Road Trip Bingo: A Truck-Spotting Game for the Whole Family

On a recent cross-country road trip, my son and I passed the time with one of our favorite games: spotting Swift Transportation trucks. The rule is simple—whoever sees one first gets to punch the other in the arm (gently, of course). It’s surprisingly entertaining and definitely helps the miles go by faster. And believe me, there are a lot of Swift trucks out there.

While scanning the highways, I had a fun idea: Truck Bingo. Instead of calling out numbers and letters, players watch the road for trucks that match the ones on their bingo cards. It’s a great way to keep kids engaged during long stretches of driving.

Want to take it up a notch? Try playing blackout bingo, where the goal is to mark off every square. Or keep a running tally on each type of truck you spot—see which one dominates the highway.

You can print the cards on regular paper for one-time use, but I recommend laminating them and using dry-erase markers so you can reuse them for future trips. Add your own fun twist: maybe the first person to get blackout picks the music, or chooses the next lunch stop.

I’ve created five unique Truck Bingo cards that you’re welcome to use for your own road trip adventures. Each card features a different truck brand or company logo at the top and in the center “free space.” You can keep it simple and use that square as a traditional free space—or make it more challenging by requiring players to spot five of that specific truck before they can mark it off. It’s a fun way to add variety and competition to your drive!

Be creative—and let the miles roll by with a little friendly competition!

Money God's Way

For as long as I can remember, my pastor, at every offering will say, "Give as God tells you to." This applies to all of us, even the children.

My kids have been earning money for a couple years now, doing their work around the house. They have things they are required to do because they are a part of our family; it's just their normal duty. But then they each have one job that can earn them money. This is a fantastic way to teach in so many ways!

Each child has a chart on the fridge for the month. I laminated it so that each month we only have to erase the dates and rewrite in the new with a dry erase marker.

For my older two, their job will pay $1, and they have the opportunity to do it once a week. My youngest son's job is done almost daily, and will earn him 10 cents. When they do their job, they write a "C" for chore on the chart. They also must get a parent to initial the chart saying the job was well done.

Sometimes I offer "mystery dollars" which is marked with an "M" on the date it's given. I was finding that every time I asked for help, it was always the other persons turn. No one wanted to offer their assistance to me. Now I randomly try to choose one job that will be worth a dollar. They won't find out it was worth money until after the job is completed. This means they never know if a job mom is asking about could earn them a potential extra dollar. I love how well this works! I rarely have trouble getting work done around the house.

I also use the chart to keep track of groundings. I am always forgetting who I told they were grounded, and for how long. Not an issue anymore. When they are grounded the kids have to add a "G" to the chart. It makes it so much easier on me, and I'm able to be a more consistent parent.

Every first and third Saturday of the month is payday. This has taught them the value of a dollar, when it's their hard earned money. It's even been a lesson on credit. Many times they will try to convince me that they have money coming to them, and can they pay later? I always say, "Absolutely Not." I want them to learn from a very young age that credit is not something to be played around with. They must learn patience.

Since we treat this "chore" like a job, there are days the kids have been fired with no pay. They cannot complain and whine. If we were their boss in the "real world" we wouldn't tolerate that kind of attitude for long. They also must do a good job at it. I have made them go back and fix their mistakes many times.

We have used this chart for year now. It has been very successful. The kids love having the freedom to choose whatever they want to buy with their money. Most of the time they are a little bit more choosy about how they spend it. They realize the value of their toys now. That's like 3 or 4 months of work! Of course this depends on what they set their heart on purchasing.

Another big part of this "job" my kids have is our responsibility in teaching them about giving and saving. We always apply the rule, "You give some, you save some, and THEN you spend some." I always tell them they need to ask God how much money He wants them to give... because it's His money anyways.

I desire for my children to be generous. I want them to learn the value of giving to others, especially when it costs you something. It's easy to give away mom and dad's money. It's not as easy to give away what you worked hard for.

On Wednesday night, I was so touched by my son's giving. I happened to glimpse the envelope sitting next to me. I encourage the kids to use a giving envelope so they can see how much they gave at the end of the year. It's something to look forward to. If it had been me putting my 15 cents in the offering, I probably would have just written my name on the envelope, not thinking to divide it up.

Actually I wouldn't have even thought to give it. In my pride I would have thought the pennies were worthless, and I would have held onto them.

But to Gabe, this money was all he had. He wasn't giving from his surplus. He was giving his best to God. I thought it was so sweet how he divided up his 15 cents. I teared up when I saw that he wanted Kidsweek to get 10 cents of it. For where your heart is... there your money will follow.

"Sitting across from the offering box, he was observing how the crowd tossed money in for the collection. Many of the rich were making large contributions. One poor widow came up and put in two small coins—a measly two cents. Jesus called his disciples over and said, “The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford—she gave her all.” Mark 12:44

5 Minutes

The last few days have been rather bittersweet for me. As soon as the day of enrollment is upon us, we begin a countdown for the first day of school. This is an exciting time for our family. Ariel is beginning middle school, and Gabe will be in the third grade. Both children are too eager to grow up in my opinion.

I have been savoring these last couple weeks that I have with them. Every minute, and every second counts...

(Yesterday we took a day trip to Emporia to visit the zoo and treat ourselves to ice cream at Braums!)


As every second counts, that does not mean, every second is spent together. Not only do I want time with my children, I want it to be quality time. That means free of fighting, arguing, sassing, anything unpleasant to my ears.

The past month I've been rather disappointed in our inexpensive movie theater's selection. If you remember, I use this as a reward for my children on our grocery shopping days. The entire summer long, we've had one kid's movie to choose. I refuse to go back and pay to see it again, no matter how cute and funny it was the first time. This means, I had to get a little creative in my discipline. We no longer had the $10 in concessions money to work for.

This is where the 5 minutes comes in. During the summer I don't require any of my children to take a nap, this includes Zechariah. We would rather use the time to have fun. I can rest once schools starts!

So for the past couple of shopping trips, I have made my children team players. If anyone gets in trouble, the group gets penalized. This helps them try to work together. The penalty for getting in trouble is a 5 minute nap. For every wrong thing, I add an additional 5 minutes onto the nap. I chose to give a nap because almost all my children's impatience or wrong doings is the symptom of weariness, exhaustion, or lack of sleep.

The kids could be required to rest for 5 minutes, or one hour depending on how the group did as a whole. Last time it was a 15 minute nap, this time it was a 60 minute nap. I have been so impressed by the way the kids bond together during this. They have been so encouraging to each other and they try so hard to keep one another from complaining or arguing.

Zechariah is often the culprit on the minutes getting added on; however neither of my other children has given him grief about it. They realize it would harm them. I have considered doing every man for himself, but I don't believe it would encourage the team effort as well. Getting along with each other is my ultimate goal. When each of them gets penalized for their siblings wrong doing, they encourage rather than tear down. They are truly working together!

Once nap time is completed, everyone gathers together in our own living room for a $5 movie we chose while grocery shopping. We pick out boxes of candy and have our own concessions. It's been a lot of fun! Today we are watching Where the Red Fern Grows...

Stop!

I recently found this creative new way to have a nag free day with my children. It was in the Family Fun magazine. I am always up for new ideas in discipline and reward systems. We had our first time trying it out. Success!

During the summer I get to grocery shop with all three of my children. This can be a challenge. In order to make things go smoothly, I use an incentive. If everyone cooperates and we get done in a timely manner I take the kids to a movie.

Here's the new fun part. I gave the kids $10 for food from the concessions. Normally I tell the kids we aren't buying. It's too expensive, and you don't get much for your money. This time I figured $10 wasn't going to break the bank, and they could do with it what they wished.

The catch is I can take away money from them. I wanted a day free of hearing my voice. Sometimes I get really tired of it. I feel like I'm constantly nagging my children, telling them, "No, don't do that. Stop fighting. Don't touch that. Stop asking for things." I'm sure as much as I'm tired of saying it; my kids are tired of hearing it.

I told the kids as long as I didn't have to open my mouth today and discipline them, the money was all theirs. As soon as I heard fighting, or if I saw disobedience, we would take away a dollar. They had to work together as a team. If one team member lost a dollar, the rest had to graciously accept the punishment. If I heard any name calling, or yelling between children, another dollar would be lost.

I had them keep track of the money. I printed off a simple chart for the kids to use. It had a big STOP sign to remind them to STOP and think first. At the bottom I had individual dollars listed. Every time someone got in trouble, they had to mark off the dollar.

This worked like magic. My kids were so well behaved at the store, and there was almost no fighting at all. They were very respectful of each other, and they helped me out so much. It was like I had little angels walking around with me, not something I normally would claim. Almost every dollar was taken away for lack of obedience in Zechariah. I can handle that. It's the constant bickering and badgering that gets on my nerves. I also despise going to the store with my children when they turn into little greedy monsters. This solved it. They knew the rules ahead of time and they stuck with it. The money was too important to them. They felt like we were rich.

By the time we made it to the movie theater, four dollars was left. There isn't much in the concessions for four dollars, and I was amazed that my children took it so well. I think a day of being positive kept them from being too discouraged. They simply chose a tub of cotton candy and quietly shared it during the movie. I was impressed! I am certain to use this idea again. It worked like magic!

STOP and think before you act! That goes for me too. I'm reading a book about motherhood right now, and in it there was a phrase that really stood out to me. "One of the biggest things a mother transfers to her children is her feelings. Children respond more to your joy, love, anxieties and fears than your words."

We must be very careful with our feelings and how we show them to our children. I know when I'm feeling frustrated, it seems like my children get frustrated too. When I'm having a bad day, it seems like they also have a bad day. But if I'm feeling peaceful, and happy, that shows up in my children as well.

I found that I wanted them to get all their money; they were working so hard for it. It gave me more reason to be patient in my speech. I believe it gave my children peace. I didn't overreact as much. I thought before I spoke, and I weighed my words. I found myself asking multiple times, "Does this really warrant a correction from me?" Sometimes I expect too much out of my kids, and I don't allow them to be kids. I want them to be little duplicates of me. But honestly, how boring would life be if that was true? All of us in our individuality add so much spice to life.

In Weakness We Grow

It's time to get really personal here. It always amazes me how in tune I am with my children. When they are struggling with an issue, I always feel like I'm right there with them. Or maybe it's that they're right there with me. When God is dealing with us about something, we are ready to spot and convict others of the same thing.

There is absolute truth there!

For the past couple of months, I've been angry. I couldn't figure out what to do about it. It seemed that no matter how much I prayed, and tried to fix things on my own, the anger and bitterness was still there. I couldn't get away from it.

I struggle a lot with perfectionism, and I often push that onto others. One of the biggest pitfalls of this is the judgment that comes with it. I am so judgmental and I hate it. It's something I despise in myself, yet I fall into it so easily. Recently, I heard a comedienne speak. She said that Christians need t-shirts made, "Judge me. I'm judging you." I had to laugh because it's hurts that it's true sometimes. We figure out a certain area of our walk with God, and then we look down on others who haven't yet arrived. As if we ourselves have...

"Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor." Matthew 7:1-5 (The Message)

About three weeks ago our pastor's sermon was titled, "Anger." I knew it was for me. I felt like he was reading my mail, or following the blogs that I chose to read. The day before his sermon I read a convicting post. I can't take things so personally. The only life I am completely responsible for is my own. I need to put all my focus on “working out my own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Phil. 2:12) If I stand alone, then I stand alone with God. I am not the one who should convict others. That's the Holy Spirit's work.

My bitterness, judgment, and anger were all wrapped up into one messy package. I had forgotten how to enjoy my own life.

What do I do with my anger?
1.) Understand it's not a sin to be angry.
"You do well to be angry—but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge." Ephesians 4:26 (The Message)

2.) Know why you're angry.
*** The root of anger is always fear ***
What am I afraid of?

This one statement has helped me so much! I had never heard that fear was behind our anger. It is so true though! I have since looked at every situation and found that ultimately I was afraid of something.

I feel that this will be a life-changing revelation for me. I figured out my two biggest fears. The first one is with my children. I found that when I'm frustrated with my kids, it usually comes down to, "Maybe I'm not really a good mother after all."

And my second fear deals with others outside of my family, "Maybe I really don't matter to them."

It's amazing when you bring things into the light, how much easier it makes them to deal with. The fears get smaller when you recognize them for what they are. Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat. When we know what the threat is, we can figure out how to combat it.

3.) What action do I need to take?
Don't react in your anger, but let your anger move you to action.
Anger is the fight part of you. It motivates you to change something or do something.

4.) Realize anger has a short shelf-life.
"Even legitimate anger left on the counter overnight turns into a maggot-infested attitude."
Ephesians 4:27 "Don't stay angry... Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life."

Over the past few weeks, I've learned a lot about anger in a hands on practical way. I've been amazed at how much easier it is to let go of it when you understand it.

My children have been along for the ride with me. I think anger is an attitude that other people latch onto. I've tried to talk about fear with them, but their minds don't yet seem capable of seeing those other emotions. All they can comprehend is the anger that's right in front of them.

I like to be creative in my discipline, and I was getting tired of taking away the computer and DS time. This week we had a blow up, and I wanted to deal with it in a more constructive way. I remember my mom requiring me to write papers on certain topics I was dealing with, and I thought this would be a good time to start with my children. They have written apology letters in the past, but this time I wanted them to write a research paper.

They had a few requirements for their paper. First, it needed to contain at least one example. The example could be anything, true or false. The example needed a solution that Jesus would agree with. The paper would be at least two hand written pages including two different Bible verses. They also needed to write about a goal they were making for themselves; something to help them grow and change for the better.

This project took several days to complete, and it came with much sweat and tears. Both kids handed in a sloppy copy that needed a few adjustments. I think we're all really happy with how they turned out, and I pray that the process allowed for some change in them to take place. That was my goal.


Anger
by Gabe
Have any problems with anger? Gabe has a problem. Lets help Gabe let go of his anger. One day Gabe was eatting a brownie. After he ate it his mother said clean up your crums. Gabe started to clean up his crums with his hands. His mother said with the vacume cleaner. Gabe lost his temper. Then his mother said sit on your bed. Gabe said Zech was the won who even made the crums. Then again his mother said sit on your bed. Then he walked up to Zech and said this is all your fault. Zech began to cry. Then Gabe stomped to his room. Do you think he should have done that to Zech? NO!

In Ephesians it sais don't let the sun go down on your anger while you give a foot to the devil.

Getting angry is not a sin. But letting your anger control you is a sin.

God also gets angry. Like when all the people in the world started worshiping Idoils. God gets mad a houl bunch. He got angry more than 75 times. But he still does not force people to do what he wants.

In Proverbs it sais He will die for his lack of desaplin. And stumble around in great stupitady. That actuly sounds pretie enbarising if your angry. Because it sais stumble around in great stupitady.

Gabes goal is to breath slowly intell he's not angry and figure out why he is angry.

And never ever forget to not hold on to your anger.

Gabriel worked really hard on the research part of his paper. He looked up many different verses and learned a lot about what the Bible had to say about anger. I taught him how to use BibleGateway, hence God got mad 75 times.
Together we made a poster for his wall that reminds him about the steps and goals he wants to take in getting rid of his anger. I found the information to be very practical and applicable to more than just children.

Kindness
By: Ariel
This is why you should be kind. You should be kind because it makes people happy. And the Golden Rule is “Treat Others The Way You Want To Be Treated. When you don’t follow the Golden Rule it makes Jesus very upset. When you have the urge not to use kindness, think about the other person’s feelings. Here’s an example of not using kindness. We’re at my house and Gabes happily writing in his notebook. I walk over to him and kick him. Gabe yells “WHY DID YOU DO THAT”. Then mom walks in and I say “I didn’t do anything”. That’s not being kind and it’s also lying.

Another reason you should be kind is that being mean is a sin. In the bible God says” Love each other as I have loved you. The greatest love a person can show is to die for your friend. You are my friends if you do what I command John 15:12-14. That means be kind to people like God has been kind to you, and the biggest thing you can do for your friend is to die for your friend. That’s showing a lot of kindness for your friend.Heres an example of sort of dying for your friend. Someone at the playground is bullying kids. Then they start bullying Megan. I could say “Stop if you have to bully someone bully me “.

Here’s another bible verse Proverbs 11:17 A kind man benefits himself but a cruel man brings trouble on himself. That means that someone who is kind has good things come but a mean man gets bad things happen to him. Listen to this. We had just eaten spaghetti. Mom asks “Does anyone want to do the dishes. Ariel offers to them and she got paid a dollar because she offered to do them. If she didn’t offer to do them, she would have to do them tomorrow and not get paid.

Here are my goals. I’m going to try to not be mean to anyone for a whole month. When Gabe gets mean, just try to be nice. Jesus said when someone hits you turn the cheek so they can hit the other cheek Matthew 5:39. When I want to be mean I think about Valentine. If you don’t have a bird named Valentine think how the other person would feel. Think back to the golden rule “Treat others the way you want to be treated. Think about this, what if they said that to you. That is my report.


I am so glad that God doesn't leave us the way we are. I'm also glad He doesn't change us all at once. Imagine how overwhelming that would be? God is patient and kind, and does not give us more than we can handle. It is in our greatest weaknesses that we have the opportunity to exhibit the greatest growth and change. Thank you, God, I'm not the same person I was yesterday.

What I Wish I had known...

Earlier this week I received an email from my husband's grandma. She was requesting my help as a favor. In a couple weeks she is in charge of doing a devotion at a young woman's baby shower. She titled her devotion, "What I wish I had known about motherhood before I became a mother." The favor I would perform was to email her back a few things that I wish I had known.

I thought about this a lot over the past week. There are so many things I wish someone would have told me. Practical things about childbirth and the month after, money savers on things a baby really needs, but mostly parenting advice. If only children came with a rule book and you simply looked up each answer to any problem. The only rule book I've found that's been infallible is the Bible. There are many practical verses to apply to every situation. However, you still must be pretty creative in coming up with how to apply it to your child.

I could have come up with many many things to share, but she only needed a few. It's so hard to narrow down the list. Here are the 4 that I chose to share with her.

My number one thing, I wish I had known how much my emotions would change. I will forever see tragedy and people in a different way, through a mother's eyes. I gained sensitivity toward the world. What if it was one of my children? How would I feel? I read a quote once and it's always stuck with me. "The decision to have a child is to recognize that your heart will forever walk outside of your body."

I wish someone had told me to trust my own instincts sooner. You will always have people: family, friends, even strangers giving you advice on how to raise your child. You know your child better than anyone around you. God has given a mother special intuition to know things in a more specific way. Listen to other people's advice, but ultimately do what you feel is the right thing to do. (I remember bringing Zech to the doctor when he was a baby and they kept telling me it was a virus and he would be fine. It wasn't until the 5th time going to the Doctor & ER, that I demanded they listen to me and run some tests on him. They found out he had a life-threatening blood infection. If I had trusted "other people's" advice, I'm convinced my son would not be alive today.) That's an extreme example. This applies to so much more. Be the parent that you feel called by God to be.

I wish I had known at the beginning I didn't have to be the perfect mom. Your kids will love you unconditionally no matter what. (I know this for a fact.) If you make a mistake, apologize; don't portray yourself as perfect. Kids will see right through it. But if you admit your mistakes, they will grow along with you, and love you all the more for being honest with them.


My last piece of advice, which people always do share with a new mother, is something that never seems to get through to them. This is one of those things you have to just live before you fully understand it.

I wish someone had told me how fast time would go by. You may feel like you'll always be taking care of small children, always be waking up in the middle of the night for feeding, always giving up everything for them, waiting on them hand and foot, but time will fly by. You will long for those moments again when they were little and you could hold them while they slept, nurse them all night long, and fix everything with just a kiss... It goes by too quickly!

Be There Now

This morning I woke with a heavy heart. I've recently encountered a strained relationship between a parent and their child. This is never intentional; however, sadly it happens often. I've witnessed the pain on both sides, and it makes my heart ache.

I cannot even begin to tell you how important your relationship is with your children now.

You cannot put off today, what you want for tomorrow. It's not impossible to later accomplish it, but it's very improbable.

I heard someone make this statement before, and I've held onto it. You have two opportunities to have a relationship with your children. You have the parent relationship that takes place while you're raising them, and you have the adult relationship that takes place when they've grown. As the parent, you only get to make the decision how one of those relationships will be.

If this doesn't make sense to you, I want to explain it a little better. When your kids are young and impressionable, you are the one they look up to for guidance. This is the chance you get at working on a relationship with them. You must make it the best you possibly can. When your children are in your care, you need not to just meet their physical needs, but you must be there for them emotionally. You need to be a friend, someone who they can count on, and go to for advice. You can be their friend, and still maintain an authority role. If you are inaccessible when they're young, it will determine how things end up later in life.

The adult relationship is determined solely by the child. You can try to connect with your child later, but if you were unsuccessful when they were young, it's going to be even harder when they are old. I don't want to say it's impossible, because with God nothing is impossible. But I do want to say, it's very improbable.

So it is with my heavy heart in what I've witnessed that I determine to make the most of the time I have now. I want to use every day to my advantage. I love my children with all my heart, and with every moment that goes by, I desire to have my kids believing in my love and affection. I never want to reach the place where I am inaccessible to my children. I want to be their friend, someone they can always count on. I want to love them now with a consuming love that never dies.

I want to be so careful with their delicate minds and emotions, always building them up and never tearing them down. I want to use my words to encourage them, and teach them they can be anything they dream up. I want them to know how wonderfully made they are. But most importantly I want to be God's hands reaching out to them, showing them something tangible that illustrates God's love for them.

The parental role is so vital in the development of a child emotionally and spiritually, that I pray daily I am fulfilling the calling that God has bestowed upon me. I believe being a parent is one of God's greatest blessings. Now I want to say, I don't pretend to be an expert here, this is just what I've been pondering and observing lately. I really felt like I should share this with you. It's been on my heart, and something that God is still working on me with. I so often feel like I fall short in my parenting skills, but I know that with God's help, He can make up the difference.

I want to challenge you to be there for your child now, so that when they are grown you can continue the relationship that you began.

A Day to Remember

A few months ago, I got asked out on a very special date, by a very sweet little boy. My son, Gabriel, said he wanted to dress up in his tux and take me out. I was very flattered, and of course could not refuse the offer.

We talked about going, planned out what we were going to do, and even had dreams about going. But now the time had finally come when it was going to be a reality. For the whole week before, Gabriel was smiling about it. He told me one day, "I can't wait until next week!"

Now this was the week of Christmas he said this, so I wasn't quite sure what he was referring to. "You mean, Daddy's birthday?" I asked him.

"No." He seemed disappointed that I didn't know.

"You mean, New Year's Eve?" I asked again.

"No. We're finally going on our date!" He was so excited! I don't believe I've ever had anyone that excited to go out with me. He was counting down the days, until our date finally arrived. I decided we should go in the afternoon so the wait wouldn't be too long that day.

When I had finished getting ready, I walked out into the living room where the children were all watching a movie together. Zechariah took one look at me, and then said to his sister, “ooo, Yeddar (Ariel), look! Mommy, I like it!” And then if that wasn’t enough, Gabriel ran over to me and gave me a big hug then said, “You look beautiful! And I can’t wait to see what you look like when you take the jacket off.”

We started out our date by driving to the park to take a few photos of us in our formal attire. I didn't think just any snapshot would do for the special occasion. I asked Gabe where he thought it would be pretty at, and he chose the rose garden, even though we knew there would be no flowers blooming right now.

So far our winter has been pretty mild, and we have yet to see any snow accumulate. Two days before our date we had beautiful weather outside, sunny and 70 degrees. However that same evening, the temperatures dropped and freezing rain and icy roads and walkways were left behind. Saturday brought us a high of 29 degrees. It was not exactly the ideal weather for a date in formal clothes, but we made the most of it anyways.


After we took 3 pictures together out in the freezing cold, we ran back to the car as fast as my high heels would allow us to run on ice. We both sat in the front seats trying to warm our frozen fingers and toes by the heater. It took several minutes to completely thaw out after our 7 or 8 minutes in the cold.

Gabriel had selected the restaurant he wanted to take me to, and I found his choice very appealing. We had a very tasty lunch together at Olive Garden. On the way in Gabriel got several kind remarks about how handsome he looked, and then our waitress and other servers also commented on how nice he looked in his suit. He was feeling like quite the handsome young man that he is.

Before we got to the restaurant, Gabe told me, "I bet everyone is going to think I'm a grown-up. They'll probably just think I'm a dwarf and not a kid." He was feeling very confident in his suit. So when our waitress brought him an adult cup filled with sprite, he said to me, "I told you, Mom. She thinks I'm a grown-up that looks like a dwarf." I really don't think that was the case. I think she was just being sweet, and it made Gabe's day to be treated so well.

After our formal dinner, I decided since we were out on such a special date, that doesn't happen just any day, we needed to finish it with a movie. Normally, I take my children to the $2 movie theater because with a family of 5 those ticket prices can sure add up if you're watching a new release. But today was special. We got to treat ourselves to a brand new movie at the expensive movie theater. I can probably count on one hand how many times we've been there. Gabriel chose to watch "Tangled" hoping that I would enjoy it too. It was an excellent choice, and we both loved it. I would highly recommend it to you.

We had such a wonderful time together, and I will remember this day forever. I hope Gabe and I get to have many more dates together in the future, but I will always remember this special one. We have been to dinner together before, and we've been to a movie for just the two of us, but this one stands out to me. I think there is something about dressing up in fancy clothes that just makes it feel more extraordinary.