Wednesdays with Elizabeth!

I am sooo excited! My sister Chrissie has graciously agreed to let me have Wednesdays with my fabulous niece Elizabeth - so I'll be picking her up from daycare (hope to leave work by 4) and then do something fun with her, feed her dinner, bathe and put her to bed! Nice that she goes to bed so early (by like 6:30!) because then as long as Chrissie is back I can pop over to small group at 7pm... I am excited about this for a number of reasons:

• #1 - to have a "regular" time to spend with Elizabeth - to create memories, establish an ongoing relationship with her
  
• #2 - to help Chrissie out, give her a "night off" and a time to run errands, get her hair done, whatever,
• #3 - it fits nicely in my schedule - makes me leave work at a specific time and I can still do my "evening" activity.

As a planner it gives me great joy to be able to accomplish TWO things in one night! :)

My best friend Laura is a great role model to me in the way she makes spending time with her nieces and nephew a priority. She sets up times with them - when they were little she'd take one on a Saturday and they'd do fun stuff, spend the night and go to church with her in the morning.. as they got older rather than getting them a birthday present she'd plan day-trips with them - take them skiing, or to New York or Washington DC just the 2 of them - lets them experience something new and gives them adventures together... with one niece she'd take Fridays off work and spend the day with her and another of her friends who is a stay-at-home mom, and they would take the kids together and go to the pool, play tennis, check out a nearby event... for the past ~5-10 years her Christmas present to them has been to take them on vacation along with her parents - this gives the grandparents special time with the grandkids, and they have been some amazing places - western Canada, lakes in NY and new england, renting a house on the Chesapeake... for her eldest niece's high school graduation she took her to Europe for a week!

So I am starting out small - just a few hours on a Wednesday evening.. who knows - perhaps for Elizabeth's high school graduation we'll be jetting off to the moon for a weekend!?!? :)