indians date night

matt had two tickets for a work outing at progressive field and i was the one who got to go this time! i was super excited because i love the ballpark and always let one of the kids go with daddy. i might have been a little too excited. papa and nana bought me an indians shirt during their visit.

this was actually my first real visit to the entertainment part of cleveland too. i wish that we had time to walk around and explore a little bit.

the game was really relaxing and it was a perfect night for baseball. we were even blown away by the concession options! apparently they renovated last year and invited local restaurants to set up inside the stadium. it was foodie heaven! i had the most amazing veggie dog ever and matt had some fantastic looking nachos. it took it so long to narrow down our options and we covered the whole stadium more than once trying to decide on dinner.

this was a standout date night for sure! love.

snow and a second date

both snow in april and two dates in a weekend are very rare and happened this weekend! we were all surprised by how much snow there was this morning.

and then matt and i took a second date since we forgot to use our gift card on thursday night. it was so nice to enjoy a meal on our own. matt even surprised me by suggesting dessert!

thanks for making it happen, grandma!

birthday date

matt and i try to use visits with grandparents for some free babysitting and this trip was no exception. before we headed out, papa and nana surprised me with a fantastic ice cream birthday cake from coldstone! yum, yum!

don't mind my super windblown hair.

matt and i were off to our absolute favorite barbecue restaurant. i used to buy a sandwich and fries on my way to the airport to bring back for matt when i used to travel to kc for work - it is that good. i wasn't too sure about what i was going to eat. we have eaten vegan for over three years now and i just can't handle dairy and meat doesn't really sit so well either. i was struggling with making an exception simply because i just feel too poorly afterwards. i decided that this meal was worth feeling awful over. and then i found the best news as the restaurant - they offer a mushroom version of my favorite sandwich! i was thrilled and it was absolutely delicious!

like the exciting couple we are, we had dinner, went to target and then went to a few grocery stores to get our favorite barbecue sauce to bring home with us. it was a perfect date; mainly because of the company. love.

surprise date night

a few weeks ago i was walking during a weekly date with a friend and talking (how else are we to pass the time?). we talk about anything and everything during our hour and a half walk each week. i was telling her about how much matt has been working and that he and i were discussing hiring a babysitter just to get a little time together. she instantly replied, "you guys always have to pay for babysitters, let me watch them for you. which friday night do you want?" i almost fell over hearing such an immediate and generous offer!

i only told matt that he needed to be home by 4:30pm today. when he got home i told him to change into something comfortable. we were off to a "relaxation yoga" class and then dinner at a new-to-us sushi restaurant after getting showered up and dressed up in the clothes i had packed for us. just as matt was finishing up, my friend showed up with her two boys to babysit.

we didn't take any pictures, but the evening was wonderful. it was so restoring in every sense. love.

another christmas party date

matt might have had a little too much fun.

the darth vadar mask is what we left with from the white elephant exchange and will be under our tree on christmas morning. love.

christmas concert

our church puts on a christmas concert every year but we have never gone. largely because the tickets are $10 each and i don't really care for choir music. this year we were gifted a pair of tickets as a thank you for our service in the kids' ministry. matt and i discussed it and decided that madelyn and i would attend.

we had a really full day at church (meeting before church, serving both hours and a christmas lunch after church for all of our volunteers) before racing home to change and over to our downtown campus for the christmas concert.

as we made our way over to our seats we saw a familiar face - mrs. wendy! she is our children't ministry director and had been at the early meeting this morning and stayed for the christmas lunch (where she made a short presentation) before getting to another service shift for the day! she just happen to be the usher at our entrance! we were all pretty shocked at the coincidence.

now on with the show!

as we waited, they played clips from many iconic christmas films. we enjoyed trying to name them all.

the show was amazing! the music ranged from jazz to full choir to rap and there were even little comedy sketches (think 'history of dance' but in song). i think we might splurge to take the whole family next year!

speaking of splurges, madelyn and i stopped for a little dinner and dessert on the way home. love.

125th anniversary gala

the hospital had their 125th anniversary this year and to celebrate they hosted a huge gala on the property. the theme was "a magical night seen through the eyes of a child." i think that this was the most fun we have had at a formal event! that is, once we got there!

it was raining and the umbrella escorts from the valet line had the cars waiting for an hour or more! matt wasn't having that and we went around the hospital another way to get in a shorter line. but it was worth the wait. everything was beautiful, the food was excellent, the entertainment completely inspiring and the company hysterical.

we were lucky to be guests of one of matt's doctors who purchased a whole table (we are talking $500 for matt and i to attend on our own!).

the chandeliers were lit slinkies.

during dinner we were entertained by a patient dance troupe and a piano prodigy. once the meal ended, the dance floor was hopping! seriously, it was packed and enthusiastic! our table was throwing cloth napkins at each other. it was almost the only way to get someone's attention because it was so loud in there.

once we were partied out, we got in the line, very long line, to reclaim our car. but they were prepared for this line - they had an impressive balloon artist to keep us entertained and lots of parting gifts (cookies, krispy cremes, etc.). we waited around 45 minutes and the line doubled in the time we waited.

i am so thankful to have been invited to the celebration. love.

all sport saturday - stop 3, the rubber ducks baseball game

matt and i left the kids with a sitter and headed out to meet up with his co-workers at a minor league baseball game, the rubber ducks, in the hospital's box.

we were exhausted and didn't make it to the fireworks at the end of the night. we just barely made it to the seventh inning. it was still nice to have a little bit of a date. love.

a pretty great (and rare) date night

our bible study group at church had an adult only social tonight. one of the families offered up their party center for childcare, provided professional babysitters and fed the kids - for free!! and then another family offered up transportation to our destination - dave and busters. the kids were as excited as matt and i were for a night out. and it was going to be a late night too. we dressed the kids in the pjs so that they could go to sleep as soon as we got home. maddux thought that the occasion called for his night vision goggles and was too excited to stand still for a picture.

the kids got right to playing when we dropped them off. manning was a little uncertain about staying, but mainly because he had just woken up from a nap. knowing that madelyn was staying too made him more comfortable.

keeping the kids up until 11pm or so was a little iffy, but we could not pass up the opportunity for free childcare and fun with friends!

it was totally worth it! we had never been to dave and busters before and had a wonderful time. we even had some trouble with our food order and only had to pay for half of it (and you know that made matt happy). matt and i are super competitive, but since having kids we don't get many opportunities to compete with each other. the gloves were off tonight! he did beat me at most of the games though. we teamed up to play the "down the clown" game - and won! we earned enough points to get the 500 ticket jackpot!

our 'prize' selection was an easy one - a bright orange soccer ball for maddux. he really, really wanted an orange soccer ball for his first season but we have more than enough already and couldn't justify the purchase. he was SO excited when we picked them up.

we definitely need to get out more! i am a lucky lady to have matt for my husband. love.