Well, lots has been going on, but for this post I will focus on the highlight of the weekend....we went on a kid-less date!!!!!!
It was the first time we have ever hired a babysitter to watch our kids, ever. We've left them with other moms so I could run to appts and Gma and Gpa have watched them on occasion and we did go on a date back in April when Nathan's sister and family was kind enough to watch the kids for us, but other than that, we haven't actually paid anyone to watch them...that is, until last Saturday!
A super sweet 18 yr old girl from our church was going to be house-sitting at the same house that we stayed at for a week in July and we thought it would work out perfect to bring the kids over there instead of them having to stay in the camper. So that's what we did! And actually, since Nathan's sister Naomi was coming over in the morning, we brought them over there for a few hours during the am so that Naomi and I could run errands kid-free! We couldn't believe all the places we were able to run in and out of, and in record time!
We picked up the kids around noon, brought them home, put Ariella down for her nap and then once Nathan got home from work (he got off a little early), we brought them back over around 5 and we were FREE!! :) Besides the one time we left ALL the kids with Nathan's sister back in April, we had not been on a kid-less date since BEFORE Ariella was born! (She's 16 mos old!) So it was about time!
But it was so weird bc we didn't even know what to do! We started by strolling the downtown area of Culpeper. There are cute little shops and lots of restaurants. It was a beautiful night out, a lot cooler than it has been, so it was great just walking hand in hand. There was actually a time where we found ourselves just staning in the middle of the sidewalk, not saying anything and not moving. We really were just in awe of the fac that we didn't have 4 kids pulling us in all different directions and having to keep them off the street, etc. So we just enjoyed that peace and stood there quietly for a few mins :) Although we checked out some of the restaurant menus during our walk, we didn't find anything that grabbed our attention. A lot of those places serve greek/mediterranean/european food and half of the stuff we had no idea what it was so we were thinking somewhere "American" would probably be better :)
We ended up at Ruby Tuesday. Which, by the way, is a restaurant that neither of us had been to! And the funny thing, right under their "Ruby Tuesday" sign was the phrase "Fresh, Simple, American Food" HA! Perfect! Just what we were looking for! :) I ordered the spinach and artichoke dip for an appetizer and then a shrimp alfredo pasta thing for my entree. Both were amazing. Nathan ordered wings and steak. Typical.
After that we ran a couple errands...went shopping for romantic stuff like, ya know, toilet paper, laundry soap and sandwich bags. What? That's not romantic?? Well, it's necessity, I guess! Then we went to a clothing store that I never shop at bc it's way to expensive (I prefer the cute thrift and consignment stores!) and we spent and hour and a half there were I tried on a gazillion different outfits that Nathan was picking out for me! It was so much fun, and we stayed until they closed. We ended up leaving with $160 worth of stuff (holy cow!)....ONLY to have me go back the next day and return $105 of it :) It was still fun.
We left there and went to the new cold stone creamery that just opened in town and shared an ice cream while sitting outside in the beautiful weather. By now it was 9:30pm and it was time to head back to pick up the kiddos. When we got there, Ariella was sleeping in her pack n play, brayan was zonked out on the couch and Tiernan and Caedmon were still up watching Tom and Jerry.
They missed us and we missed them...kinda :) But it was sure nice to have some time to spend with my husband alone. I didn't even mind the $10/hr it cost us to hire the babysitter, it was well worth it...and I'm sure we are going to be calling her again soon.
Just as a last note...I talked with the dad of the girl who watched the kids today (they are friends from church) and he said that the first thing she said about the kids once she got home was that they were so good! I'm like..."huh? MY kids?!" :) We'll see if she still thinks that way once she watches them at the camper. It's a lot different when you are at someone else's house who has a bazillion toys that you don't have! But she did say that they obeyed and cleaned up real nice, stuff like that. So that's always nice to hear. Makes the 'date' that much better!!
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Random pics.....
While we were at the grocery store, I told Brayan (who was running around) that he better come back and sit down with his hands on his lap. Of course I was meaning ON the cart (they have a bench that the kids sit on) but being the little stinker that Brayan is, he just sat down right on the ground and put his hands in his lap. Well, I guess he listened since I didn't specify where to sit...but he was still doing it in defiance bc he knows where he should sit! It was cute though...I had to chuckle!
Ariella in the "bath"...which she actually likes now, took her awhile!
Look at how long this girls' hair is!! It's a good ways past her shoulders when it's wet and I comb it out...so much more fun than the boys' hair! :)
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