Slice of Life – January 11th, 2017

Another week, another “Slice of Life”, and another opportunity to grab a handful of grainy cell phone pictures to help share a little bit of what we’ve been up to lately. 🙂

Last week we found a new favorite date spot: McDonald’s! Whaaaat?! Seriously, we had the best little lunch date. Hadley had been dying to go there since she’s addicted to their chocolate shakes (she’s only ever had two in her life, but she’s apparently a full-blown addict), so on a rainy day we decided to go up there as a surprise for her.

The tables are right inside the play area, there’s a sanitizing wipe station, and the employees bring the food right to the table. Fancy! 😉 I didn’t think I liked their food, but then I tried their Southwest Chicken salad and I was in love! Sadie sat contently in her high chair watching the kids, Hadley played her little heart out, and Jamie and I had a solid 30-45 minutes of time to talk. Maybe this sounds silly that we loved this so much, but we don’t have family around and aren’t able to get a babysitter too often, so being able to go out somewhere and talk without juggling our girls’ constant needs was really pretty wonderful. Plus, that salad is low-cal and so (!) good.

This reminded me of a story my mom used to tell. My parents didn’t have much help with us when my siblings and I were young, so they would take us to Chuck E Cheese so that we could run around and play and they could sit at a nearby booth watching us and talking with each other. I totally get why they loved this so much!

Moving on from Mickey D’s. 🙂

I finally took Sadie to her first library story time! She loved dancing and shaking her rattle and watching all of the other kids. I don’t do much with Sadie without Hadley, so this will be a nice little treat for the two of us to enjoy together every once in a while when we have the time. Love this girl so much!

On Saturday, we celebrated our anniversary a week early with a morning at the spa! We hadn’t splurged on something like this since our belated honeymoon in 2012, so we really enjoyed it.

After our morning at the spa, we rushed home, paid our sitter, changed clothes, and then shuffled the kids across the street to our neighbor’s house. We then ran over to post for a New Year’s reception at the Brigade Commander’s home.

When we left I texted my neighbor that we were on our way, but she encouraged us to stay out a little while longer. I felt a little guilty having them watch the kids longer, but she insisted and so we happily accepted her offer! We ran up to Liquid Art, the newish winery here in town (one of our favorite spots), and spent some time sipping their wine and cider and talking with some friends that we ran into.

We left there in the best mood after spending nearly the entire day together, which felt like the best way to spend an early anniversary celebration. We both are so enamored with our girls and don’t mind focusing on them, but days like this remind us that we’re pretty dang enamored with each other as well. Okay… that was so sappy… I gotta move on. 😉

On Sunday we slipped right back into our parenting roles and got everybody dressed and ready for church. The girls got these outfits for Christmas, and they’re called “Sadie Rose”. So random, right?! Good find by my MIL!

Hadley’s lunch on Monday: a peanut butter sandwich shaped like a gingerbread man. I bought a Minnie Mouse sandwich cutter about a year ago, but then she started digging through my cookie cutters and asked that I use those as well. Now she doesn’t eat a sandwich if it’s not in a cute little shape. Such a nut. 🙂

A girl and her first dog. We love Teddy so much. Since he’s a rescue dog, we don’t know his exact age, but we believe he’s about nine. He’s been walking a bit more labored lately and seems to be showing his age more and more, but we can’t even imagine life without him. My heart melted a few days ago when these two were snuggled up together. It’s taken three years, but he’s finally just as in love with Hadley as she is with him. I’m so glad we have a dog, and I’m so glad it’s Teddy.

And because I’m still just bouncing off the walls about this, I want to wish my best friend Ashley a big, public congratulations on her engagement! Wade, I’m so incredibly happy that you’re the one for her. We can’t wait for your wedding and then the decades of fun that we’re all going to have together. Love you both so much!

And finally, today is the happiest day because it kicks off 10ish days of visitors! My parents are en route right now to hang with us during my anniversary weekend (Jamie is headed out of town for a couple weeks – boo), and then my sister and niece will be here next week to help celebrate my birthday next Thursday! Obviously I hate when Jamie has to go away, but I am super thankful that family always knows how to step in.