Date Night!

Remember last spring when Riley went on her first date with Daddy?  My goodness, that night was so emotional for me!  They were so stinking precious together.

Well, Riley for sure remembered that day and talked about her next princess ball often.  I was so thrilled when Amy forwarded the email to me with the new date for 2015.  Riley and Jarrod both were eager to head out again!

This time, we didn't have to go shopping for her special dress.  She already had her perfect dress in her dress up cabinet, thanks to a good friend's hand-me-downs.  We had a great time getting ready that afternoon, curling her hair and painting her nails.  I even let her wear a little lipstick which tickled her!

I mean, are you kidding me???  This sassy little thing is gorgeous and full of pizazz.  We are in for a lot of trouble with her teen years if this keeps up!

 She was so happy to see her Daddy walk in after work with a special corsage for her.  He's everything in her eyes and she just couldn't wait to dance with her Prince Charming.

We all piled in the van and Gavin and I dropped Riley and her date off at the princess ball where they ate dinner, played basketball, colored, did their nails, and of course, danced the night away!  She is obsessed with the idea of a disco ball currently, so she was excited to hit the dance floor and bust a move.

Meanwhile, Gavin and I headed across the parking lot for our special date night!

I had plans to take him to a local Lego place, but despite calling for information about their event that Friday night, we showed up to a very confused employee who knew nothing about such activities.  Since we had planned to have the pizza they were ordering for dinner (that she also knew nothing about!) we headed down the way to eat at Subway so she could make some calls and figure out what exactly was going on.

When we got back, she had pulled materials for the event and we spent the next hour making a blow kart, paper helicopter, and designing a roller coaster for a marble.  He was so incredibly quiet while we were there, but as soon as we got in the car, he rambled about how cool it was so I'm guessing he liked it.  It was really neat to watch his gears turn in his head as he tried to figure out what to do to make his creations work better. 

It was time to head over and pick up the rest of the family from their date, but as we pulled up, Jarrod texted me that they had finally found Addison so Riley was dancing with her.  Gavin and I decided to pop in and check out their dance, and I snapped this quick pic of the girls. 

 It didn't last long, though...just after I took this, Riley came up and said, 'Mommy, I'm tired.'  The princess was worn out and ready for some beauty sleep!  We headed home and my date, the princess and her Prince Charming all crashed pretty quickly.  Busy date night!

Date Night!

One more December post before I can move on to 2014...

It was a year ago when I took Gavin on our first mommy/son date to see a play at the Walton Arts Center, so I guess we've made a mommy/son date a December tradition because we headed out in mid-December to see another play this year.

This time, it was a play by the local children's theater, but as soon as I heard they were doing a Christmas performance of Junie B. Jones I knew I had to take my Bug.  We love reading those books together.  Of course, the play was the week of our big winter storm so I was nervous all week that we'd have to miss it, but luckily it was just a cold, rainy evening the night we went.

Despite being freezing, I made him take a quick pic with me before we headed in.  I hope I can steal kisses like this from him for a long time to come!

The play was really cute and we saw a few different friends there.  My favorite part was when he wanted to sit on my lap.... I just sat there taking it all in.  This little guy is growing up so fast and one day he won't fit in my lap anymore...

After our play, we stopped for frozen yogurt at a new(er) place in town.  We both agreed it wasn't our favorite.  Guess we'll just stick to Yum Yos!

 

We headed home rather late (8:30!!) and Gavin fell asleep in the car.  Another perk of mommy/son date night - I got to carry my sleeping boy into the house and lay him down for bed.  That's one way to melt mommy's heart!

 

Unlike last year, Riley was big enough to have a little daddy/daughter date of her own this year.  So, while we were gone, Daddy and Riley snuggled up with pajamas, popcorn and, of course, glass slippers on (just for Riley!) and watched Cinderella together.  Aren't they adorable? :)

Riley was so excited about her Cinderella date that she wore her glass slippers all day!

I'm looking forward to many more mommy/son and daddy/daughter dates in our future!

Date Night!

On my list of 30 Things, I had a 'Mommy/Son' date.  I've been wanting to start these for a while; in fact, Jarrod and I have talked about how we want to do Mommy/Son and Daddy/Daughter dates with the kids, and I knew putting it on my list would be a good way to get them going.  I hadn't planned anything, but then a couple weeks ago, I won tickets to see Guess How Much I Love You from the local news station.  Since it was just two tickets, we decided this would be a great chance for our date!  

We were both so excited about our date.  Gavin talked about it all week, and we made it a big deal!  He picked out his bow tie, and helped me pick out my outfit.  And then, yesterday came...and tragedy struck.  The tears wouldn't stop as my babies were sleeping in their beds and I watched the coverage of the Connecticut school shooting.  I was going through the emotions as a parent, trying to imagine the immense pain those mothers and fathers were feeling.  And, I was going through the emotions as a teacher, thinking about my old classroom, imagining what I would've done had this happened in my school.  It was an emotionally draining day, and I couldn't pull myself away from the coverage.

But, then this little guy woke up, and I had to turn it off.  I was glad to turn it off and focus on him.  I pulled him into my lap and squeezed him so tight and told him how much I loved him and all he said was, "I can't wait for our date!"  ::melt.my.heart.::

 

When Jarrod got home, Gavin and I hurried into the car and headed south toward the theater.  It was rush hour, the highway was wet from the rain, and there was an accident tying up traffic, so we were late.  :(  But we made the most of it, looking at Christmas lights along the way and holding hands as we ran across the parking lot into the theater to catch the last 40 minutes or so of the play. 

For much of the play, Gavin sat on my lap.  I love that he's still so little that those seats don't work well for him; they still fold up on him no matter how hard he tries.  I held him so close and watched him, mesmerized by the puppets on the stage and listened to his questions and observations.  I had to wipe away tears a few times, because I just felt so darn lucky that I was spending the evening with such an amazing little guy.  

After the lights came back on and we were heading out, Gavin said, 'This is the best date ever!  Thanks for bringing me here, Mom.'  Seriously, I have the sweetest little boy.  We walked around the lobby and looked at the Christmas decorations, then headed outside to see the sculptures outside.  We giggled together as we had to crawl across the seats to get into our car because the car next to us had parked so close that we couldn't get in our side.  So many little things that made the night so memorable.  We ended our date at TCBY.... 

We finished up our ice cream and laughed together as we realized it had started raining again and were likely going to get drenched running to the car.  It was getting later and later, but I really wasn't in any rush to leave.  I was enjoying our night so very much.  I am the luckiest.

Finally, we arrived home a little before 9, and Gavin fell fast asleep!  I can't wait for our next date....I'm hoping to do these at least a few times a year now.  And I'm so excited for when Riley is a little older and Jarrod can start his dates with her.  Such special memories!

Date Night

It's hard to believe, but Jarrod and I hadn't been to a movie together since before Gavin was born! (And then...I honestly don't even remember what movie we saw then...Jarrod thinks it was the last Pirates of the Carribean). So, when we were offered a few hours of babysitting to go see a movie, we jumped!

The Proposal was a really cute movie. Perfect for Date Night! Definitely more of a chick flick, but a shot of Sandra Bullock's naked body helped to make it not too girly. :) It was nice to sit in the theater, hold Jarrod's hand, and enjoy ourselves. We were only gone a few hours, and of course Gavin was on my mind the entire time, but we deserved it!