Date night

Tonight is date night. I am always impressed by how different my son and daughter can be.
Lenna and Mike are headed to the Daddy-Daughter dance at her school. She is wearing her white twirly baptism dress and Mike had to wear a tie for the fifth time this week. She asked me to curl her hair. I had to dig out and dust off my curling iron, which has been sitting idle for about 5 years. As I helped her with her tights and tied a purple ribbon in her hair, I was struck by how fast she is growing up. I just wanted to hold her in my lap and keep her from getting any bigger. I have a feeling she isn't going to be my little girl much longer.
Andrew was feeling a little left out. Last weekend Lenna and Mike went to the Nutcracker and he was stuck home with me. I tried to make it worth his while with a trip to Chic-Fil-A and an ice cream cone but I could tell he was getting a little tired of my too-tame dates. He exclaimed to Mike in the kitchen before they left "I am tired of going out with Mom! I want to hang out with you." I need to step it up a bit for his more adventurous side. Tonight I took him to Baskin Robbins to get a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone and a doughnut. Rebecca came along and cried most of the time, so we had to leave early. We followed up with a trip to the video store where he selected Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Hot Wheels. He has Star Wars from the library that he "can only watch with Daddy because it is a boy show" so we needed something different. Even with his new entertainment, he was really just waiting for Daddy to return home and toss him around.
I think I will declare next weekend girls day out, and let the men of the family do something manly like light-saber fight or play football or something. Thankfully, I was able to secure a babysitter and tickets to a grown up event for Tuesday so Mike and I get to see each other, too. It has been a while. In 4 days my husband will be a college graduate and we get to have him back in the evenings for the first time in 3 years. Hooray! Welcome home Daddy, we have missed you!