Date night

Yesterday, Mom offered to babysit the kids while R and I went out. Alone. On a date. Together. This is exciting to a level on par with winning the lottery. One of the things about being a military family (at least for us) is that we pretty much all hang out together all the time. I mean, sure, I put the kids in a preschool program in Germany and I'm looking for an affordable yet acceptable program for S here, but all that's while R is at work so it doesn't count. But not having family around to help out can kind of suck. Now if I'm being totally honest, I'm really, really picky about who keeps the kids. T, while he is much less challenging than he used to be, can be a real handful if you catch him on a bad day and S? Sheesh! Who knows what you are going to get hour by hour, much less day by day. Is 2 too young for pms? I'm not sure anymore.... The end result is that it isn't often that we leave them with anyone, mostly because we don't have that many really good friends and we don't want to risk ruining the relationships we do have. And yes, the kids could potentially be THAT trying (cuteness and humor aside).

When we are visiting family in North Carolina, both Dad and Susan and Mom and Richard have offered to keep the kids for us while R and I get some time together. Again, we don't want to take advantage of anyone so we keep the farming out of the kids to a minimum there as well. In effect, we are creating our own problems. Ahem. Isn't admitting it the first step?

Anyway, when Mom offered, I shot off an email to R faster than you could say 'typo'. He accepted just as quickly. Once we got ready and headed out the door, the kids were happily having dinner with Grammy and didn't even look up when we left. Sa-weet! In the past when we've taken the kids to Give Parents a Break we sort of mope around and might go grab dinner and a movie or go to the bowling alley since there wasn't too much to do on our last base. But here? Oh, the possibilities! We ended up at a steakhouse for dinner followed by a movie and I even managed to stick to the diet. What shocked me is how much we talked, and hardly any of it involved the kids. I'm sure I've said this before, but it's embarrassing to admit that I forget how much I really, truly, like my husband. He's funny and sweet and he laughs at all my stupid jokes -- providing he gets my humor. Let's face it, the man puts up with a lot from me. If nothing else, just the drooling I've been doing over the food he eats for the last couple weeks should nominate him for some sort of marital award. Ooooohhhh...I could make one up and give it to him.

So, umm, yeah...great night last night but I gotta go. ;D