Date #4

Towards the end of March I told Jason that he might want to open up his April envelope early because it required some planning. He did so and found this note,

"You know how we always talk about having an overnight away from the children? Well, this is it! On April 6-7th Chelsea Allen will be staying here so we can go somewhere. We have a few different options to choose from, but where ever we go it will be fun!" 

Well, it took us a few days to figure out a hotel. I truly wanted to go to the 21 C hotel, but the cheapest room I could find was around 200 dollars a night and I knew Jason wouldn't want to pay that much... I was right because when I asked him if he would consider it he said no. We looked at other hotels downtown, but we had either already stayed there years ago or read some "fishy" reviews about the others. We even thought about cancelling the overnight and just having a date night... it caused a few disagreements. 

Talking it over one night Jason said, "this is all new to me. I never watched my parents date. I never babysat for other people so that they could go on dates. Us staying with the Sites children (something we did when we were first married) so they could stay in a hotel was the first I had ever heard of anyone doing it and I thought it was just them." I really appreciated him saying that because it helped me realize more in where he was coming  from. He then also said, "I've been told by enough people to know that these dates nights are good and are an investment in our marriage and so I'm willing to do it if you are still up for it." With that sweet conversation I said yes and he proposed us going up to Columbus, IN for the night. It is about an hour and fifteen minutes north of us and there is a hotel up there called the Hotel Indigo which is supposed to be pretty famous and "where all the stars stay when they come to Columbus" -- that last sentence made me laugh, but apparently for the Super Bowl certain celebs stayed there.

The price was reasonable and it had a hot tub (something I really wanted since the last three or four vacations we have been on I have been pregnant and so could not get in the hot tub... so I was excited to actually sit in one again). The date was on! Chelsea and Chloe showed up around 5pm and it took me about an hour to show them everything and then we hit the road. The children didn't seem to be phased in the least that we were leaving. As I kissed Selah goodbye I kind of laughed at how I would have never left Havana with a babysitter at 8 months old - more or less for an overnight! Wow, how times have changed!

Our complimentary apple juice! ha!

Notice how H has to join in all the photos? :) 

Back home!

the upper two are taken in the hotel lobby, the bottom left taken in the hot tub, and bottom right take upon returning home! Great date collage. :)

On our drive up, we received a phone call from the hotel saying that they were sorry, but because of a technical issue the room we booked actually wasn't available. It wasn't a big deal to us, but the hotel was apologetic and said that there would be a special surprise waiting for us in our new room. Once we checked in we noticed two small bottles of wine chilling in the ice box and there was very relaxing music playing. The "down graded" room was still super nice! We were both hungry and so we went to get some dinner, but on the way out we told the hotel staff that while we appreciated the special surprise, we did not drink alcohol.

We went to a little Italian place for dinner and worked our way back to the hotel around 9pm. We went back into our rooms and found that our wine was replaced with Apple juice, snacks, and coupons for two free breakfasts and two free drinks of our choice. That was sweet. We made our way down to the pool and hung out there for an hour or so. While sitting in the hot tub we received this text from Chelsea, "Everyone went down just as planned- no tears (Selah for a minute) they were perfect!!! Enjoy your night!!!" We are so blessed with awesome babysitters!

I think we slept in on Saturday until about 10am... simply because we could! Ha. We enjoyed our nice free (really tasty) breakfast and then started packing up. We left the hotel around 11:15am and made it back down shortly after noon! The kids were happy and excited to see us, but we could tell they had an awesome time without us. Later that night our babysitter sent us this text, "Was just thinking about them and had to tell you - you have great kids."

My heart is happy, my emotional well being is refreshed, and my heart is still 100% in love with my husband! What a great date! Something we have decided should happen a little more regularly.  :)

Date #3

On March 1st Jason opened his envelope which had this letter,

"Think of a time period in history that you find fascinating. If you are thinking Civil War... then we're on the same page. This month let's go on a date to the Frazier Museum to see the "My Brother - My Enemy" exhibit!

Date Number three on St. Patrick's Day!

Our family minus Selah.

We looked at our calendar and made plans to go on Saturday, March 17th. This was our first time to go on a day date without the children (save the one time we went car shopping which totally didn't count as a date, ha). We both commented on how nice it was to be away all day and we said several times how our poor babysitter was in over her head, but she's a rock star! 

We had Erin come over around 9:45am and we left for our date. Neither Jason or I had ever been to this museum before so we wanted to see all of it and not just the Civil War temporary exhibit. Since I had planned this date, I had time to prepare myself for doing a museum with Jason... we are very different. He likes to read every word of every sign. I just like to casually walk and look and only read the few things that spark my interest, but this being a date I planned for Jason I wanted to make sure to let him take his time. 

I took this photo at the museum because Jason and I have an inside joke about "The Great War"

The top floor of the museum is the British Armory and Jason really enjoyed it much more than he thought he would. He did take a while to read everything. I actually enjoyed it too - some of my favorite History classes were about Europe in the 15th century and so I enjoyed reading about the British Monarchy during that time. There was a small section on  John Smith and Pocahontas and I shared with Jason how as a little girl I was upset that she moved to England and didn't marry John Smith. We took our time and walked through the entire top floor and about half of the second floor. I enjoyed learning more about Daniel Boone - who I grew up knowing all about his name, but not much of the history behind his name. 

Anyway, then we took a break for lunch. We went to Kashmir (again) because it was Jason's choice - we got it to go and ate it outside on a bench in the warm sun shine. Just sitting out there made up both feel like we were on vacation. It was very relaxing and oh so yummy! We also made a quick stop at a jewelry store to pick up some rings I had worked on. Then, it was back to the museum to "quickly" go through the 2nd half. We walked in our drinks and the lady at the desk asked up to finish them on the first floor and so we did a few of the activities they had in the lobby.  There was a poor girl doing a monologue and only about 2 people were in the audience. Jason and I tried to stifle our laughter and we talked about how sad it was no one was listening to her and what would she do if the two people walked up and left? Would she stay in character? Come up with an excuse to leave? Even now I'm laughing out loud thinking about those jokes - and I'm sure the poor girl thought we were laughing at her performance - which we weren't. haha. 

Where we ate our lunch!

Coloring while finishing our lunch.

Love him!

Anyway, a few sips of soda later and we made our way up to the Civil War exhibit. It was interesting and sparked some conversations between us on what it must have been life before and after the war. My favorite part was seeing the commitment papers of Mary Todd Lincoln and to see her actual signature. History is one of my favorite subjects!  

Around two o'clock we left and headed home! Erin had put the children down for their naps and we enjoyed another few hours of silence. Ah, relaxing! :)

Date #2

So, I'm a little late in posting, but Date #2 for 2012 did not go as planned, but was still super fun. As I stated before, I preplanned and prepaid for 12 dates for Jason for our anniversary in December. That being said, in February I realized they might not go as planned when you prepare a few months in advance. :) Jason's card that he opened on February 1st read:

"Have I ever told you that you are hot? Or that you make my heart A-glow? Well, you are and you do! Let's celebrate this month of love by going to glassworks and making our own glass kiss! Can't wait to experience this with you - my only flame!"

Cute idea- cheesy card - that is kind of the point of all of this. :) Anyway, I had made reservations for Saturday, February 11th to do the glass blowing. The kiss that we were going to make was only offered two days out of the entire month and the other day Jason was working. However, I tried to secure a babysitter for that day and could not. So we talked about it and while Jason liked the glassblowing idea we agreed to use our date night to go on a double date with some friends instead. So... we will do the glassworks another day! :) (It actually turned out for the best anyway, because the day we were supposed to go to glassWorks Havana spent the day puking...)

We ended up going out on February 25th with another couple we met through church. They have four children (three out of the four are under three like us) and so it was nice to get away and carry on a converation without the children! The week before the date I got my hair cut, eyebrows waxed, and bought a new outfit! I felt like such a little school girl getting ready for prom. I was so excited to go on a date with my husband. My friend, Rebekah, and I exchanged texts about what we were going to wear... it was fun to get excited about everything.

Our babysitter arrived and again we took these photos before leaving:

I love this man!!!

Then, we met our friends at Havana Rumba at 7:30 and I don't think we left the restaurant until close to 11. The four of us just sat there and talked and laughed! It was so refreshing and the fellowship with another couple who loves the Lord and their children was so encouraging. Certainly something I hope we do again soon and was totally worth rearranging the preplanned dates for. :) What fun!

Rock in Where?!

Recently we went for a family walk and stopped at the tennis courts to let the children run around. At one point Havana ran up to me crying and saying, "oh no, my nose!" I saw a small scratch on her nose and so told her it would get better soon. However, she would not calm down and she kept saying that "she wanted it off" -- Jason and I tried to reassure her that it was simply a scratch and that we couldn't take it off. Havana never regained self control and so we packed everyone up and walked back home. On the walk back home I kept encouraging her to gain self control and told her we could get her an ice cube for her nose once we arrived back home.

I stayed outside with Jonah and Selah while Jason took Havana inside for her ice cube. Jason has a way of calming her down so I figured he would be able to handle everything. A few minutes later Jason came out holding Havana who was still crying. He looked at me and said, "she has a rock stuck up her nose."

What?!

Jason noticed it when he was holding her and she kept saying "I want it off" and "Oh my nose." She was so anxious about it all that he couldn't successfully retrieve it. We looked at the clock - it was about 7:30pm and Jason had about 30 minutes before he had to leave for work. Jason tried a few techniques to get it out (blowing in her mouth while holding her other nostril) and nothing seemed to work. Havana was screaming at this point and was very anxious. I began to tell her that I was going to have to take her to the hospital. I spent a few minutes calling around trying to find a babysitter for the two little ones so that I could take Havana to the ER. We agreed that Kosairs would be a better bet than Jason's hospital because someone was going to have to put her under and a child friendly hospital was just the way to go.

I was nervous about having to deal with Havana by myself and trying to find someone to watch the children. I think through an act of God, about 10 minutes before Jason had to leave - he simply was able to reach out and take the rock out. Instantly Havana was better. Jason and I both breathed a sigh of relief. He apologized for leaving me with three crying children, but I laughed and said, "This I can handle. An ER trip - no." 

On a somewhat spiritual note, we had previously made plans to anoint Jonah's room (he's been undergoing some spiritual warfare which I will blog about soon...) that night and so Jason left for work a little late because he wanted to get it done and didn't know if the whole rock scenario was Satan trying to keep us from doing what we had planned to do. Well, Satan lost, the room was anointed! :)

The rock that was up H's nose on 3/13/12

Blue Skadoo!

Dear Havana,

Your heart is so innocent... so pure... and your daddy and I love that about you. We are committed to protecting and shielding you from the harsh world for as long as possible. An example of your sweet heart came the other day... you love the book "Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy" and we read it often. The other day when you were reading it with your daddy - you stopped at a certain page and said, "I know, I have an idea." And with that you grabbed the book and took in into the other room. You were doing something that looked like a dance and so your daddy assumed you were finished reading the book and he went to check on Selah.

A few minutes later you bring the book back to daddy and said, "Daddy, help you please?" (that is your way of asking for help). You then put the book down, you sang a little song and dance and then you jumped onto the book. You closed your eyes, opened them and then looked around. Then you said, "Daddy, help you please? It's not working."

It took your daddy a minute, but then he realized you were trying to "Skadoo" into the book. On the show Blue's Clues Steve and Blue will enter story books by singing the song, "Blue Skadoo we can too" and doing a little dance and jump and they enter the book. You were honestly trying and were sad when it didn't work out. What a precious and pure heart!

You are also an amazing sister. You often go up and smile at Selah and talk sweetly to her. The other day I overheard you and Jonah and you said,
you: Jonah, can I snuggle you?
Jonah: no
you: Jonah, can I kiss you?
Jonah: no
you: Jonah, can I hug you?
Jonah: no
you: Jonah, want to play with me?
Jonah: Yeah!

You love to play games with the whole family! You had us all being "Wonder Pets" the other day. You were Lenny, Jonah was Tuck, and Selah was Ming Ming... but that wasn't enough. You told me that I was teh fly boat and daddy was the sail. I laid down and had you ride on me and then you kept asking where the "Sail" was-- I said, "I think the Sail is outside pulling weeds" and you said, "No, the sail is grilling food." Ha! (your daddy was grilling out some food!). You even had Pluto being a pirate. I love watching you play and imagine. What a great girl you are. I love you so much!

That Jonah boy!!!!

Dear Jonah!

Out of all the little boys in the world, how did I end up with the best one? You're amazing. You are into everything, learning everything, attempting everything, and you are very much a "I can do it by myself" person. You feed yourself, you walk up and down the stairs all by yourself (it takes about 20 minutes, but you can do it without any help). When we take family walks you want to walk all the way back home - you travel and your slow little pace, but you do it! You also challenge yourself. When playing basketball or catch you will make a basket or catch the ball and then you will take a step back and try again. You keep moving back to give yourself a challenge. My little athlete!

You are talking in complete sentences. Here's a conversation we had last week:
me: Jonah, what is your favorite color?
you: My favorite color is, um, yellow.
me: Jonah, what is your favorite game to play?
you: My favorite game to play is, um, yellow.

I picked you up from the nursery the other day and you immediately said, "I said thank you to Mrs. Rebekah for cracker." I looked up and asked Mrs. Rebekah if you had thanked her and she said you did. You looked at me again and said, "I said thank you to Mrs. Rebekah for cracker." How in the world relaying exact conversations to me at one years of age?! Impressive, my boy! :)

You are also so smart! You know how to count (so, you still skip numbers 2 and 4, but everything else is right on), your ABC's, and pretty much every word to every song we've ever song. Just tonight your daddy said that you might be our singer. You really enjoying belting out songs and when you are upset that is one way to calm you right down. You figure out puzzles and toys very quickly. You also observe more than I realized. The other day I handed you an applesauce and you kept saying, "Selah." I kept telling you Selah was sleeping and you said, "Selah Spoon!" --I looked down and I had given you the spoon I usually use to Selah! What a bright boy. :)

You also follow your daddy's lead. At the end of meals he puts all the bowls and such together and stacks them neatly before taking them to the sink. For about a week now you will put all your bowls and spoons together and then push them away and say, "all done" -- we never taught you this - you simply picked it up by observing.

I am proud to be your mommy! I love you! 

Jonah and his buddy going down the slide! 

8 months old

Dear Selah.

On March 19th you were 8 months old! You have two teeth, love to eat food (baby food, yogurt, and some table foods such as bread, puffs, really small bites of chicken). You enjoy playing and can get around by rolling, turning, inch worm crawling, and backwards crawling. You love hearing yourself babble and you can sign "daddy." And, now you are finally getting so big that you can wear your hair in a pony tail!!! You're my big beautiful baby and I love you so very much! 

First Pony Tail!

Sitting in the stroller like a big girl!

Riding in the shopping cart for the first time!

Playdate with friends!