12 Dates of Christmas

A few weeks ago, I was scrolling through my Instagram and saw that a friend gave her husband a year of date nights for his birthday.

And, well, I was inspired. 

Dave's biggest complaint in our marriage is that we don't get enough time together. We rarely have a date night and we are so busy with day-to-day things that we don't get a lot of quality time together even after the boys are in bed. So I thought this would be the perfect Christmas gift for him. 

A year of date nights - one each month. 

Our usual dates consist of a movie or dinner. Sometimes both, but not usually. So I wanted to get a little more creative with these dates. I also wanted to create some at-home dates because we are limited in the babysitter department. We often have date nights in after the boys are in bed, but again it's just a rented movie, so it's not really "quality" time together. It's fun, yes, but I wanted to try some different things.

I made an envelope for each month and included a note saying what the date was for that month as well as whatever gift cards or cash would be necessary.

Here are our monthly dates:

January: Horse-drawn surrey ride at Crystal Mountain

While searching for sleigh rides in our area, I came across this one that says there is hot chocolate and a warming bonfire after the ride. WINNER!

February: Tickets to a show at the Comedy Arts Festival (tickets aren't on sale yet, so I just put money in the envelope to buy them later).

Maybe we'll even ice skate (HA! I doubt Dave would do that.) or ride the ferris wheel (that sounds more likely). They block the street and have a sledding hill, ice skating, a ferris wheel, and more.

March: Date night in - video games

April: Date night in - rented movies (I included a Family Video gift card)

May: Nauti-Cat cruise (I already bought discounted tickets in the fall that have to be used by June, so we'll just make sure we go in May.)

June: Date night in - Game Night (dominoes, board games, cards)

July: Free movie by the bay at the Film Festival

Every night during the Film Festival, there is a free movie on a giant inflatable screen by the bay.

August: Target shooting

September: Dinner at the food trucks downtown

October: Hike at High Rollaways. I've seen gorgeous pictures, but have never been there.

November: Breakfast date at Cracker Barrel (Dave's favorite place for breakfast)

December: Dinner & a movie

I'm excited about the dates I have come up with. Dave is pretty introverted and there are some things he just wouldn't want to do, so it's hard to come up with new and different things. While some of these might not be things he would have chosen, I think we will enjoy them together. I'm excited to spend more quality time with Dave in 2016. Hopefully he's excited too.

Daddy Dates

Over the weekend, Leland got to have a couple of dates with Daddy.

On Saturday, Dave and I each had some errands to run, so we split up. He took Leland and I took Alden. While they were out, Leland asked Dave if they could "go to a hot dog restaurant and eat at the restaurant." Dave was going to take him somewhere for hot dogs, and then Leland changed his mind and wanted "pizza without pepperoni." (He takes after me. No pepperoni, thank you.)

So they went out for pizza (with sausage).

And then on Sunday, they went out for breakfast together. We had a half off coupon for our favorite breakfast buffet, but since I'm doing the 21 Day Fix, I couldn't have what I really wanted. I didn't want to torture myself by seeing all the things I couldn't have, so I opted out.

Leland was excited about the doughnuts.

Alden had plenty of fun letting dinosaurs swim in his cereal. 

Then a few days later, I went to see my former student's baseball game. I knew the boys wouldn't be okay hanging out at the game, so Dave took them to a nearby school playground to play.

He even let them try the big swings, which I haven't let them do yet. Dads are so fun.

I was a little jealous of the lunch and breakfast dates because I rarely get those with just one of the boys. But I reminded myself that I get dates with both of them all the time. We do so many fun things together during the summer and on school breaks. It was Dave's turn to do something fun.

Big Boy Bed

We finally did it. At one month shy of three years old, we put Leland in a big boy bed.

Dave decided a long time ago that he wanted to build Leland's bed, but he was waiting for me to decide when. Well, since Leland could climb in and out of his crib without a problem, and since all he wanted to do was jump in it all the time (and stress the springs underneath the mattress), I figured it was time.

We went back and forth about whether it should be toddler or twin size. Ultimately, we decided on a toddler size so that he has more room to play in his bedroom.

So a few weeks ago, Dave gathered the materials and built it, and then he spent a few days painting it, sanding it, repainting it, etc. And Wednesday night, he told me it was ready for Leland.

Leland was thrilled to say the least.

He kept saying things like, "I love my big boy bed!" and "Look at that bed Daddy made for me!" and "It's great!" He was ready to sleep in it right away.

Alden thought it was pretty cool too.

Although that could be because now that Leland has a big boy bed, Alden gets the crib. He has been using the pack 'n play. (We bought a special mattress for it over the summer when he first started using it, so it's softer than a regular pack 'n play mat, but still...he's been in a freaking pack 'n play all this time. Second kid problems.)

Both boys had a bit of a tough time falling asleep that night, but they slept decent (minus Leland falling out once), and have been fine in them since. It was just hard to get used to initially.

Dave said that the bed was really simple to make. It took him a couple of hours to cut the pieces and put them together. The time consuming part was painting. He didn't use a plan or anything, which baffles me because I can't do anything without instructions. He said the only difficult thing about it was building it in a small space. 

While it may be something simple and easy to him, I think it's pretty special that Leland's bed is made by his daddy. And Leland thinks that's pretty cool too.

10 years

Ten years ago, Dave and I jumped into this adventure called marriage. We were young - some may say too young - but we knew what we wanted.

We have shared a lot of experiences in the last decade.

Two precious babies. One miscarriage. One house (we bought our house just a few months before we got married). Six cars and trucks. One college graduation. Several jobs for me. One job for him. Two kitties. Countless adventures both near and far.

We have walked through this life, hand in hand, through good times and bad. And after ten years, I can honestly say that there is no one else I would rather share this adventure with.

Happy 10 year anniversary to my husband, my friend, my personal comedian, my Mr. Fix-It, and my baby daddy. He is the bestest of the best and I am one lucky lady. (Yes, I said bestest. I teach lower elementary; it's allowed.)

Happy Father's Day

To my husband.

My hard-working, loving, funny, sometimes a huge pain in the butt, but always amazing husband.

Our boys are so lucky to have him, and I am thankful to share this journey of parenthood with him.

Happy Father's Day!

(The only way you could improve is to let me take your picture every once in a while.)

Stay-cation Day One

It's Spring Break, y'all!

I have been looking forward to this week for about a month now. Not because we're going on some fancy vacation to a tropical paradise (though that would be amazing). But because Dave took the week off and we're going to have lots and lots of family time. But first...a couple of fun date days.

Dave and I don't have date nights very often. Partly because of money, and partly because of babysitter availability, but mostly because of me. I work about 45 hours a week, and my kids are in daycare 9-10 hours a day Monday-Friday. I miss my kids and my family time all week, so I really cherish our nights and weekends together. I know that alone time is important in a marriage, but we really just don't want to be away from our kids.

Since we're both off for the week, Dave and I decided to take the boys to daycare for two days so that we could have a date day or two. We originally planned to do lunch and a movie on one day, and the other day just lounge around and take naps all day. But then we decided to split up the lunch and movie into two different days. We didn't want to rush from lunch to a 1:00 movie, and we knew if we ate lunch, we wouldn't want to get popcorn - and we love us some movie theater popcorn.

Today, we took the kids to daycare in the morning and stopped at the new doughnut shop in town. Then we ran some errands and I got a new "diaper bag."

Several of my friends have been using the Patagonia Atom sling bag as a diaper bag, and I had to jump on the bandwagon. First, because I hate how big and bulky my diaper bag is - it doesn't fit under any stroller, and it's a pain to carry around. Second, because this is hands-free. About a month ago, Dave's boss gave him $100 in gift certificates to use at any downtown store or restaurant, so he graciously used some of it to buy my new bag.

After running errands, we had lunch at Bubba's - a restaurant downtown, which means it was free with Dave's gift certificate. Dave had a burger, and I had steak tacos - delish!

And because I am always game for dessert (sometimes the only reason I eat the meal is for dessert), we ordered a slice of oreo pie.

AMAZING!

And after lunch, we went home and enjoyed a nice long nap before picking up the boys. We missed the boys big time, but it had been so long since we were able to spend some time just the two of us, and we really enjoyed some alone time.

33...

Happy  Birthday to this guy!

 To my husband and friend...

To the greatest daddy to our two boys...

To a hard-working man who always puts his family first.

To celebrate his birthday, Dave requested a cheesecake instead of a regular cake. I happily obliged - I didn't mind sharing that bad boy with him. 

We also went out for Chinese as a family on Saturday night. We haven't gone out to eat much since Alden was born, since Alden still wants to nurse all the time and the adult to child ratio isn't really in our favor anymore. But it was fun - Leland loved his dinner {as did we} and Alden did great too.

Dave is the hardest person in the world to buy gifts for because he really doesn't ever want anything. We got him some snacks and treats - peanut m&m's, Mike & Ikes, and turkey jerky {all his faves} and a new shovel. Yeah...a snow shovel - that's what he really wanted. I guess we know where Leland gets his excitement for snow removal appliances, huh? Apparently, it's a really nice one. I didn't realize there were "really nice" shovels, but Dave says it's top notch. Good to know.

We sort of celebrated all weekend. Meals and activities were Dave's choice, we rented movies, and just tried to make it a little extra special. 

Happy Birthday to my husband. I'm so glad that 33 years ago, his mama brought him into this world. 

Maternity Photos...

One of the things I L.O.V.E. about my friend/photographer, Alisha, is the quick turn around for getting pics back. We just had our maternity shoot on Saturday, and my photo CD appeared in my mailbox TODAY!

I was so excited about our photo session. I have always wanted to get pictures by railroad tracks. The lines are just...well...cool. And with Leland's love of trains, I thought this might be the perfect time. So for our session, I suggested we find some tracks nearby. Alisha suggested behind our public library. I knew there were train tracks there {because the depot is right next door}, but I had never been back there before. To my surprise, there was a pretty flower garden, and a wooden train to play on! So fun!

I knew Leland wouldn't exactly cooperate. He doesn't sit still, like, ever. And especially when we're outside, he is on the go nonstop. I warned Alisha that it might be tough to get some pics of all of us, but she wasn't worried in the least. Leland had her running all over the place, and really made her work. I felt so bad for her having to run around so much. Did I mention she is 6 months pregnant herself? Yeah. But she was able to get some great shots!

I won't share all of them, because there are A LOT. But I will share some of my favorites {which is still a lot of photos}.

By the wooden train...

Giving me kisses

I love that he's looking up at Dave here.

I think we need to come back again to just play!

On the train tracks...

I was so hoping for a shot of Leland driving his train on my belly, but he wouldn't stop moving. 

Oh well.

In the garden...

Does this photo remind you of anything? 

{We had a photo of our feet with little booties when I was pregnant with Leland and one of our feet for Leland's one year-ish fall photos}

Did I mention that Alisha bribed Leland with Smarties? Pretty sure one is in his mouth in this pic. Ha ha.

Oh, that face. He cracks me up.

Framed for Baby's room, no?

I love this one. Dave and me, with Leland running away. Ha ha. Story of his toddlerhood.

We aren't lovey in front of other people. Dave kept making me laugh.

Gotta love the elephant theme!

I'm so happy with how these turned out! I was honestly surprised that she got any of the three {or four, I suppose} of us together. You really can't tell by the pictures how uncooperative my kid was. And I adore the train tracks photos. Exactly what I was hoping for.