Bella's Day with Daddy

So in my absence during the summer I missed an opportunity to share a sweet memory maker for Bella. Bella turned eight this year and was able to celebrate her birthday with her best friend, Joelle. Randy and Scott, Joelle's Dad, took the birthday girls and Joelle's sister Avery on an overnight stay in Dallas. They rented a cool hotel room, dressed up for a fancy dinner, went swimming, bought candy from a candy shop, and went ice skating! The girls had a blast, but truth be told I think the Dad's may have had more fun.

Daddy Daughter Date

Hamming it up, because that's how we roll!

 Silly girls, ready for some swimming!

Best Friends!

Ready for some Ice Skating!

Daddy, you're SO silly!

I was so thankful for this weekend in so many ways.  I think it is SO important for us to model for our children what a healthy relationship is.  I think it's important to 'date' our children, in this case Daddy's date your daughters.  Hear me out...my theory is we should be the model of an appropriate help mate.  Bella's husband will not be a mirror image of her Daddy.  But, I pray that, what she sees modeled for her will leave a lasting impression of how her husband should love her, care for her, honor her, respect her, and prefer her.  Spending this one on one time with your child places value on them and impacts them in a very unique way.  Bella was more excited when she got home, than when she left & that cemented the importance of this practice in our home.

While Daddy was off with Bella, Caleb and I shared time together, too.  He wanted to go to dinner and a movie the night we had together. We had a pretty fun time ourselves.  As we talked I asked him what he thought was important to look for in a wife.  He shrugged his shoulder's & very innocently says, "Well, I want a wife who is pretty, cleans the house & cooks & stuff."  I nearly choked I laughed so hard!  Out of the mouths of babes!  I guess if I apply my theory I come out on top, being pretty, a good housekeeper, & a good cook.....but, since we all know better, I guess I have some work to do!

Wordless Wednesday...OUR Christmas Card

This post is linked up to 5 Minutes for Moms, Wordless Wednesday posts.

Gratituesday

I had an awesome weekend with my family and want to share all the ways I was GRATEFUL for such sweet times!

I started Friday night off with some sister time, or seester as we call it, with my only sister, Jackie. We were able to sneak away, sans hubby's & kiddos and chilax. We enjoyed great coffee & music at a local coffee shop, Common Grounds. I love this little gem...it's were Randy and I spent many a date night planning our future and love to go there every chance we get.



Saturday was soccer time! I'm coaching Bella's team this year & know diddly squat about soccer. The kids are having a blast, so that's what counts. And, by penalty of...something pretty intimidating...DO NOT ASK ABOUT OUR WIN/LOSS RATIO!

Bella and I got to have some quality time at a local Fall Craft Fair & then lunch, while Caleb played at Grandma's.

And then we...Cates clan...most of us anyway, went to Kaska Family Farms, Saturday night. SO FUN! We played in haystacks, shot corn with a corn gun, went through a corn maze, went on a hay ride, played laughed & created fun memories!

Bella and Caleb

Cousins!

Caleb, Bella and cousin Claire

Group Shot of MOST of us!

Mom and kiddos, who WERE NOT interested in being photographed!

Then we played baseball as a family at my brother, Jason's house. This was the second Sunday we gathered and we liked it enough, so we are planning to play again next Sunday! Growing up we were pretty much forced to play together. With 6 brothers and a sister, I was very lucky for a traveling play date. And although I wasn't always excited about the idea then, I'm loving hanging with with them now! We had an absolute blast!

Jackie sporting a HOT Catcher's get up!

Cousin, William SO OVER this picture with Bella!

Even with all our fun, we still missed Daddy. He was working so hard for our family all day & resting up at night! He is an amazing Daddy & we are SO GRATEFUL for him! We had some fun time with him when we visited our annual fair, earlier this month. We rode some rides, bought some fun stuff from a few booths & dined on scrumptious corn dogs & funnel cake! Woo Hoo!





I'm a pretty darn blessed girl and pretty grateful for it!



This is linked to Heavenly Homemaker....take a look and link up!