gift

On Tuesday Damon and I celebrated eight years of marriage...
On Tuesday we also received an incredible offer from this amazing friend

Our dear friend Michelle offered to come over with her kids on Saturday (today) to babysit these guys

i love when Drew sports my IU hat!

leo ON.THE.MOVE

We said

please!

Since this was our first time both being away from Leo at the same time, we wanted to keep our date close by and simple...just in case, you know, we were needed.  By Tuesday night Damon had already thought of the perfect date activity and refused to share the surprise all week (he's an excellent surprise keeper...i on the other-hand, am not).  Michelle and her two wonderful kids came over just after nap time. And, after just a little warming up time for Leo we were off to

 

where we grabbed some drinks and some snacks and then got to work on a little project

Yep, we spent our date working on the newspaper crossword puzzle!  And, it was the most romantic and lovely surprise.  You see, twelve years ago I moved here from Michigan for a job without knowing a soul.  And it was at that job that I met my wonderful husband...and during the day at that job we would work on the daily crossword together - passing it back and forth from cube to cube throughout the day.  Since the "days of kids", we've had less and less time to take the time to sit down and work on a crossword together.  Until today.  It was just awesome to be able to sit and think and figure things (non-kid related things) out with the man I love with all my heart.

After about an hour, we continued our date at a bit less romantic location

We were out of some essentials (namely bananas, yogurt, and nutty bars if you really want to know) and thought it would be fun to act like some newlyweds (kinda) leisurely roaming the grocery aisles.  That was fun...but the absolute best part of our quick shopping adventure was when we were checking out.  We heard a long whine followed by a loud cry...and I cannot even describe the feeling we had knowing that it was NOT one of our boys making those sounds; that we did not have to discipline or sympathize or run back into the store for another bottle of

 or  

And, want to know just how great

really is? Not only did we get this text message from her just as we sat down at the coffee shop (probably just a mere 15 minutes from when we left the house):

"All is well! Leo went right 2 M. (daughter) & gave her a hug. he is happy...so is drew...have fun!"

but when we got home there were flowers, an anniversary card, and a freshly baked chocolate cake awaiting us! And it did not stop there...Michelle cooked us an amazing meal of

 

It was delicious beef stroganoff that was enjoyed by all (even & especially Leo)...and the cake was awesome too.

We had an amazing time on our date.  

The kids had an amazing time playing together.

We had an amazing time catching up with Michelle.

It was an AMAZING gift.

감사합니다