great day, and Daddy and Issa had a great time, too. There is something so special about one-on-one days. We love the whole family time, but we also know these afternoons are so important...and so special...and I have a feeling becoming much more frequent.