Photo dates.

Simon and I have a tradition of having dates with our kids.  On Monday afternoon after school, one parent will take one child on a date.  When that parent has worked through the children over a 4-week period, the other parent has a turn.  We would love to be able to cover all the kids in a two week block instead of over four weeks, but we are still working on that.  On a date we take the child who's turn it is to do something special with them (eg: go out for milkshakes and donuts; go for a walk/bike ride; wander the toy section of Target/Big W and dream of what we'd buy if money was not an issue; visit a playground; etc) and I always try to give them time to ask questions they've been pondering, or share things that may have been bothering them, or things they are excited about, and then at the end I pray with them before we head home.

For the last few weeks Simon has been taking the kids on "photo dates", meaning they take our old digital camera and Simon takes the new one and they go on an adventure walk through Macquarie University, taking photos of anything that interests them. I have been very impressed with some of the kids photos and decided I should share some.

Here are some of Abby's photos...

some of Tim's photos...

and some of Ben's photos...

Ezra begged for weeks to use the camera, but when it came to the actual day of his date, he decided to go for a bike ride with Simon instead.

It's been nice to see the kids get excited about 'their date', but at the same time it is a little sad that they can't get such individual attention more often.  We really need to reorganize life to make more time with them.  I am hoping to do some cooking with them on my date with each one over the next few weeks.