Datenight!

Kevin and I go on a weekly datenight every Wednesday and have been doing this for probably the past 10 years or more. It is the highlight of my week to find a good restaurant and have some great conversation. We are both self-professed "Foodies" and I LOVE to eat out (anything to not have to cook or clean dishes or cut-up plates of food, right?).

I have been hearing from several people about this restaurant:

Have you been here?

Well, going by the name, it wasn't my kind of place at first until I started asking more questions. (I am not a burger/meat-eater, so a restaurant specializing in burgers is not my cup of tea.) But, my friend, Kristin, was telling me that they have every kind of burger under the sun, not just beef burgers and I did some research and found their menu and I had to pull the Pregnancy Card with this one.

Kevin indulged me and we made the drive to Howell Mill Rd. to check it out.

It. Was. Awesome.

I had a shrimp burger...sounds disgusting, but it was delicious. I had a hard time deciding between that and the crab burger (crabby patty, SpongeBob fans?). I went with the better price point and chose the shrimp burger and was not disappointed:

That is a fried lemon on top...huh? But soooo good!

Instead of fries, I got zucchini fries with some funky mayo dipping sauce that was AMAZING.

Then I washed it all down with an old-school Coke in a glass bottle (minus the high fructose corn syrup---it was sweetened with 100% cane sugar like when we were kids!):

Now for the finale: For dessert a Nutella and Burnt Marshmallow Milkshake:

No, I'm not kidding...it was to die for.

I had a hard time deciding between that and the Krispy Kreme Milkshake, but the people at the table next to us ordered the Nutella one and I am a sucker for anything burnt-looking.

Then to top off a great dinner, we headed over to Ikea...this full and satisfied Momma-to-Be needed to walk around a bit (obviously!).

I love that store...Kevin was very patient as we strolled the MAZE of fun stuff to look at...no big purchases (we did buy 2 rolls of art easel paper for Mia and Chloe), but I have mentally redecorated our entire home :)

Celebrating 11 years of marriage and being a Mom

Last weekend, Kevin whisked me away for a wonderfully relaxing weekend in the Smoky Mountains. We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on May 8th. I am so thankful to Nana, Granddaddy and Grammie for watching our little ones so this Momma could have a break from my "job".

I loved every second...

It was so nice to wake up (my internal clock still gets me up at 7am) and have my coffee in silence on the porch enjoying this amazing view:

After breakfast, I even enjoyed a mid-morning nap...awesome.

We went and had a great lunch on the Nantahala River at the NOC. The weather was GORGEOUS and even a little cool!

When we returned to the cabin, we went on a hike (straight up hill, by the way) to come to a clearing and find this great spot:

And another beautiful view:

After dinner, Kevin got the fire pit going (his favorite) and we settled in for another quiet night.

I felt a little geriatric going to bed at 10:30 when I was on vacation, but Kevin reminded that I am making a human...so true.

We caught some flack for not being around on Mother's Day, but I loved when Mia said, "We love Mother's Day, Mommy! We get to spend the weekend with Nana and Grammie!" I guess that's what they've gotten used to with our anniversary always falling on that weekend :)

Father's Day

Yesterday was a great day to celebrate the Dad's in my life...we went to church as a family (the 1st time I've been in almost a month because of being out of town for 2 weekends and having a sick baby last weekend...I missed it!  It was so good to be back...great worship music and great sermon on taking correction and not being "stupid"---check it out on buckheadchurch.org)

After church, we had lunch with my Dad...my Dad is the greatest.  He is so kind and he is incredible with my girls.  They love playing with him and climbing all over him.  

Yesterday afternoon Kevin's Dad and family came over for dinner.  Shannon had sinus surgery on Friday, so she wasn't able to make it and Ryan is in the islands for a wedding (poor thing), so he missed it too.  We had a really good time and I love seeing Mia and Chloe jump all over their Papa Doc.  They have so much fun together.  

Needless to say, with all of our Dad's so close, the youngest Daddy if the group can get "lost in the shuffle" of celebrating everyone else---the same thing always seems to happen at Mother's Day too---so we usually celebrate Kevin (and myself at Mother's Day) on a different day other than the actual holiday.  We are planning a camping trip this weekend for Kevin's Father's Day.  Wish us luck...whether we bring the baby or not is still up in the air.  I know she (and we) will sleep better if she stays home with a Grandma, but I really don't feel like pumping the whole weekend.  We'll see...

If you want to know a few of the reasons I love Kevin and think he is amazing (as a Daddy and Hubby) check out the posts labeled Day, 1, 2, etc... from the end of April and beginning of May for our 10 year anniversary.  

Welcome Home Mommy

Well, our anniversary was incredible. We went to Barnesley Gardens in NW Georgia for the weekend and had a wonderful time...this resort is perfect~ There are a bunch of cottages that are quaint and beautiful, and there are 2 great restaurants. We arrived around 6pm on Friday and had time to relax and give each other anniversary gifts before dinner. K gave me a gorgeous emerald eternity band to wear with my wedding set because May's birthstone is emerald...awesome. With the help of my incredible friends from small group, I gave him a DVD of pictures and video set to music from the past 13 years since we met. It turned out so well and I can't thank the Hickey's enough for all of their help with this crazy project! He loved it and so do I! The funniest part of the weekend was when I got up from the table at the restaurant the first night (our anniversary) and went to move my chair back to stand, I leaned over the table a bit and the candle caught my hair on fire!!! No, I am not kidding....and yes, this would ONLY happen to me! After I screamed and "put myself out" (thankfully, no stop-drop-and-roll needed) and after the entire restaurant started asking, "what's that smell?" or "do you smell something burning?" and after (Thank the Lord) realizing that I still had all of my hair, we laughed uncontrollably. Oh well...nothing like enjoying a little molten lava chocolate cake for dessert along with the stinch of burnt hair!

Things could only look up from there, right?

Saturday was the best...went for a canoe ride, went for a run, checked out the Barnesley ruins, listened to some live music (in the rain) at the BierGarten, took an hour long bath and read a book, watched a movie, enjoyed another amazing meal (no fires this time)...a perfect day with my main squeeze.

Sunday, we ate breakfast/brunch and packed up and made our way back to the big city. We arrived back to the house around 3:00 and Miss Q woke up from her afternoon nap when she heard us come in the door. I went up to see her and she had a red rash from head to toe. Yikes...nothing like easing myself back into "reality". I called Children's Healthcare and they asked me a million questions and decided that I could wait until today to take her the dr. if she till had the rash. So, this morning, C wakes up with a 103.1 fever and Q still has the rash, so I sent M to school and took my other 2 girls to the dr. Poor little Q has Strep Throat (again...she just finished her antibiotics last week from the last time she had it) and with the rash it is Scarlet Fever. C has a red ear and a red throat and because she completely freaks about the throat culture and the medicine for the ear infection would be the same as the medicine for strep anyway, she went ahead and gave me the Rx for her too. She asked me to bring M in tomorrow morning to run a throat culture on her since she has been exposed to her sisters.

What a day...What a Welcome Home~