Friday night was the first chance the girls have had to go roller skating.

People were doing a skate night in York to raise money and we thought it would be a good chance to get out and try something different.

Hadley immediately wanted to get out and skate. I think she saw how easy everyone made it look and thought it would be that easy. After a few minor falls, the frustration began. She would try and go around the outside using the railing, but wanted no help from anyone. She said that she wanted to learn to skate “RIGHT NOW!”, but that she didn’t need anyone’s help.

Zoey Belle, on the other hand, was more than happy to just hold on and roll. The place, which appears to have been constructed in the mid-17th century and still uses age-specific skates, actually had a pair small enough to fit her. She would hold on to our hands as we basically carried her around the rink. It was tiring, but Linds and I and the Schwarz’s all took turns with her.

Hadley spent a lot of time on a carpeted area and really began to figure it out. Once back on the rink, she was relying on the railing too much and I think if she would’ve just let go and tried more, she may have actually been able to go. That being said, she improved immensely and I don’t think she will have to go too many more times to really get the hang of it.

As our night began to get late, Lindsey got Zoey Belle ready to go home and I started to work on Hadley. I told her to skate across the rink so we could get ready to go. She refused and went the other direction. She began crying that she wanted to skate over to mommy. I told her this was fine, but then she didn’t go. After the third time of this conversation, I sat her down and took off her skates. That’s went it all went downhill. She took off running away from me, conveniently while I was still wearing my skates. After a complete mental breakdown and the help of our friends, we finally got her out of the rink and on the way home.

As a consequence I told her that she would not get a story before bed. This really seemed to hit home with her and we are hoping that it was an effective consequence, because I don’t know if I can handle an explosion like that again.

Zoey Belle spent this whole time just playing, laughing and enjoying watching Hadley’s meltdown.

Saturday night, Lindsey and I were lucky enough to get the night off. The church was doing free babysitting, so the we went out for Garrett and my birthdays. We went out to eat, bowling and hot-tubbing, even though the hot tub was really cold. It was a nice break.

The girls had a good time at the church with the youth group playing games, eating snacks and staying up late. We picked them up at 9:25pm, almost two and a half hours past bedtime. When we got home, they got into their usual bedtime routine of asking questions, singing, laughing and arguing. It was almost 11:30pm before they fell asleep. Late night, but we all had a good day, so it was worth it.