Anniversary Plans

Today is our wedding anniversary.  Seventeen years.  Wow.

I was thinking last night about previous anniversaries.  Certainly I can’t remember each one, but several come to mind.

There were a handful of years where we seemed to be moving right on/around our anniversary.  Our first anniversary, we’d just moved to Mississippi, for my first job.  We celebrated with dinner at a new restaurant in a new town.

Our second anniversary, we were still in Mississippi.  We ate dinner at a restaurant we’d never been to before.  I remember ordering an appetizer off the specials menu, and we were both shocked when we got the bill to learn how much it was.  (HA!  I don’t remember what it was, or if it was good, but it was expensive!)

Our third anniversary, we’d moved to North Carolina.  I remember the restaurant where we celebrated.  It was one of our favorites there.

Our fourth anniversary, we’d just moved into our house in Kentucky.  We had a hot and sweaty day of unpacking, but we cleaned up to enjoy a wonderful meal.

It’s funny, looking back on those years.  We worked hard, and we played hard.

I think we celebrated some later anniversary in New York, but I can’t quite remember which. 

The next anniversary I can remember is when I was newly pregnant…maybe 8 weeks along.  Heading out to dinner, I put on a dress that was getting a little bit tight, and I felt so proud of that fact.  I wondered if anyone would notice.  I remember the wonder we felt as we talked about our life together and dreamed of what was to come.

The next anniversary – our tenth – we took our 5 ½ month-old twins to dinner.  We went to one of our favorite restaurants for a very early dinner.  I remember where we sat, at the very front of the restaurant, the girls in their carriers.  I think they napped during our dinner.  I remember we ate pretty hurriedly, for fear they’d wake up.  I felt almost giddy that we were “sneaking” in that dinner with our twins in tow.

The next few anniversaries are more of a blur.  I seem to remember take-out from our favorite sushi restaurant one year.  And a couple of years ago, we had a sweet family date…breakfast out, and hiking at our favorite park in town.

This year, I’m heading off to work today.  We’re planning to go out for dinner, the four of us.  I’m hoping I can coax the girls into wearing a sundress.  We’ll head downtown and have a nice meal.

The girls were whispering last night.  I expect they’ve made us a card of some sort, and they are super excited to give it to us.

We’re not going to enjoy a romantic getaway to NYC, or let go with wine and live music for an evening of fun.  But I’m really excited for the four of us to go out…to fully share this occasion with the girls and to celebrate as a family.

To everything there is a season.  And I am thankful for this season we’re in.

Happy Anniversary to my love!

A Bit About Me, June (Anniversary) Edition

My birthday is February 23, so on the 23rd of each month, I post a couple of random things about me.  My wedding anniversary is June 22, so I usually dedicate June's randomness to something couple-related.

We’ve had some pretty hectic anniversaries.

Not less than a week before our first anniversary, we’d just made our first move, from Alabama to Mississippi.  We were in a tiny rental house while we searched for a house to buy.  We were living out of boxes and trying to find where we’d packed our drinking glasses.  We had to ask a neighbor we’d just met to recommend a nice restaurant. 

Our next two anniversaries were relatively uneventful, but we had another “just moved” celebration for Year #4.  Ten years ago, we moved into our current house, and we again dusted ourselves off the best we could to treat ourselves to an anniversary dinner.

This year, I’d REALLY hoped to mark another “just moved” celebration with the move into our new house, which was originally scheduled for June 20.  The completion date has been moved back a few weeks, though, so we had a relatively uneventful (in a good way!) celebration instead.

We don’t look to make these anniversaries so helter-skelter, I promise…but maybe it speaks to marriage…home is where your family is…and it doesn’t have to be picture-perfect to be good.

I love sushi.

This is no secret, but we haven’t had sushi in quite a long time.  Our favorite restaurant is one the girls like, too, but it becomes really pricey, really quick, so we don’t take them there often. 

Last night, after the girls were soundly in bed, Miss Jenny came over to monitor-sit.  Hubby and I scored “our” table (Table 5) at “our” restaurant, and lucked out with the owner’s daughter waiting on us.  It was a little surreal, as we haven’t sat there – one of the few two-tops in the restaurant – in a really long time.  We savored our favorite rolls and some yummy sake, and then were surprised with Japanese ice cream for dessert.

Yes, I love sushi…and I loved sharing the evening with my hubby, enjoying some of our favorite things, together.

Super Stuff on a Sunday

It's been a very full week...but a pretty super-fabulous one, if I do say so!

1)      Granddaddy and Emme were in Nashville for a couple of days and we met them for lunch last Saturday at the Aquarium restaurant.  The girls loved watching all the fish swim around…they were full of ooh’s and ahh’s the entire meal.

2)      Before lunch, we walked around the mall and Granddaddy joined us on the carousel.  I loved seeing Baby B snuggled next to him for the ride.

3)      On Sunday, Father’s Day, I made sweet potato pancakes for breakfast.  The girls (and Daddy!) were in complete love.  After breakfast we hiked a new (to us) trail at the park near our house, and then played on the playground a bit.  I thought it was the perfect Father’s Day celebration, just being together.

4)      Sunday night, shortly before bed, we discovered we needed a fuse for the air conditioning.  Daddy jetted off to try to catch the hardware store before it closed, while I put the girls to bed.  It’s rare that we don’t do our bedtime routine as a family of four, but the girls were so very well-behaved for me…the best yet.  And when Daddy came in to wish them a quick goodnight before going back outside, Baby B’s chin got all quivery that he wasn’t staying…melts my heart!

5)      On Tuesday we decided to bank another adventure, this time at the botanical gardens in Nashville.  They have a tree house exhibit up for the summer, and the girls were so excited at the prospect of climbing in and out of “houses in trees”.  We had an awesome morning, taking in all the tree houses, and hiking the nature trail.  We took in a few of the gardens, but tried to stay in the shade as much as we could.

6)      We had a great lunch at the botanical gardens.  The on-site restaurant is called the “Pineapple Room”.  The girls sat like little ladies and ate from the big-people menu.  I had to laugh this week when B asked me, “What’s a mushroom?”  You know what a mushroom is, Silly Girl.  “No, is it like a Pineapple Room?”  Hahaha!

7)      Wednesday our swim lesson was cancelled, and the girls were disappointed.  We took them to the Dairy Queen as a special treat.  [We haven’t been to the DQ in months and months…they think it’s reserved for the utmost special occasions, and I’m willing to let them maintain that view.]  They were SO excited to have a vanilla ice cream there.

8)      One day this week I needed to pick up a few groceries.  I took Baby A with me, while B stayed home with Daddy.  Instead of going through the drive-through at the bank, A and I went inside.  “Will I get a sticker?” she asked.  And the nice teller didn’t disappoint.  I asked A what was on her sticker.  “A light bulb.”  And what’s he wearing?  “Sunglasses.”  What do you call that when an inanimate object has a face like that?  “Personification!”

9)      While Baby A and I were gone, Baby B worked on writing her letters with her daddy.  She was so proud to show me the E and F she’d written when we got home.

10)   Friday was our wedding anniversary, so we wanted a fun family day.  We ate breakfast out, a very rare treat, and then hiked our favorite local park for a couple of hours.  By then it was time for lunch, and we all enjoyed our favorite sushi restaurant.  I’ve ordered the girls a [cooked] crunchy shrimp roll the past few times we’ve had sushi, and they think they’re such big girls!  And they remembered to tell Mr. Joe, the owner, "Konichiwa!" when we walked in.

11)   Saturday Baby A had constructed a “computer” out of two puzzle boxes.  She was pretending to type emails to all the pets that we know in the neighborhood.  She kept dictating, “[Name], I love you so much and I give you great big hugs, good night!”

12)   Daddy occasionally goes to get bagels on Sunday mornings, and sometimes he’ll take one of the girls with him.  This morning I decided to switch things up a bit…I asked the girls if they wanted to come with me.  B was so excited to tell Daddy we were going…”The three of us!  Mommy, B, and A!” 

13)   The girls are getting really good at holding hands.  If I need one hand for something, I can tell them to squeeze each others’ hand really tightly, and they are very focused in not letting go.  At least when it’s not crowded out and about, this makes going and doing so much easier!

Very thankful for many blessings of fabulousness!

A Busy Couple of Weeks Ahead...

I guess last year I was still lost in the haze of having a couple of sweet little infants, as I don't think I realized what a busy time the end of June / beginning of July is for our family...

Hubby and I are celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary with dinner out on Friday night (after the kiddos are in bed, sleeping soundly with the "house sitter").

Sunday is Father's Day.

The following Sunday is our Mothers of Multiples picnic (and I'm in charge of the food shopping).

Then we'll celebrate the girls' "1/2 birthday" (when they'll be 18 months old) on July 5th.

And Hubby's birthday is July 8th. (We also celebrate the cat's birthday then, too, but she's pretty easy to please.)

Once upon a time, we might have taken a trip somewhere - say hopped aboard a jet plane for a long weekend in New Orleans - to celebrate our anniversary. And we might have spent the day shopping and eating in Nashville for Hubby's birthday.

These days, both our budget and our time are much more limited, so - with the exception of our dinner out - we'll be doing most of our celebrating at home.

The fun part is that I'll get to cook up some yummy creations to mark each occasion.

The challenging part is that I'll be cooking up a lot of creations over the course of a couple of weeks...and I'll probably need a diet detox come mid-July.

But that's OK. I've already bookmarked the pages of my cookbooks, and I'm ready for some heavy-duty baking, basting, and roasting. Bon appetit to us!

(Do you think it's too much to ask Hubby to clean up the kitchen on his birthday???)