Date Night+Mother's Day- A Birthday Party= Great Weekend

(sometimes I read my friends blogs and they are so brilliant and such great writers, and they make such interesting points, that I feel kind of lame with my travelogish posts.  But here it goes anyway.)
I can't tell you how much I love date night. I love leaving responsibility behind. I love spending time with Rob and actually having time for a real conversation. Babysitters are pricey but worth it. On Friday we drove through the avenues and ended up taking a brisk walk up city creek canyon. It is going to be too hot soon, but for now the temperature was perfect. We ate at a great new place on South Temple and 500 East called Wild Grapes. It was my kind of place. The food was deeelish.  

When we got home we watched Twilight.  I read 3 of the 4 books, and wasn't a big fan and have been resisting watching the movie.  Okay, secretly, I found the first one pretty entertaining, but after that I couldn't figure out what it was I was supposed to like about Bella and why I even was supposed to care for her.  I never did get around to reading the last one.  Maybe someday I will just do it, for no better reason than to participate in the whole Twilight zeitgeist. My expectations for the movie were so low that I didn't mind the movie at all.  It was pretty entertaining, and frankly I loved the spot on portrayal of the non-vampire/Bella high school students. Rob even confessed he liked it.

Saturday was a crazy day, with a quarterly primary activity (thank goodness one of the other counselors was in charge of it. I just had to show up), 3 soccer games at one time (thanks for helping T/C/K) whilst Rob worked, a filthy house, a bunch of plants sitting unplanted on my porch, and a birthday party for Tucker that was clear out in the middle of nowhere. Tucker was very excited to go to this party, but I bribed him not to go in order to spare me the double drive. If he skipped the party he could buy any dvd at Costco he wanted. He took the bait. Frankly, I am living with the guilt of doing something so manipulative to my child.  It wasn't the right thing to do, but I am not a fan of birthday parties. I'm a fan of the kids hanging out with their friends, having fun, and being social. But, it seems like every weekend there are parties and more parties and I feel like I'm getting nickeled and dimed to death. With my kids at a charter school their school friends are spread out all over the valley and sometimes (as in the case of the party I bribed Tucker to skip) they live thirty to forty minutes away. Of course when I am rational I realize the parents of my kid's classmates aren't planning birthday parties with the sole intention of annoying and inconveniencing me, nor are they setting out to disrupt my Saturday plans, but I tend to feel a bit annoyed at the sheer amount of parties.
ANYWAY...
When Rob got home from work he took the kids, all of them, every last one of them with him to run errands and I was left with several hours of super rare ME time. He even came home with a new appreciation of just how painful it is to take Clara shopping.  Having your husband understand that grocery shopping with a terrible two year old is hell is a priceless gift.  While he struggled to keep Clara in the cart, I took a jog on the Jordan River Parkway. Just me and my iPod. It was a good run,( although I have the beginning of shin splints. Grrrr). When I got home the kids and Rob made me a fancy dinner and decorated the kitchen table all fancy for a mother's day treat.  Lucy even made her fabulous brownies for me. 
Speaking of treats, when I woke up on Sunday morning I heard someone knocking about in the kitchen. I was pretty sure it was Lucy putting together breakfast in bed for me. I was a bit worried because my sister Emily once made my mom breakfast in bed, which turned out to be pretty inedible, pasty, thick, lumpy awful oatmeal. My mom, because she loves Emily, ate it anyway. Thankfully for me, my story had a happier ending.  Lu did a great job. Perfect oatmeal! I was impressed.

Sunday also consisted of a day off of my church calling thanks to the YW taking over the primary, watching my kids sing in Sacrament Meeting, and a delicious dinner at my parents, courtesy of my Dad, with Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake.
I used to not be a fan of Mother's Day, but this year it really hit the spot. The talks at church weren't too abrasive, the bishopric gave us sugar cookies instead of some guilt inducing story about a perfect mother, and the kids gave me lots of hugs and kisses. Thanks to Rob and my kids for really making it such a great one. I am just lucky to be a mom to such great children and to have Rob as a partner, as we watch them grow up. I feel like I won the husband/children lottery.  I hope all you fellow Mom's felt that way too on Mother's Day (and the rest of the time too)!