Week in My Life: Day 4, Thursday

{Once a year, I take time to document my life for a week. I was inspired by the ever-gracious Melissa from Adventuroo. The idea is brilliant, really. I so rarely document the nitty gritty of life and while there’s no way I can do this every month, I can swing it once a year. I hope you enjoy the snapshot as much as I enjoy documenting the good, the bad and everything in between. Read here for day one, two, three, four, five, six and seven.}

Date days are the bomb diggity.

In all the years (17) that Scott and I have been married, aside from a few weekend getaways, we have never taken a DAY to go on a date. Last week Scott celebrated his birthday and spent the afternoon in College Station with our oldest. Because I am the self-proclaimed number one fan of birthdays, I asked if Scott wanted to take a day off work so we could celebrate properly.

I’m pretty sure he sent an email reply back within four seconds.

Our day began just like all the rest. Tired kids with bed head, breakfast, the search for school shoes and homework and a kiss as they all walked out the door. Except today, today, Scott wasn’t wearing a suit and tie. He dropped the big four off at school and then attended school Mass. I stayed home with Luke, showered and got us both ready. Our original plan was to attend Mass as a family, but after Luke’s “fever of unknown origin” the previous day I decided to lay low this morning until his school drop off.

We got Luke settled at school and he was all grins when he realized we were both taking him to his classroom. After a kiss on the cheek and a “see you afta wunch!” from Luke, our date day officially began.

We opted to put up our phones and just enjoy the day. It was spectacular weather, 75 and sunny, with the tiniest of breezes. You know how some moments are so precious, so lovely, that even photos won’t do them justice? You know how you store those moments in the most precious place of all, your heart? That was our morning and afternoon. There were massages, a little shopping, a lovely lunch at Hyde Park Grill (yes! on the fries) and some quiet time. Spectacular doesn’t even begin to describe it. I’ve been married to the love of my life for 17 years. And while some of the days, weeks and months have been harder than marriage should ever be, today was as perfect as it gets.

Then, 3:25 arrived and all hell broke loose.

Scott picked up the gang from school – a job usually reserved for me. It was nice to drink a little sweet tea and catch up on the Interwebs. The next few hours were spent shuttling kids to guitar and piano lessons, math tutoring and dinner prep. We don’t usually have that crazy of a Thursday, but our trip to Houston called for a rearrangement of activities this week. While I finished up dinner, Scott headed to the gym. I know, so proud of him. While he was off burning calories, I snuck a few pecans smothered in sugar and cinnamon. I am the yin to his yang.

The kids focused on homework, legos, drawing and playing outside. Luke snuck the iPad, I see. What can I say? He’s number five. Luke is completely addicted to Cars and has watched Mater Toons at least 1, 253 times. For real. Clare made a hotel, spa, pool and massage parlor with her legos. Must’ve been the theme today.

While everyone else ate dinner, I made a grocery list, put on a little lipstick and headed out the door to enjoy a girl’s night. Once a month, the neighborhood gals gather for a GNO (girls’ night out). We usually celebrate someone’s birthday, but with no birthday this month, we’re celebrating our newest bundle in utero. I really do love these gals. We come from all different backgrounds, grew up in different places, have differing religious beliefs and a smattering of kids between us (some more than others, ahem). But, geography has placed us all in the same zip code and we’re all moms. Those two things rise above the rest. There is usually lots of laughter and a fair amount of wine consumed when we gather. It’s pretty much awesome.

Day four was fabulous. Tomorrow, we hang out with the coolest folks in Aggieland. Former yell leaders. Oh, you KNOW there will be some stories Aggies.