Ice Cream Dates

When Kade was born, I sent Cole and Mason a "New Big Brother" package, complete with awesome goodies like monster cookies, pieces of gum, quarters, and coupons for ice cream dates when I was in town next. The latter was the hit of the week while I was in Idaho--for the boys and for me.

Cole was pretty keen on getting to go to ice cream all by himself--he'd generously invited Granny to join us at one point, but by the time our date rolled around on Friday, he made it pretty clear that we should NOT invite Mason to come! We had two rounds of the sundae bar at JB's, and I had so much fun hanging out with Cole--he is so funny and so smart and so grown up...even with his silly camera face!

Taking Mason and Troy for ice cream required a wee bit more planning...and some strategic backup. Mason is lightening fast and slips through your hands like they are buttered--watching Shaanti strategically tackle him is pretty amusing (for me, not her). And it takes Troy a while to get warmed up to me...even when ice cream is in the mix.


The solution was to take Papa with us. He may not be sure about Aunt Missy, but Troy adores his Papa--at the dinner table one night he thanked God for Papa but left everyone else off the list--and between the two of us, Dad and I managed to limit the number of things stained bright blue by the ice cream (you'll notice that lips and hands escaped our control). We had a great time. It's hilarious to watch those two carry on a conversation, and between their two smiles you just want to laugh out loud.

Coop and Kade missed out on the ice cream dates, but there will be time for that next time.