Saturday, February 12, 2011

Valentine's Date Night

We decided to take Jace to the movies tonight for an early Valentine's Day celebration...really, it was just a good excuse to make Jay take us somewhere fun. :) We don't go to the movies often because they are so expensive and Jay is usually working or doing some sort of time consuming DIY project on the weekends during the "cheap times" but he got his work done early so we were free all afternoon/evening. I wanted to see that new movie "Gnomeo and Juliet" so I checked the times and the price was right so we packed up and headed out.

Jace had a BLAST! This was his second trip to the movies (his first was to see "Toy Story 3" back in the summer) but he was just as excited this time as he was then. We pulled in the parking lot and he excitedly exclaimed "We're here! We're at the movie theatre!!!". I'm not sure who was more excited - me or him! :)

We bought our tickets, got our popcorn (much to Jace's delight since popcorn is somewhat not allowed in our house - only for special treats), and got settled into our seats. Jace was properly propped up atop of coats, had his - or what was supposed to be MY - popcorn in hand and patiently watched as the previews played. Being the responsible parents we always are, we *of course* made sure he didn't have to potty before the movie started, because you know as well as I do how they decide they have to go 1/2 way through the movie. Theatre got dark and the movie started to roll...que 3 year old's bladder! Since Jay is such a loving and wonderful daddy, he jumped up, did not complain at all (ok, maybe a little lol) and quickly escorted Wee Man out. Oh, he also eversokindly re-buttered our already half eaten bag of popcorn. Isn't he wonderful? :)

I have got to say that "Gnomeo and Juliet" was one of the cutest kid's movies I've seen in a long time. Maybe I don't get out much and spend 90% of my television viewing time on channels like Nick Jr. and PBS kids but the movie was so much fun. Of course, given the title, it loosely tells the age-old tale of forbidden love and who can resist the romance in that? Throw in an entire soundtrack of Elton John songs, cleverly adapted to relate to the world of gnomes and you've got a super fun movie! Jace laughed at all the funny part, toe-tapped to catchy, classic tunes and sat through the entire thing like the big boy that he is. I was so proud of him and so overjoyed to be able to have such an amazing date with my two loves. It's so much fun to be able to watch movies like this through his eyes. To see the delight and wonder on his face makes my heart swell beyond measure.

We topped off our night with dinner at this very exclusive, fancy restaurant where kids eat free on the weekends (SCORE) called Steak n Shake. ;P Maybe a "dinner and a movie" date are a lot different than they used to be in our single years but I must say that this was probably the best Valentine's Day date that I've ever had.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

TGIF...Thank God for FRIENDS

Let's see...well, I didn't quite make my goal of 4 blogs per month last month but this is a new month and I'm going to try agian. :)

We've had a pretty busy week full of skating lessons, birthday celebrations and play dates. We had MOPS this morning, which was a well needed breath of fresh air! I had a rough day yesterday and will admit that it wasn't my best "mommy day". It was Jay's birthday and I wanted to do something special for him and bake him some cupcakes. Baking is definitely not my "thing", even though I try. I tried a new recipe (which I planning on writing about some other time) and the bottom line was: FAIL! I was annoyed at myself for failing at my cake baking attempt, mad at Jay for something that I'll explain in the cake fail post, exploded *twice* at my son, discovered that one of my favorite shirts had seriously, inexplicable shrunk (even though I washed it in cold AND hung it to dry) and then found my favorite pair of sunglasses broken down in my purse! When you add all that up, it equals a pity party for Mommy! I think at some point in the day I even actually yelled at the non-verbal voice of the Holy Spirit!!!

When the alarm went off this morning, I snoozed it as many times as possible and *strongly* considered not going to MOPS today. "It's beyond cold today" (fyi, it was seriously 0* this morning) and "Jace was up super late and I just do NOT want to wake him up" were my excuses. I finally decided that I needed to go today, even though I wanted to stay curled up in my warm bed, with Jace snuggling quietly beside me and boy, was it worth it! I am so thankful for our little group and we even had 2 new ladies. We shared lots of laughs and encouragement, like always, and I love the friendships and sense of community we're building. It's been a little difficult for me having to build new relationships and getting "plugged in" at our church but it's been so worth it! I've spoiled by having the same friends since elementary and I still miss them, dearly, and have dug in my heels and told God that I don't want *new* friends, I want my *old* friends but I'm so thankful for my new friends!

Speaking of "old friends", I am sooo excited to spend tomorrow with one of my dearest friends, Amy, and 2 of her 4 wonderful boys!!! Jace gets to play with Blake all day and I get to meet her newest little one, Toby! What more could I ask for? Oh how about one more friend to join in on our fun??? Yep, Marissa and Colten are coming, too! 3 friends + 4 boys = 1 happy Courtney!!!