I love all three of my kids equally. Of course I do. But I've been sensing a need for a little one-on-one time with Eisley lately. My first born and I are very much alike when it comes to personality traits, and so we both get along brilliantly with Justin, but not so much with each other. Watching Eisley grow up is a bit like watching myself, had I been the oldest. She is the oldest, and that's something neither Justin nor I can relate to.

I wrote up this long, introspective post about my relationship with my five-year-old...then I scrapped it. You don't need to hear all my theories and feelings about how my relationships have shaped with my children. Suffice it to say, each one of my children is a beautifully unique person and so I have unique relationships with each of them. They are different relationships because they are different people. That's okay.

So, as I was saying, I've been wanting to spend some time alone with Eisley lately. Last Sunday, we dropped the rest of the family off at home after church and headed out to do something fun.

We went to one of those terribly over-priced fun paint-your-own-pottery places. I took pottery classes when I was a kid and I even made a beheaded pottery piggy bank in my high school art class once {we came across it during our recent move, the kids had a lot of questions I couldn't answer}. So, you know, I'm somewhat of a pottery rock star. {Pffft!} It wasn't my fault the pig's head fell off in the kiln, but I turned it into a piece of macabre art. That's life for artists: when life hands you a headless pig, you reach for the red glaze, naturally.

Here's to hoping the heads of these two cuties don't fall off in the kiln. Can you guess which ones Eisley painted?

After I corrected her when she called my gnome a "nope", she aptly named him Gnomer the Gnome. She had me giggling a lot in that pottery shop.

She kept telling me how nice it was to be out with me without the rest of the family. Aww! It was very nice to spend a day with my firstborn.

After painting our not-so-macabre art, we headed for Chick-fil-A. Of course we did, because the only day I EVER think to go to CFA is Sunday. They are closed Sundays. So I asked Eisley if Cafe Rio would do, and it did.

Which was fine by me because their pork barbacoa salad is something special, truly. If you live near a Cafe Rio, do go there. Take your oldest child, get them a quesadilla {free for kids under 6}, buy them some horchata, and request a pork barbacoa salad for yourself. Yourself will thank you.

She is a sweetheart, my oldest, and she has a knack for naming gnomes. {I have a knack for alliteration, even using different letters but same sounds. Boom. It's my best talent, next to pottery, of course.}

{Where are the cute purple glasses? Ugh, don't ask. Broken, repaired, broken, repaired, broken beyond repair, and now we're waiting for an upcoming eye doctor appointment because she needs a re-check and a new pair anyway.}

Justin and I have agreed that we will do this on a regular basis. Not just with Eisley, but an afternoon out with just one of our children; because I think it's good for all of us.

Last Sunday afternoon, we enjoyed each other to the fullest, Eisley & I.

Cheers,
Heather

Now, don't go losing your head, Gnomer!