Home again

On Tuesday morning I was able to go on a breakfast date with my five year-old Isaac. I love that boy. The evening before he was telling us what he wanted to eat, which happened to be the same thing he'd gotten the last time he was there with Mark. Apparently he'd ordered a pancake and it came with an egg on the top. He really liked the whole egg-on-top idea. We were discussing how he wanted to order his egg this time, (last time he liked his eggs with the yoke runny but now he does not like the yoke runny anymore, so we were wondering how he'd like his egg?) and he said, "like we had at grandma's house." I was racking my brain trying to remember when we'd had eggs at grandma's house, when it occurred to me that he was talking about the deviled eggs we'd had there for our Mother's Day lunch. We had to explain that they don't actually do those kind of eggs there. :) I just have this funny image in my head of the waitress delivering him a pancake with a deviled egg on top.

Anyway- fun date. He knew just where he wanted to sit. [The same table he'd sat at with daddy, last time.] He used great manners with the waitress, when I reminded him to do so. ~smile~ He chatted my ear off and wriggled around in his chair so much I thought he might tip it over. He ordered hot cocoa with whipping cream and slurped off the whipping cream and only spilled once. He ate all but about three bites of his food. [I was seriously impressed. That pancake was the size of a large plate!] His eyes got very wide when he saw the tatoos up our waitress' arms, but- thank you, Lord - he refrained from commenting about them. He dropped his egg on the floor and then was very sad because he'd wanted to eat his egg. So I told him to pick it up. We inspected it, and then he ate it. (I know. I can't believe I'm admitting that, here.)

When I got home I nursed Audra and then headed out to a local spa where I received a Swedish Massage that was TO DIE FOR. It was so wonderful. I've had a few pedicures in my day. And one massage a couple years ago where I was sure the lady was seriously injuring my back, what with how hard she was rubbing. I hurt for days. It was not pleasurable, not one bit. But this girl? She did a great job. It was so relaxing and I felt truly spoiled.

Mark wasn't sure if a massage was a good gift or not. We've talked about it before and I'm so practical I tend to think those things are a waste of money. Or I feel guilty about spending that much money. When I got home I told him I'm now a believer. :) Not in a let's-do-this-every-month kind of a way, but in a this-is-a-great-gift kind of a way.

I came home to a waiting Ella, and we zipped off to the bookstore to browse. Well, first we ordered drinks and a treat and sat down and enjoyed them. THEN we headed to the children's section to browse. We ended up reading several books together, while sipping our drinks. It was such a fun date with my girl.

These dates were such a meaningful gift from Mark. He knows that I often feel like Ella and Isaac get "robbed" of my time; my best. Our third child is such a complete handful that he gets a lot of (negative) attention and I feel like they often get overlooked. Now that we have two very needy little girls in addition to one very needy boy, I feel like I never get to devote time to them. And I feel sad about that practically every single day. So I love it that Mark was purposeful in planning dates for me and my oldest two.

When we came home from the bookstore, Mark had lunch ready and waiting.

After that, I took my sweet Audra out of town for the night. We walked, ate meals I didn't prepare, read, journaled, and prayed. I took a hot bath, sat by the fireplace (yes it was cold enough for a fire) and read some more. Then we slept. The next day we shopped together and then headed home.

And it's a good thing I came home refreshed because today just about had me pulling my hair out and that was even AFTER two days away!

Oh, and here's a picture that has nothing to do with this post, except for the fact that this is my family (sans Audra, who is in my arms) and I love them:



Also, can I just say again- to those of you who read here? Thank you. For your time, your comments, your willingness to sit and read through my rambling posts? (((love you!)))