Date Night with my LIttles...

So this week our house was under construction... Things have been crazy.. So this night I decided instead of trying to rearrange everything to find our table, we would just go get dinner. Garran had to work late and so it was just me and the littles! We went to Mi Casitas! It was delicious and the kids and I had fun chatting and just hanging out together!

Anniversary/Graduation Surprise

This year some friends of mine and I got together and conspired to do something fun for our husbands who were all graduating this May. 

It was a surprise for the boys and fun for us girls.

It was kind of my anniversary gift to Garran as well because we didn't really have a chance to do much on our actual anniversary. 

 Here we are on the way to the surprise!!

 Can you guess where it is??

 That's right...Downtown Chicago. A dinner cruise out on Lake Michigan. 

 I mean, look at this view while we got to sit and enjoy a wonderful meal and good company!

 It was the perfect night. It was nice weather and clear skies. 

 As you can tell, I just kept snapping pictures fo the awesome skyline view. 

 Our group as the boat was heading back into the dock. 

 Garran and I! 

I just love this picture. 

 This one too. 

 When we got off the boat, Navy Pier was all lite up. I thought it looked so pretty. 

 We had the most delicious virgin strawberry daiquiris on the boat. The were so good we were talking about them the next morning. 

 One of my favorites of the night.

Happy Anniversary and Graduation Love!!

You are an amazing man and I love you dearly!!

Oh and I could not forget Phil. 

I promised him I would not put this on facebook, but my blog...Well that is a different story. 

There was a dance competition on the boat and there was a teenage girl that had signed up. The DJ was randomly selecting songs and this girl got "Single Ladies". She was obviously shy and the DJ asked if anyone wanted to go up and be her back up dancer. Of course Phillip jumped at the chance. 

ENJOY!

doctors & dates

I had to go into the city for a doctors appointment this afternoon. 

Garran came with me so that we could have a date as well. Don't you just love the gowns!

Lovely!

 After we were done with the doctor, we walked around downtown for a little while and went in some stores and just enjoyed seeing all the different things you get to see while your in the city. 

 They had a series of gardens with the dragons that looked like they were diving from one  to the next...very cute. 

 A statue on her way home. 

 Lake Michigan at sunset. 

 and last but not least...

Barbie greeting all the traffic that this little work van meets. 

We went to dinner at this wonderful little restaurant called, Spacca Napoli. 

It was a beautiful night, so we sat outside. 

The food was delicious!!

 and my date was pretty cute. 

 I was happy...I love date nights!!

after dinner we walked around again for a little while and then found this place. 

I took a picture for my step dad... His name is George. 

 They had the most delicious ice cream. 

They were rated one of the top places in Chicago to go for dessert. 

 My dessert was DELICIOUS!! 

However it was very rich. 

I could not even finish it. 

We also decided to bring some treats home for the kids. 

We thought these animal cookies would be a hit...and they were!!

Such a fun day with the hubby!

I hope we get to do it again soon!

City

Garran and I had to go into the city today and so we left the kids at home with a sitter. 

I always like when Garran gets to come in with me. Even if we just walk around for a little while. It is nice to spend some time together.

I thought these buildings were kind of fun!

Next we went to China town. 

 This was me at the restaurant. It is just a little whole in the wall place, but it was nice to get a little snack. It was so hot outside, it felt nice to just sit somewhere that had AC!

 Here is Garran showing off his chop sticks. 

No there is nothing special about them. He just wanted them in the picture!

This was our view. 

Nice little view of one of the streets in China Town.

But sadly we had to head back and our afternoon was over. 

Good Bye City!!!

Until we meet again..

Date Night...Finally!!!

I had to go into Chicago for a doctor's appointment so Garran decided to make a date night out of it.

I love the city at night. 

Here we are on Michigan Ave, with all the city lights. 

 Garran had wanted to take me to China town for a long time now. He had some dumplings when he was there for an art conference and has wanted to take me.

 the sign says China Town, but it is blurry.

 we found this great little place and it had fun atmosphere. Plus i had a handsome fella to look at too. 

 Everything on the menu looked really yummy except for the last thing....

hmmm.....Lard with rice.

Needless to say, we did not give it a try.

Garran and the long awaited dumplings. 

I have to admit, they were delicious. 

You can really tell the difference between authentic Chinese food and well, the other stuff. 

It was a much needed and much loved date night. 

We don't get them or take them as often as either of us would like. 

Life just gets busy and we enjoy the time we do get together.

a date.

I got to go on a date with him.

I was so excited!

He got to go on a date with me.

He was pretty excited too!!!

It was long over do -

This is what happens.

When you spend the evening with friends you do not get to see that often but that you know you can always laugh with and have a good time.

We tried to surprise our friends that Palmers for Stacy's birthday, which is tomorrow. 

Happy Birthday Friend!

She figured it out, but we still went and had fun anyways. We ate dinner at this super yummy place called "Tokyo". Then we walked around the mall and just chatted. Had some ice cream and ended the night at Target. 

I know it might not sound like the most amazing double date in the world, but I laughed so much it was totally worth every minute.

Of course at the mall we had to stop in the Halloween shop. The boys stayed up front and talked while Stac and I looked around. 

We found these gems and I could not resist a picture with them.

Thanks for a fun night Palmer's and Hope you have an Amazing Birthday tomorrow Stac!!

date day.

Garran and I finally got to go out on a date. I think the second since we have moved here. Anyways, we went to chicago in the morning to do a session and then stopped by a book store and grabbed some lunch. Garran picked the place. He definitely picked it because of its name. I told him to smile when I took this picture and this was what i got. 

He is so funny. This man can still make me laugh till i cry. We had such a fun day.

 the food however was not great. neither garran or i were very impressed. neither one of us finished our lunch. as we were leaving garran said "hey there is a Wendy's, let's get a frosty". He LOVES frosty's. So we did. He saw that they had a new strawberry frosty and decided to try it. Well here is a guess at what he thought....

ya not so good. kind of taste like cough syrup. needless to say we had  a good laugh at all our bad choices and bad luck that day. it was great to spend the morning with him and have such a good day!

dating divas

my sister in law found this very cute website that these ladies have put together. i love the beginning of it. they say marriage is a verb, not a noun. i love that. i totally agree. i thought why not share with my friends. enjoy their ideas and stories...they are very cute.

Click HERE to go to their site!

false starts~

well i have decided that i am not going to get excited about this baby coming until monday. last night garran and i went to this Mongolian restaurant and ate some spicy food. then we walked around the mall and i was excited because i was having regular and strong contractions. i was so excited. so we came home and called labor and delivery. they said take some Tylenol and a hot bath. i did and i was so bummed-my contractions slowed down. so i stayed up till about midnight waiting for them to get stronger to no avail. i finally decided to go to bed and just forget about it. so now im just going to try and enjoy my weekend and wait for my doctors appointment on monday! i know we will know for sure then when this little girl will be coming to join us.

hope everyone has a great weekend!

date night~

tonight we went out with our friend mandy and her friend matt for dinner. we had a nice time talking and laughing. i meant to ask mandy to take a picture of us, just because we don't get out much, but of course i forgot. we had to stop at menards on the way home and i remembered i wanted to get a picture together. so here we are in the aisle of menards buying some screws to fix a kitchen chair and the boys bunk beds. ( i hate these kind b/c i never come out well. i am always the one holding the camera, so i think i look funky) anyways that is what we did. at least i have a quick snap shot to remember the night!!

thanks matt and mandy for a fun dinner. we had a great time!

date night sucess~

tonight sargento and i got to go out for a date while his sister watched the boys for us. we went out to dinner, which was pretty good. then we were trying to decide what to do and it was fun to kind of revert back to the days of our early dating. we went and played black light putt putt, then we played a few games in the arcade that was attached. sargento was amazed at my ability and the fighting games. i told him it was pint up aggression from long days with lots of time outs=). he was not surprised at my driving skills however, he always teases me about my crazy driving anyways. i am a really safe driver though!

it was a really fun evening, and needed just because i feel like its important to continually have fun with your spouse!

S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E !

last night we went to a surprise party for our friend mike. we met at a restaurant and then he and his wife mandy came in a little later.. it was a lot of fun to sit and chat.. its funny how when our particular little group gets together the boys always end up at one end of the table and the girls at the other. as always we had a great time. after dinner the plan was to go to see a the new batman movie. ok so i have to admit i have seen the others but was not like dying to go see this one. but man it was crazy..heath ledger is by far the best joker there has ever been. he is not just a criminal mastermind..he is what i would like to call "off his rocker" in a somewhat scary way. my friend stacy and i were sitting a couple seats apart but both screamed at the same moment.. did i mention it was suspensful! man i was surprised ! we were originally just going to go to dinner but then our friends the palmers surprised us and said they were getting tickets for us as a late birthday present for garrans birthday.. Wasn't that awesome! we have great friends. Hopefully mike had a great birthday! thanks mandy for inviting us and thanks palmers for surprising us with the movie- all though i have to say i had a dream last night with a clown.. YIKES!

check out my new glasses..my eyes have just not wanted to wear contacts lately.. they look very black in this picture!

A date for SArgenTos Birthday!

Just thought I would post about Sargento and I going on a date today. Sargento's sister came over to watch the boys and we went to go see the new Narnia movie. I have to say that I liked the first one, but I think I liked this one even more. We had a nice time. We decided this would be part of Sargento's birthday celebration. When his birthday comes around.. he likes to say that he gets to celebrate all week long. I think he just likes all the extra attention=) Anyways we recommend this movie if anyone is thinking about it!

Finally a Date Night

Tonight we finally got out for a few hours and were able to have dinner together. I guess this was a late anniversary dinner. It was nice. We tried a place that we had never been before. It wasn't the best ever, but it was pretty good. It was nice to have a conversation without having to stop mid-sentence to say something to one of our little kiddos. Date nights are great.
After we picked up the kids from our friendly neighbors, I dropped all the boys off at home and ran to the store to get some of the basics. As I was putting the groceries in the back of the van, this white van pulled up in the spot next to me. A mother and her teenage son got out. It was freezing and the wind was blowing so hard. Anyways he approached me and said, "Can I take your cart for you". It was such a nice surprise. I thought I hope my boys are gentlemen like that, since the nearest cart return was no where close. I really appreciate those little things some days.

At this point I have to have a sense of humor...

So here is what happened. This afternoon I started having some complications due to the miscarriage. I was upset due to the problems but also bummed because tonight was my long awaited anniversary date night. ARGG!
So this is how it went--

supposed to leave for date at 4:00
leave for hospital 4:15
supposed to go see Leather Heads 4:30
watched monk and part of star wars at hospital
(got to take an unexpected nap-thanks anesthesia!)
supposed to go to a great restaurant
11:30pm still no dinner- have not ate since noon..
Hoping tomorrow goes better and that I actually get my anniversary date sometime =(

UPDATE ON DATE NIGHT!

So after a few request here are updates from our date night!

Before:

AFTER: