Tonight Paul and I will be going on our third date this year. We went ballroom dancing in April for my 44th birthday and out to dinner in August for our 15th anniversary. I learned on Facebook that a Baptist church in our area teamed up with another community organization to offer a "Parent's Night Out" which means free childcare from 5:00-8:30 tonight. When I told Nadia about it, she said we didn't need to go on dates any more since we are married. I disagree! The main reason we don't go out very often is because babysitting costs $10/hr. Paul's parents graciously watched our kids for our other two dates this year. The only cost of the babysitting tonight is bringing some canned foods for a food pantry! We are planning to go to Olive Garden for dinner, which is one of my favorites and I often go years without eating there. And I have coupons in my purse for JcPenney, Sears, etc., and I'm sure we'll do some grocery shopping at Aldi's as well. Shopping without the kids is a very rare and greatly appreciated treat because shopping with Oliver at the mall is pretty torturous.
Tomorrow we are having Ian's 7th birthday party so the house is ALL decked out right now. I am one who likes to have minimal clutter and I go pretty simple with decorations in general, but right now we've got Christmas decorations PLUS birthday decorations so the family room and kitchen in particular are all decked out with Christmas and Super Mario decorations. Ian's actual birthday will be on Monday, and that means the kids will have a three day weekend because we don't do school work on his birthday. This afternoon I bought a gallon of chocolate milk for the kids, and tomorrow I'm going to pick up six donuts for us to eat on Sunday morning. My dad will be spending two nights with us as he plans to arrive tomorrow afternoon and leave early in the morning on Monday. Tomorrow is his 73rd birthday so we're celebrating two birthdays this weekend. Paul's parents are joining Paul, Nadia, and Ian at church tomorrow to see a production of A Christmas Carol, and then everyone (plus Grandpa, Al, and Millie) will be joining us for pizza and birthday cake at our house. I will be preparing the meals my dad requested on Sunday - pancakes, bacon, pot roast, mashed potatoes, cherry pie, Klondike bars, Hawaiian punch, and creamed corn. Hopefully both Ian and my dad will have a wonderful birthday weekend! Ian will have his first basketball practice on the evening of his birthday.
Although I am looking forward to our date, the most exciting thing for me today was I bought a new camera body online. It should arrive by next Wednesday. I can't wait to start using it! I got my first DSLR camera 5 1/2 years ago, and I have really loved it but it's a crop body camera and doesn't deal as well with low light situations as a better camera will. I can use my existing lenses on my new full frame camera body. I expect to use this new camera far more than 5 1/2 years as it was a significant investment. Although I've wanted to upgrade for a couple of years, I didn't think it would ever be possible because of the cost, but my dad sold a coin collection my mom inherited when her dad died, and he is splitting the money from that between his four children. I am using part of my money to buy this camera body. I would much rather have my mom around, but I will think of her when I use my camera just like I think of my grandmother (my dad's mom) when I use our time share because I purchased that with the money I was given following her death. I know she enjoyed seeing pictures on the blog since she lived 3.5 hours away. Pictures helped her feel connected to her grandchildren. I can't wait to start using my new "toy" next week! The photos in this post were taken on Wednesday morning at the Children's Museum in Bloomsburg.
Although I am looking forward to our date, the most exciting thing for me today was I bought a new camera body online. It should arrive by next Wednesday. I can't wait to start using it! I got my first DSLR camera 5 1/2 years ago, and I have really loved it but it's a crop body camera and doesn't deal as well with low light situations as a better camera will. I can use my existing lenses on my new full frame camera body. I expect to use this new camera far more than 5 1/2 years as it was a significant investment. Although I've wanted to upgrade for a couple of years, I didn't think it would ever be possible because of the cost, but my dad sold a coin collection my mom inherited when her dad died, and he is splitting the money from that between his four children. I am using part of my money to buy this camera body. I would much rather have my mom around, but I will think of her when I use my camera just like I think of my grandmother (my dad's mom) when I use our time share because I purchased that with the money I was given following her death. I know she enjoyed seeing pictures on the blog since she lived 3.5 hours away. Pictures helped her feel connected to her grandchildren. I can't wait to start using my new "toy" next week! The photos in this post were taken on Wednesday morning at the Children's Museum in Bloomsburg.
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