Don't Hate Us Because We're In Love

Don't hate us because we had the night to ourselves Friday.

Or because we had a dinner alone, no interruptions, no cutting someone's meat for them, or cleaning up a spill.

Try not to be jealous that we actually 'caught up' & finished a sentence and stared into each other's eyes.

Don't despise me because my husband is clearly blind & actually thinks I'm beautiful (& here's the sickening part, he tells me about 20 times a day).

Just remind me that I'm lucky.

Because I never want to forget.

OPERATION: Dinner Surprise a Surprise!

For Jeff's bday, I had a surprise dinner planned for almost a month.
All I told him was to dress up, take the kids to my parents' & come back 'for me'.

Yesterday, while he was at work, I prepared as much of it as I could. Made the pesto sauce, tossed the salad, marinaded the steak. I had to hide all of this as he was home about an hour yesterday between work & leaving with the kiddos.

He thought he was coming back to pick me up... instead he found me waiting (dressed up!) with course 1 (of 5), sitting on the table. We had fancy dinnerware & linens (Thanks to the Caseys), flowers & candlelight, & Jeff's favorite, steak, simmering in the broiler. I planned an hour long playlist of songs perfect for the occasion.

Jeff was very surprised & after a movie (complete with tv trays for dessert, something we never do with the kids around!), I gave him a gift from me, a subscription to '90-Minute Soccer', which he loved. The movie was 'License to Wed' (I highly recommend, very cute -- and HOW COME NO ONE TOLD US?, had 5 of THE OFFICE actors in it).

He was surprised & had thought I was taking him to see Wicked at the Fox. He said it was his best birthday ever. Everyone, all together now, "Aaawwwwww."

Other news, after baking a batch of chocolate cookies, I was doing a deep sweep -- like moving furniture & stuff. Interesting things I found: an alphabet marker, 2 pieces to lite brite, 2 crayons, a slinky, a fork, a matching game, & a marble from hungry-hungry hippos.

We miss the kids & Nana will be bringing them home momentarily. Flynn has a Princess Tea Party to go to. Again with this kid having a social life.

Photos to come...as soon as we find the camera.

Also to come... Gabe's first night in a big boy bed. Will it happen? Will we survive? Will he??

She Loves Me! (but only in our hometown)

Now that Jeff is home after work (can I tell you how wonderful that is?!), I'm getting to run errands WITHOUT kids in tow.

So, when he walked in the door, I planned to turn around & leave with several packages I needed to mail. Gabe was napping, which made for an easier departure. So I just yelled on my way out the door to Flynn, "Mommy's leaving, I love you."
She said, "I love you too!"
"Hey Mom, I like you!"
I played along,
"Hey Flynn, I adore you!"
Her response,
"Hey Mom, I love you in Festus!!"

Jeff & I laughed so hard.

We've decided to be more proactive about our date nights, with the kids. Flynn & I took in some culture Friday night for our date night, when we went to see Children of Eden. Sounds exotic & random, except there was reason for our destination, as Kaylee was a zebra in the play!
While "the girls" were out on their date, "the boys" went to the store for some goodies, stopped at the Caseys' for Spiderman 2, & headed home where Daddy passed on a very important tradition: dipping oreos in milk.
This is of course, something Daddy doesn't do around Flynn, so this was very special. Gabe's first oreo.

And one question:
"Why in the WORLD can't kids' sleeping schedules be in sync??"
Why is it that when Flynn finally sleeps past 7, Gabe is up in the 6 o'clock hour?!?!