Confessions of an Imperfect Mom: 9 Years!

Sunday, January 25, 2015

9 Years!

Arnold and I celebrated our 9-year anniversary this past week. 9 years. Only one more year til we hit a decade. I can't get over that. I remember the days when we talked about what we would do for our first "really big" anniversary and now it is coming up next year! Where does the time go??

Anyway, we decided to have a fun day to ourselves, without any set plan, agenda, no kids, nice food, and all that good stuff. We picked the Friday before our anniversary to go out. The kids would be in school all day anyway, and we arranged for Arnold's parents to pick up the kids after school so we could have the rest of the afternoon, too.

We set out around 8:30 am, soon after we dropped the kids off at school. We headed down to Concord and went to the mall. I know that may seem sort of boring, but it was fun to walk around together and actually look at stuff, without having whiny kids dragging along with us! They have the huge Books A Million store which we hit first, and Arnold swore I would find books I had to have, even though I have a huge stack at home to read still. Well he was right! I picked up a few books, a new bookmark, and a few books for the kids I am setting back for Valentine's Day. Next we went to several kids' stores and I picked out some things for my cousin's baby shower which was the very next day (nothing like last minute huh? But it was the perfect time to pick stuff out!) I found some great deals on kids' clothes so I had to get the kids some stuff too. Stopped by Bath & Body works of course, b/c their Semi-Annual sale was going on and had to stock up on body wash and wallflowers!

At this point we were already wanting to rest for a little bit and we were hungry, so we went over to the food court. We got yummy, greasy Sbarro pizza for lunch and it was soooo good :) Then Arnold went out to the van to drop of the several bags we had already accumulated from a morning of shopping ;) Then we basically started back up again. We went into the Western store because Arnold always loves looking at the cowboy hats. He always wants to get one, but never has. Those things are expensive!! We stopped by the Disney Store.. I hate they don't have one in our town anymore!! They were having a great sale also, and I put some stuff back for the kids for Easter gifts! I am ahead of the game on that this year ;) When we were ready to leave the mall I had to make a stop by the Dippin Dots stand. I LOVE them!!! We don't have any near us that I know of. They had a deal, buy a large cup and get a small cup free. Guess who got the large cup?? ;) Haha!!!

After the mall we headed down the road and I dropped Arnold off at The Guitar Center. Anytime we are in the general area he has to go by ;) He even had a pick in his pocket ready to try some stuff out. He always asks if he can buy a new one, but he knows the answer to that!! ;) I drove across the street to some more stores. I found a few shirts for myself and a new Valentine's Day flag for outside our house. I was supposed to pick Arnold up when I got done looking around, but when I walked outside I saw him standing out there! He had crossed the busy road and met up with me because he said he was done earlier than he thought. Apparently there were a ton of "annoying" teenagers over there banging on drums and being loud and obnoxious, so he ended up leaving. I felt bad, because I thought I was being an awesome wife leaving him over there for a long time and letting him have fun, and he wasn't having fun! Oh well.

We decided to head back toward home around that time. BAD IDEA. We got caught up in horrible traffic. We were sitting or going VERY slowly for about an hour. We finally ended up in Statesville and stopped to have dinner at Red Lobster. One of my favorite places EVER! And we save that place for special occasions because it is so expensive.. at least what we like to get. We got a really nice waiter and told him it was our anniversary and ended up making small talk for awhile (love it when we get a nice waiter!) Arnold and I both chose the "Ultimate Feast" which included a lobster tail, crab legs, 2 kinds of shrimp, a side, salad, and their cheddar biscuits. Let's just say we were STUFFED when we left there. But it was so good. I can put a hurting on crab legs. I think I might have embarrassed Arnold tearing those suckers apart. The people sitting beside us were probably trying to have a nice meal together and all they could hear was me cracking the crab legs.. haha!

After dinner we headed back to get the kids. They had had a great afternoon with their Grandparents. I could tell the Grandparents were ready to get rid of them though... they packed them up pretty quickly! ;) We of course brought back the kids each a little gift.. and they loved that :) All in all we had a pretty awesome day and I love it when we get chances to do stuff like that! (which isn't very often at all!)

So I have to mention what we did on our actual anniversary, which was on Wednesday. Arnold got up early like usual and went to the gym with his dad. The kids were off school for a teacher workday, so I was home with them. At lunchtime we picked up some Bojangles and went up to Arnold's work and had lunch with him. The kids were sweet and colored pictures for Arnold to take up there and him put on his cubicle wall :) That evening I worked childcare at lifegroup..so I left Arnold at home with the kids. We figured no big deal if I worked that evening since we had already celebrated a few days before. Although we did want to have a special meal together. So when I was leaving the kids' house, I called him, and he called in an order to Olive Garden. I went by and picked it up and brought it home. We sat in the living room eating, and watching Duck Dynasty. So romantic ;) I then went to take a shower, and when I got out, I heard Arnold snoring away on the couch :) I went in there... woke him up.. and then we went to our bed and passed out for the night. That my friends, is what an anniversary is like when you are parents!!!! ;)

On on way out of town for the day!

We did a lot of shopping! Mostly got stuff for the kids (that's how it always ends up!)

He thought I was an awesome wife for dropping him off at the Guitar Center. (until he got bored ;)

Ready to dig into my seafood feast! It was so, so good!

Arnold got me this charm for my new bracelet I got back at Christmas! An owl--- perfect for me, right?? Ok, I picked it out, but it was still "from him" ;)

We decided to get each other a set of living room lamps for our gift this year. Exciting right?? Actually I love them!!! But we are old and boring!! ;)