Our Dream Date

This time a week ago was the beginning of an amazing date with Jeremy that I had been looking forward to for what seems like forever. After sending the kids off to grandma and papa's house, we headed downtown and checked into the beautiful Montvale Hotel. We ate an early dinner at Catacombs, which is in the basement of the hotel. It is a really interesting restaurant that makes you feel like you are in the lower levels of a castle or something. No windows, stone walls, tapestries, the works. We had a delicious dinner that included crab dip and bread for an appetizer, Caprice Salads, and I had a wonderful Wild Mushroom Ravioli. By the end we were way too stuffed for dessert but I'm sure that would have been great too. My only disappointment was not getting to try out one of the martini's that my best friend had raved about forever since I'm pregnant. But that just gives me an excuse to come back after the baby is born:)

After that we drove around a little and then found some parking and headed into the INB Performing Arts Center to see The Lion King. We had seats really close to the orchestra, it was a really good view. What a difference from when we were there not even a month before for a Skillet Concert! The opening act blew me away and even had me tearing up just because it was so powerful and moving. The costumes in that show are like nothing I have ever seen before and I was constantly amazed at the ability of the actors to move in with such elaborate garments on. The show was everything everyone had said it would be and I not only recommend it but would love to go back. Jeremy bought me two masks as keepsakes of this amazing night.

All in all, it truly was a dream night. Even the next morning when we weren't able to sleep in (old habits die hard!), we took a two hour walk downtown starting with Starbucks and spending time in numerous little shops getting some Christmas shopping done. While I was sad to leave and end our great experience, I was excited to go pick up the boys. As much as I always anticipate getting some time away from them, I quickly find myself missing them and looking forward to having them home again.

Moments Like These

I just love moments like the one I shared with boys tonight. When everything comes together just right to make the everyday, mundane, routine things seem extra special. My husband is working night shift this weekend, which I always dread. It has become easier to do dinner and bedtime with the boys by myself but I am not especially fond of it. Then you throw in bath nights and I can really go into it with a bad attitude. But something about tonight was different. Bath time went so smoothly and they did a great job getting into pjs and brushing teeth. Then we moved onto story time and as I was sitting on the couch snuggled between my two little guys I just realized how lucky I was. That this was a moment to cherish. It won't be long before they won't want to sit in my lap anymore. Me telling stories will no longer seem exciting. They will put themselves to bed, no more prayers and songs. This time we are in together is only temporary and one day I will look back and miss it. And so tonight, I chose to live in the moment. Cherish it. Truly take part in enjoying the small things that make life so great. We read extra stories using funny voices and made our way to their bedrooms pretending to be airplanes. They loved it and so did I.

I realize that it isn't a likelihood, or even possible, to live every moment like this. In full realization of what awesome blessings we have been given or in recognition of how fleeting time can be. So when that moment comes where I am able to truly appreciate what I am doing, I chose to live in it and be grateful. I pray for more moments like these.

Halloween

He loves his beak!















Jordan is not so thrilled with the process:)


















My cute little animals:)














Yes, I continue to be ridiculously behind in blogging. I swear my life is not that much busier, I guess I have just been lazy:) So here we go with Halloween stuff.

On Halloween we let the kids dress up when we went to lunch with Grandma and Papa Murphy so that they could see their costumes. The kids were excited and they got lots of attention for being so cute. We made that night special by adding the face paint to complete their costumes. Nathan absolutely LOVED getting his face painted. Jordan, not so much. But they looked adorable non the less and we set out for our church's Harvest Festival. It is such a cool set up. One building is dedicated to preschoolers and one to elementary aged children. They got to do 20 different booths that had games ranging from fishing, to ring toss, to Plinko. At each booth they earned candy and sometimes a prize. They also had 3 bouncy houses. That was the kids' favorite part! Best of all, it was all free. By the end of it, they were exhausted. They only made it through about 12 booths but all that bouncing must have worn them out.

It was a lot of fun spending that day as a family making it about fun things. I know that since then we have had to dig out the face paint just for fun because Nathan liked that part of it so much. I'll try to get around to posting those pictures sometime soon too:)