Essie and I spent the day together on Saturday, away from the rest of the family, and we had so much fun. For Christmas last year, we gave all of the kids cards, good for one date with mom and one date with dad. So far, none of them had taken us up on the offer…maybe because they hadn’t really thought about it, and maybe because they actually prefer to go places with their brothers and sisters.

But, I took her on the first date of the year. I had ulterior motives, though, honestly. I bought tickets for Ivy and I to see Demi Lovato this week. Essie said she wanted to go, too, but I won’t have my mom or anybody else with me, and I can’t handle both girls in the Sprint Center by myself, or carry one to the car and hold hands with the other.

So anyway, in order to take Ivy without Essie getting super upset (seriously, they love to be together all.the.time.), I knew I had to give Essie a super special day, doing whatever she wanted. I think I did.

We started the day at the nail salon, getting our digits prettified. Hers are so stinking cute (stripes AND polka dots!).

Then we went roller skating for as long as her little legs would carry her (spoiler alert: not very long), out to lunch at the mall, and to the cheap movie theater to see Maleficent.

We ended up at the museum, just to pay a deposit on Henry’s upcoming birthday party, and she let me take a few pictures there (okay, I bribed her).

Here are a few phone pictures I took, too:

Through The Lens Thursday is a self-improvement photography project that Alison of Writing, Wishing and I are doing this year.

Don’t forget to join our Flickr group or share your own posts if you’d like to follow along and work on your own photography! And use the hashtag #throughthelensthursday to connect with others working on it, too.

Next week’s prompt is SPARKLE.