A Sibling-Free Evening

Ella & Lanie dancing down the street

    Ever once in a blue moon, Lanie gets a sibling-free evening and this past weekend was it.  Elijah had a birthday party to go to and Lydia was with a friend, and Lanie, well, she had us for a date night. It's rare, rare, rare for our car to hold just me, Kenny and Lanie.  We met up with our friends, the Bremers for some hibachi dinner, a walk in Town Center, some Dippin' Dots ice cream and total free-play at their house without a big sister telling Lanie and Ella what to do.  I did miss Lydia there because she tends to run things, and breaks up little girl arguments over toy possession.  And she didn't have a big brother who wanted to go home (because there were no boys to play with).  We took our time, played some trivia games, and let them run amuck.  She was in heaven.
    What was even better was the late drive home when she slowly drifted off to sleep.  I will admit, there were no brushed teeth that night, but a very, very easy bedtime routine. For once.
    The one-kid night was nice, novel and hopefully we'll try it again sometime.  But, our van seemed much more at home, much more complete the next morning with all 5 of us packed in.