Date Nights

We climbed into the bunk beds of the big kids the other night. Carter on the top bunk with The Girl, me on the bottom bunk with Buster. We're snuggling and telling secrets when I hear, "Daddy, I've got to ask you something."

"Ok, what is it," he says. My ears are peeled.

"Will you go out on a date with me?"

Silence.

I lean over, look up top, and ask, "Daddy, are you weeping yet?"

After a moment, "Yes."

So we've made a new tradition in our family (I am ALL ABOUT some traditions!!). We are going to take each of our kids out on an intentional solo date, of which we hope to continue until they get married (of which my boys will not get married because they're not gonna wanna leave their mama and that will be just fine by me as long as they start paying for our dates when they get real jobs of which they probably won't have real jobs if they're still living at home with mama which will again be the reason they're not married because apparently some girls don't like it when boys live with their mamas until they're 42. I'm just sayin.)

First date of the weekend: Buster Boy and me! As much as I tried to coax him into some fancy dining, the pull of Chick-fil-A lemonade and the potential of a balloon was too great.

After dinner at Chick, we hopped back in the van to head to Tar-jay for some Christmas shopping. As I cranked the car, I noticed our song was playing on the radio. That may not seem the typical song for a soon to be 3 year old, but my boy knows good music when he comes by it. He sang wholeheartedly at the top of his lungs no where near the right key.

And it was beautiful.

And then I cried.

My mind has a tendency to do that. Get caught up in a really cool moment and then it fast-forwards to him walking across the stage at high school graduation. So I lose it. And it's annoying.

Dang hormones.

We ended the night with a little Christmas shopping. Each of our kids drew names and Buster Boy drew his little bro's name so after playing with EVERY SINGLE TOY in the entire store, we settled on a Shamu carseat hanging toy thingy. Under $10. Which was good considering the majority of toys Buster picked out were about $49.99. And coincidentally, toys made for 3-4 year old boys.

"I think Hunka Chunk REALLY wants this skateboard Mommy!"

Really? Really?

Smart kid.

The Girl chose a breakfast date and had her outfit (and her Daddy's) all picked out the night before, making sure they would both match.

They enjoyed a large breakfast buffet at Grandy's, followed by Christmas shopping. The Girl came home with a similar toy for her lil sis and I gave Carter the "Way to talk her into the least expensive toy in there" wink.

The funniest part of both dates were the cell phone calls home. Buster called his sis from Target because he just needed to check on her. Sis called Buster from Target because she just needed to check on him. You'd think they were the twins!