Date Night!

It's been three months since Paul and I have been on a date, so I've really been looking forward to our date tonight! We are going to have dinner at Applebee's (courtesy of a gift card obtained through credit card bonus points) and then we're going to a Russian State Symphony Orchestra concert at Bucknell! I can't remember the last time we went on this nice of a date - dinner AND a concert! The orchestra will be performing Tchaikovsky's Slavonic March, Op. 31, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, and Prokofieff's Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op. 100. The cost of babysitting plus the cost of the tickets are making this our most expensive date of the past 5 years, but considering how few times we've used babysitters over the past 2 years, I think the splurge is justified. We did get a discount on the tickets due to Paul's status as a faculty member at Bucknell.

Since I didn't post yesterday, I will write ten things I'm thankful for today. The first four I've already mentioned above (1) eating dinner that I didn't cook without any kids, (2) getting to spend a few hours with my sweetheart, (3) enjoying a fabulous concert, and (4) for the first time in the last 6 years we have a long list of babysitters to utilize! (5) Last night one of Paul's colleagues at Bucknell came over with his family to have dinner with us. The nine of us had a fun time together. I forgot to take pictures, but the lego creation Ian is holding in the picture at left is one that Dave made last night.

(6) All three kids slept through the night the last two nights (i.e. no one got up before 6:00 AM), and Oliver's nap was 3hr 10 minutes long yesterday. WOW!!!

(7) Oliver didn't have any pee accidents yesterday, and one time he told me when he needed to go.

(8) I love watching my kids play together. Two days ago Ian was giving Oliver rides on his back while Nadia was reading to me, and I had to stop and take a picture. Then Nadia also gave Oliver a ride. Yesterday at one point while I was cleaning I noticed the three kids were doing all sorts of things with the gymnastics mat together.

(9) Ian has such a thirst for learning. He keeps BEGGING to do schoolwork (he does math, handwriting, and reading).

(10) Sending out all these applications for Paul over the past 2+ years has only been possible because of the graciousness of professors at PSU, Bloomsburg, and Bucknell to send letters of recommendation. The three who are currently serving as his references are the dept chair at Bloomsburg, the dept chair at Bucknell, and Dave (former mentor and current colleague at Bucknell). We greatly appreciate the time they invest in mailing and emailing reference letters for Paul.