A Weekend Away

Ever since baby #4 wonderfully came into our life my husband and I started talking more and more about doing some weekend aways.  Yup, minus children...just the two of us.  We've never done that EVER in the last 5 years since we've been on the baby-making path...can you believe it?!  I think it has always had to do with not really having any close family around, breastfeeding each child for well over a year, getting pregnant every other year and consequently nauseous and sick as can be for at least the first 4 months of each pregnancy, and then having them so close in age that there was always some milestone we were facing..."oh, you're just getting teeth in?  what you want to start jumping out of your crib at night?  hey, let's bunk two of the kids in one room!  Cool, everyone is throwing up an hour before our date night starts"  Good but very busy times.  

Anyways, we finally decided that starting in 2012 (and once I started feeling well again!) that we would take one weekend a month and go away...anywhere...just the two of us.  We figured the kids all seemed to be in a good place and Noah and Penny are actually old enough to be really good helpers so they could tell anyone visiting exactly where their snacks are and how their bedtime routine goes, etc.

A few weeks ago, we did it.  We left for a long weekend with no children.  We headed into Chicago since we thought it would be a great beginners trip for us.  You know, in case we had to rush back home because someone needed an emergency appendectomy we weren't too far away (seriously, isn't that the way it always seems to go?)  Plus there are always a million things we want to do there that never seem fun when you have three little ones.  Can you imagine heading to the Museum of Modern Art with my three kids...ummm, no!

Clif made a reservation at a super swanky hotel.  Did the hotel have a pool?  How would I know, we didn't have our kids!!  Our room was filled with modern art and very funky furniture.  Definitely glad it was just us or our hotel bill would have dramatically increased with the amount of damage they would have done in there. 

Of course it snowed a big scary meteorologist's dream snow right before we left but that wasn't going to stop us, hey we made reservations!  Of course Eloise would just happen to come down with the croup two days before we left (really?) but we felt our babysitters (grandma and grandpa) could handle it, and they did.  All went very well, hooray!

Clif and I were able to spend lots of time talking, holding hands, and just enjoying being with each other.  It was perfect.  'Hey guess what?  I can hear you without you needing to yell'  oh, it's the little things!

We ate lots of delicious foods...chocolate almond croissants with chai tea for breakfasts...

Grown-up ham and cheese with Gruyere, Aged White Cheddar, and Brie for a lite lunch out.  

Eating out without our 3-ring circus might have been my favorite part!  I love them all so much, but... :-)

Of course we had to stop at Sweet Mandy B's on the way home to pick the kids up something special  just for them.  These cupcakes were a hit. 

I love this bakery.  If you are ever in the Chicago area you.must.go.  It is full of those yummy sweets and treats you ate as a kid, the recipes aren't doctored with so everything tastes just like you remember it.  I took home a peanut butter rice krispie bar the size of my head...okay, my hand, but it felt like it was that big!  

And of course, since we didn't have any children with us, I just had to ask Clif to make one last stop our way home.  Yup, home of the blue and yellow and so much more fun to browse when you can actually think clearly :-)

What a great and needed long weekend away.
It made coming home to their smiling faces awesome.  And getting back into the swing of things the following Monday not so bad.  I suppose all of us parents need that every now and again, right?  Not sure why we waited so long to do it.
Do you ever get to do fun things like that with just your significant other and you?
Now the big question is where should we go next?

XOXO,

Help for the Housewife/Wife!

Whoa, two posts in two days...CRAZY! I am realizing that I feel my best in the morning so you may be seeing in the next few days me actually posting more!!! If the kidlets cooperate and life works in my favor that is! ;)

So, in keeping with the New Year, New Goals idea I wanted to share with you a website/blog that I really like and I think you might too! It's called The Generous Wife and it is great place to go for ideas on how to try to be a better wife (and momma too!) Everyday there is a new post to mull over with lots of great inspiration to help you be a better wife to your hubby. I have been reading these posts for over a year and really like them. They make me think about the little things that I sometimes forget to do or say to help my hubby out or make him feel special or just to do those things in life that show you care. It's hard sometimes once you throw kidlets into the mix or work gets crazy but I think it's important to help "grow" your relationship with your husband too. I think your relationship with your husband is the backbone of your family so if that relationship isn't strong it's hard to have a strong family with good values. Over half of marriages end in divorce these days, obviously for many reasons, but one may be that the husband and wife don't have a strong relationship with each other.

And, not to just say that we ladies are the only ones that need to work on creating a strong relationship with our husbands either! You'll be happy to know that this site also has a companion blog called The Generous Husband so those husbands of ours can get a daily reminder of how to create a good relationship with us...Yahoo for that!

Ok, that's all for now. Go check out this website/blog and start your New Year off with some extra lovin' for the relationship with that wonderful husband in your life! As Martha would say, 'It's a Good Thing!'