Moments of Grace: It's OK Daddy Can Fix It

We have a spot on our kitchen counter, by the telephone and the (dirty) windows, where there is typically a line up of broken toys waiting for Daddy's magic touch.

Saying goodbye to their hero as he heads off to  "bring home the bacon"!

It doesn't matter if the toys are worth 10 cents, or whether their injury is tiny (like when tiny figurine Ariel lost her nose!), or whether the toy has been broken 8 times before. ...it's always OK because Daddy can fix it. The part of me that hates junk and clutter always wants to get rid of broken toys. However, the children have the most staunch and everlasting conviction that their daddy will attempt to fix anything.  And so, I always tell them to put it up there and Daddy will take care of it when he has a chance.

We will finally get the children settled in bed and I'll come out to see him standing with tweezers in his hand and the handy gorilla glue meticulously restoring Ariel's nose or Thor's hammer tip. He always tries. He then has to set up some sort of crazy scenario to hold the repair in place while the glue dries. 

Most often the repair leaves the toy looking a little different than it was brand new. Sometimes, he has to tell them that he did his best but it might not last too long, and other times he has to tell them that there is really no way for him to restore life to the beloved toy.

Yet it struck me the other day that he is never ever bothered by the sweet line up of toys, or the requests for him to fix something. He stands taller knowing his children believe that he will always try, and no matter how many bigger or more important things he has on the go he will make time for their petitions.

Judah had a dream to play dress-up a kilt like Braveheart....so of course Daddy made time to cut up one of his old work shirts and even sewed a button on so it stayed up!

Wasting time with our children, such an important thing to do!

It struck me further that this must be how our Father in Heaven sees our prayers of petition. He doesn't mind, He isn't bothered, He rejoices in our hearts turned to him with our requests. I stop myself from bringing mundane or simple prayers to Him.....telling myself that there are bigger and more important things for Him to deal with. But when I think how Joe would be heartbroken if the children refrained from bringing their toys to him in their sweet clenched little hands, I can understand how our Father in Heaven desires for us to bring everything to Him and never believe that something is too mundane to bring to His throne. For He rejoices mostly in the unburdening of our hearts, the expressions of our worries, our fears, and even our requests of "Daddy will you fix this?"

Can He always fix it to make it like new? No. He knows when something is better left unfixed or slightly different than what it was before. But will He ever refuse to receive us? No. Will He ever scoff at our little needs? No. He loves our little line of broken things waiting for His magic touch.

I am so grateful for my little ones! May I treasure these days of little broken toys and sweet innocent hearts that believe a kiss can fix a bump or bruise. May my love show them the love of their Father in heaven. 

Loving Lately

Lately we are relishing a slow but steady return to normal after sickness, death, weddings, funerals, hospitalizations, and bad bugs!

There are a few things about these days that I want to hold close to my heart forever...

Is it tomorrow? Almost daily Judah asks me if it is tomorrow. I always respond with the same, "no my darling, it is today." "Oh GOOD," he always says. I'm not sure what it is about tomorrow that he is not so sure about, but I love that he is always so thrilled that it is today. Talk about being grateful for the moment!

Working out with Daddy, one of his current favorite activities

Bedtime and our big boy. Judah had the nightly habit of a trip to our bedroom for some snuggles with mama around 2 am. Unfortunately because my belly is getting so big and thinking ahead to cosleeping we knew it had to end. We set up a mattress next to Joe's side of the bed so that if he felt the need he still was welcome. However he has decided he prefers to stay in his own bed all night rather than be relegated to the floor. I can't help but feel a little heartbroken that our nightly snuggles ended, just like that, but I more in awe of his determination. Every night his little lips quiver as he expresses that it is hard to stay in his own bed. Every night I reassure him that he can call me if he needs me. Every morning he wakes up feeling so incredibly victorious. We cover him in kisses and hugs and tell him he is so brave and strong. He feels like a million bucks!

Such a sweet view....matching bedhead! Maybe that's why I feel so sad that this time has come to an end :(

Our animal and fact lover. Liliana has always had a heart for animals, and lately she has become even more interested in facts about them. She would pick Planet Earth or the Wild Kratts over any other show, and then thrills us with her facts and dreams. She had to give a presentation about what she wanted to be when she grew up  and she told the whole school she would be a dog walker, or maybe someone who studies rare birds. So funny! When I am not sleeping well she tells me I am like a nocturnal animal, and is quite fascinated with the circle of life and the food chain. It is awesome to see her little brain working and growing and making connections!

She is so colorful! 

Sacrifice and Acts of Love Jar. For Lent we put a jar in the middle of the table and when the children choose to make a sacrifice (like eating a vegetable they don't love without complaining), or extraordinary act of love (like offering to do a task that isn't usually theirs), they put a dried bean in the jar. The Easter Bunny will turn those beans into jelly beans and then they can eat a jelly bean over the Easter season whenever they do a sacrifice or act of love. It has been beautiful to witness them trying to find ways to add beans to the jar. Just this week I was treated to both a salon experience and a foot massage. I didn't anticipate this would benefit me so hugely ;)

Two little foot rubbers, 100% their idea!

Lent. Every lent leaves me grateful for the Divine Psychiatrist and this season of simplicity, sacrifice, and honesty with self. Being very pregnant my lenten commitments are simple, but involve digging into the recesses of our pantry and fridge, cooking simply and with what we have as opposed to spending more, and healthy basic meals for our family. I can see that everyone is thriving, and as we live Lent well we eagerly anticipate the celebration of Easter and our Tiny Darling's birthday!

Lenten work, changing things around and making room for Tiny Baby

A lenten lunch for my man, egg salad sandwich in a jar :) Yum!!

Spring. As I write I hear our sweeties outside the OPEN window! It is only just above 10 degrees but they are in shorts and rubber boots, looking like little wild things, dirty and so happy. It has been a long, cold, wet winter and the signs of Spring absolutely gladden the heart and lift the soul. There will be some pretty significant spring clean up to do in our yard as it seems most of our solar lanterns and much of our grass did not survive the winter. That is happy work though.

I will leave it at that so I can go watch Liliana and Judah playing through the window. Does anyone else absolutely love watching their children play? Their imaginations are amazing!

Maybe it is because Daddy has such a huge imagination....dress up tea party, of course his idea!

Lots of love,

The Heroic Hour

These days, especially 6 months pregnant, it is quite astonishing at just how deep I have to dig to end the day well for our children. They say that the heroic hour is when the alarm goes off. I experience that it takes very little heroism on my part to roll out of bed towards the first sip of coffee and some quiet prayer time before the day. On the other hand, it takes some serious guts to tuck my darlings in having accomplished clean teeth and bodies, sincere prayer, quality reading, and loving caresses with whispered affirmations of their beauty, value, and worth in the eyes of God their Father and me their mama.

Judah also finds bedtime the heroic hour, ergo his arsenal carefully tucked into his pullup :)

I firmly desire that, no matter how difficult little or big moments of the day are, my children drift to sleep having just heard that they are precious, worthy, and so treasured by myself and their Daddy.

A few days ago I sat beside their bed holding little hands in one hand and my head in the other. We had battled to get through the day, and I felt like I had nothing left to give. I could tell, by looking over at Joe, that he also had given almost everything he had to give to his intense day of work and tired demanding children at the end of it.

I could not help it as tears of weariness ran down my cheeks and onto my lap. Oh how I love them, oh how full of needs they are, oh how lacking I am. 

As I sat there quietly sniffling and not trying to alert my sensitive darlings to the fact that Mommy was crying (which to them is like the world ending!), I realized yet again the gift of parenthood. It is deeply humbling and reminds me so frequently that on my own I am not sufficient. Grace, grace, grace....but for the grace of God. 

Perhaps we all have a heroic hour? That one part of our day where we have to dig deepest and cry out most fervently for grace and strength. For me it is most certainly the bed time hour. Yet, just one short hour later as I sneak in  to kiss little cheeks one more time and tuck blankets around little bodies my heart cannot help but break with love and thanksgiving.

Sometimes sister is the best solution for a pillow and a rest. I can't wait to see one more little person in that snuggle! 

May you find the grace and strength you need for your own heroic hour!

Family Vacations - Expectations vs Reality

We just arrived home from a glorious, difficult, exhilarating, exhausting, happy, dirty, budget friendly, expensive trip :) All of the above sound contradictory, which they absolutely are! I am learning, slowly but very surely, that life with little children is never as expected, straightforward, or carefree as one might hope, but always more joy and grace filled than we could have imagined in our wildest dreams.

In an incredibly valiant step towards establishing new family traditions and family culture my side of the family planned a camping reunion in Priest Lake, Idaho.  Valiant because we have not camped as a family for perhaps 20 years and because it was absolutely a step outside of comfort zones.

True to form we were relatively last minute in making our plans, for several reasons, and so ended up in a walk-up camp ground very close to Priest Lake. Our little family has always dreamed of camping but were deterred by the cost of acquiring gear, so this was a perfect impetus to start our collection and start living the dream.

13 people, 5 cars, 2 campgrounds, 4 tents, no facilities, a beautiful river, a stunning lake, a weekend of fun.

True to form, however, our two little ones returned from our glorious week on Nonna and Papa's ranch in Texas with stomach bugs. Despite the fact that we did our best to feed them only bottled water this time, their little tummies just don't seem to handle the foreign flora and so we headed into our relatively rustic camping situation with many many bouts of diarrhea daily still occurring. This really made the trip at times feel like a nightmare. This is real life, though! On social media one might only see little snapshots of the carefree moments, but in between were frantic middle of the night outhouse sprints, accidents, visits to the laundromat, the purchasing of new gear, 5:30 AM coffee on the campfire after being up all night with sick kids, and exhausted mommy and daddy at their absolute wits end.

There is something wonderful about parenthood, however, that even at your wits end the best still shines through because it is not about you. When there are other little lives relying on you somehow you find the strength. I'll never forget Joe in the middle of a chilly night in a tent, covered in poop (YES IN POOP) wiping off a hysterical child and telling them it was OK and it happens when your tummy is sick. I will never forget locking eyes over a brown bagged chelada in the laundromat as our kids licked their popsicles wondering how we were spending our long weekend in a small town laundromat with our fingers crossed that our gear would come clean. We laughed, we laughed so hard because it was either that or cry. I'll never forget falling asleep holding hands praying that this night would bring more rest than the next. I'll never forget the moments in between of carefree or ringing in our daughter's 5th birthday with campfire coffee and camp stove french toast, and playtime in the beautiful lake with doting aunts and uncles.

Despite all of the challenges we eagerly look forward to continuing the Christianson/Packard/Zohorksy/Di Lucca summer camping tradition as the years roll on. Maybe next year we will just make sure we find a place with closer bathroom facilities ;)

A few photos from our happy, dirty, hard, and carefree weekend....

My mom and dad with their 6 children and 3 grandchildren

Auntie Joc, Auntie Eve, and cousin Sophia Rose

Fun Uncles make every day better!

Sophia Rosie and Liliana Joy in matching bathing suits

Judah was obsessed with this water gun, I am obsessed with Uncle Luke's face in this photo

Birthday boy Grandad (61) and Birthday girl Liliana (5)

I loved summer mornings around the campfire and arms full of littles

6 children, oldest to youngest

My handsome men at Priest Lake

I hope your summers have been full of adventure, humour, and memory making!

Moments of Grace: My Daughter's Beauty

I literally watched with awe as our Liliana marched up the mountain. She was so determined, so positive, so inspired."We got this mommy, we are Packards, I'm going the hard way, I'm getting stronger, I am never ever ever EVER giving up!"

Her sweet brother pushed his little legs to the absolute max led by her tenacious example before promptly falling asleep on my back after he could not walk anymore.

 I could not help but stare at her sun kissed skin and wispy pony tail, her little arm muscles, her strong and sturdy legs and bum, and her beautiful back. She is so strong!  She is so beautiful!

The new friend we were with commented that Liliana's legs look like a pro-athlete and went on to suggest that it must run in the family because, look at me. My heart surged with pride. 

I am not ashamed to admit everything I just said. I am ashamed to admit that I've felt self conscious about aspects of our daughter's appearance at times. Just little things, like that she was born with a very crooked nose, that she has a huge (entirely endearing) gap in between her two front teeth, even that she is a little ball of muscle and already it is hard to find pants that fit comfortably over her strong legs. 

Much like her Mommy!

It is no secret that the struggle with self loathing, which seems to be part of the human experience, has over the years manifested itself in me through an intense dislike of my body. I spoke several posts back about my New Year's resolution of a return to vitality, health, strength, and fitness. Part of this year's journey has been about learning to be peaceful with the body I was blessed with, for myself and for the sake of my children, who see everything! 

And yet, it was in this moment and through the comment of a new friend that I realized the beauty I could not stop looking at in my darling was also a beauty that I had. A beauty of strength, tenacity, athleticism, and determination. 

I have spent so much of my life pining for the coat hanger beauty of runway models and yet as I watched our girl I was gripped with the fear that she would ever want to look differently than she did marching up the Grassi Lakes. In that moment I also realized, in a way I had not before, the absurdity of me ever wishing I looked differently than do. 

These moments of grace become something to hold onto when I come back down from the mountain top and the clear vision of things as they are fades into the busy mess of regular life. 

What a responsibility it is to raise little people into wholehearted big people who have a sense of their worthiness and their mission! 

And yet, what a gift our little people give us as they draw us out of our brokenness and selfishness and reflect back to us our own worthiness. 

Moments of grace, indeed!

With love and prayers,

A Little of This and That

Hello friends! I've loved reading little real-life updates like this on blogs through the years (Elizabeth Foss, Amy Salisbury...) and so I thought I'd type one out....it was fun to think about these little aspects of our every day life. I hope you enjoy as well!

Thankful: For my grandmother’s condo in Canmore and early-to-bed children.  I sit here typing away at 7:30 with children snoring and the three sisters peering down on me through the windows. Things have been so busy for our family and to escape where life is quiet and play is easy, such a gift!

A beautiful icy/slushy walk 

We love swimming at Elevation Place in Canmore. I could not believe this girl's legs....
the legs of a little girl that goes HARD and is super tough. Any one else have little ones with legs like this?

Cooking: I have been working on more budget and health friendly foods as Joe finds himself sensitive to too much wheat and our budget finds itself sensitive to the ideal of buying everything free-from/free-range/organic. We’ve come to love steel head trout from Costco and tonight I experimented with (GASP) frozen organic vegetables - nothing against them I just haven't bought them for a while. A little butter, garlic powder and soy sauce and they were actually very yummy! For lunch we had Costco brand black bean burgers crumbled and topped with goat mozzarella, quesadilla style. Seriously delicious, and even nutritious!

Listening to: The children and I have had Joey+Rory’s “Hymns” album on non-stop - that or CIBC radio 2 for classical during the day. We play a fun game of imagining the scene that the instruments are playing out. We have also fallen in love with The Okee Dokee Brothers two albums (“Can YouCanoe” and “Through the Woods”) Seriously, if you have children and like bluegrass you must track down these albums. So enjoyable!

Drinking: Very much enjoying red rose tea these days, and if I have an adult drink at nighttime I’ve become a malbec girl. We also have a non-stop supply of bubbly H20 at our house. 

Watching: Joe and I are enjoying this current season of “Suits”. On the odd night he is out I am also enjoying the guilty pleasure of “Jane the Virgin.” Crazy story but I had a (very innocent) teenage tropical romance with the main actor, and so I find it fun to watch the show. Actually, it is great for a laugh!

Reading: “Beyond the Birds and the Bees,” and “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” I also made a reading list for the year. I will feel incredibly accomplished if I make it through.

Feeling: A little tired and weary. We’ve been go-go-go between Joe’s highly demanding Job, his basketball coaching position, my 2 days with 2 extra little sweeties, and the regular ins and outs of family life. When I start to feel anxious I wake up in the middle of the night with my eyes WIDE open and just can’t settle down. Even melatonin doesn’t work for me. Consequently I feel weary, but hopeful that this exhaustion, too, shall pass!

Wearing: These days I am wearing high-rise true skinnies from gap in dark wash. After weaning Judah I put on a little weight and I had to consign my old jeans because I was really tired of trying to squeeze into them. Oh child-bearing/rearing, you keep us humble! But seriously, GO GAP! Great jeans and with all of the gap promotions going on, a great price as well.

Realizing: If I start a day without prayer, the day suffers. Trying to make it happen EVERY DAY.

Praying: The rosary with our children every day. It is so endearing to hear them start to chime in and we have found it beautifully calming at the end of our day.

Disliking: The intensity of the GOP presidential debates. Joe and I have actually had to turn the last couple off because we start squirming in our seats and sweating with adrenaline. Trying to go to sleep after those things? Forget it! Seriously though….

Wanting: To have our taxes finished so that we know how much we owe the government. I am in charge of our taxes each year, but because Joe works as a consultant I am starting to find it confusing and overwhelming, and I always worry that the little bit we are setting aside is still not enough for tax season. We are hoping to take care of them next week.

Cheering for: My girlfriends who all fight their own very real and glorious battles. From many little children, to busy husbands, or tough pregnancies, or high-strung babies, or financial worries, spiritual dryness, and on and on and on…you are all such gifts to our world and your families. GO FRIENDS GO!

These Days of Littles

Picture this - 7:58 pm Saturday night. Joe is away at a basketball tournament, the children are snoozing peacefully, and I sit on the couch cozy as can be with a glass of red wine and bowl of popcorn. This is bliss! 

I was browsing an instagram account this week, one that was about healthy pregnancy/natural birth/breastfeeding. A ways down I saw a post that caught my eye. On it she raved about finally getting her IUD out, and that her husband gave her the greatest gift of their married life by getting a vasectomy. She continued to rave that she could live out the remainder of her cycling years in peace and unity with her body's natural rhythm. 

It never ceases to amaze me when natural minded people speak like this. Believe me, I write this with no condemnation but I read the post with such sadness, because there is an incredibly natural way to track your fertility that doesn't involve harm to one or both members of the relationship. 

Truly, the post struck me to the core so deeply and I realized how grateful I am for these days, in all of their weariness and wonderful-ness, and so I share a little bit of my heart here.

I will miss these days of little children everywhere. I have them, my friends have them, my sister has one. If one of us is not pregnant another is. There is always a reason to be making a meal, saying a prayer, going through boxes to share maternity and baby clothes, gripe over breastfeeding struggles or sex after baby questions. There is always talk of hopes and dreams for future children. There is always someone who is frazzled, overwhelmed, lonely, ecstatic, suffering, rejoicing. These are the days!

I know undoubtedly, melancholic as I am, I will be tempted to mourn deeply on the day that I know pregnancy is no longer an option for us. I think that even my friends who have had several babies in a few years would say this also. It is invigorating in every way, this knowledge that we, my husband and I, could create a new life when we are intimate. It is invigorating to have to sacrifice and abstain when we have discerned that a baby is not right for our family at the moment. It is also invigorating to know that, despite what we have discerned, we could be blessed anyhow and we would always praise God for that surprise gift!

Pregnant in Australia with our Liliana

I am excited for many more years of Joe excited over baby news :)

I simply could never hasten the end of these fertile years, in all of their exhausting and glorious aspects. I want to be in these days, truly in them, even in the moments where I have to deliberately find something to whisper thanksgiving over so as to change my bad mood, justified or not.

I mean, seriously, how precious is this? A brand new daddy with his firstborn daughter. 

I will miss these days. I whisper a prayer of thanks that I know this now as opposed to realizing it too late.

May the rest of your weekend be blessed and joyfilled!

When You Walk Into Our Home

When you walk into our home, you will be greeted by a sitting area with no coffee table. Instead, there is an area rug big enough to play on. It is almost always home to train tracks, duplo houses, or daddy's big body after work for kids to climb on top of and tickle!

When you try to hang up your coat in our front closet, you will find yourself faced with a plush puppy dog, a bowl of water, and lovingly scattered cheerios. Little did you know that the closet doubled as puppy's house for the day!

As you join me in our kitchen you will notice many things. There is a stainless steel fridge that I just can't keep smudge free. But, did you know that lately big sister has been Tarzan and spends many hours swinging and climbing from that fridge? Who can begrudge those little hand and feet prints that are so gleefully imagining vines, trees, and a tiger in hot pursuit?

Hmm...I wonder if gymnastics had anything
to do with her current climbing obsession :)

Lil' monkey!

The floor is crumb free for a glorious 30 seconds, no - make that 15 seconds, after I've finished vacuuming. It is testament to the fact that my children are so eager to do everything I do! When we bake, although it takes 5 times and long and is 50,000 times as messy, we do it together! When i wash the dishes, they hop up on stools next to me and grow the mess by ten-fold help with such love!

Don't worry, all hands were cleaned prior to the making of
these delicious energy bites! The counter may not have fared so well, though!

If I am brave enough to invite you into our bedroom, with its piles of strategically placed clean and dirty laundry and unread books on my bedside table, you may notice some hot chocolate stains on our sheets. This is because we've taken to "coffee parties" in bed in the morning. The children drink their almond milk and I sip my coffee, as we wake up together. It is glorious! I know the days are fleeting where such slow mornings will be possible. The sheets fall victim though when, quite regularly, a sippy cup doesn't do its duty.

Bedhead and sippy cups! The best days are Saturday and Sunday,
when Daddy can join our parties!

The children's bedroom? Oh my! It is victim to a toddler who has an imagination unmatched and a desire to fit each imagining with a perfect, in character outfit. She knows to put her clothing on her bed when she changes, but you will find that it is mimicking our Alberta Rocky Mountains by the end of each day!

Surely, each and every one of these scenarios won't greet you when you walk into our home, but most certainly most of them will! Without a doubt, as I work to clean one area another is being gleefully lived in. As my mother so lovingly reminded me, "our house should be clean enough to be healthy and messy enough to be happy." It most certainly is!

I can't apologize, however, because each day is a choice for me to let go of my "need" for cleanliness and order, and get down on the floor to play. As I notice my jean's knees getting more and more faded I can't help but smile, because I know that I am learning to let go. 

As I walked into Costco a few days ago with my two blond sweeties in the cart giggling over the bumps in the parking lot, I felt my breath leave me for a moment. "How are you mine?".

As I move my foot over in bed after each night waking to touch my warm husband besides me my heart skips a beat for a moment. "How are you  mine?"

I am not perfect, our home is not perfect, but oh! the joy in the small moments. We are blessed.

So, feel free to come to our home, but be prepared for what you might see as you walk in!

Love to you this day,

xoxo

6 Years of Dating

This past weekend marked since years since the night my handsome man and I met! WOW!

I'll never forget the night we met, mostly because Joe had hair an inch past his shoulders and a goatee that was long enough to put in two braids. He was so shy but had such kind eyes (thank goodness, it was rather hard to see what he looked like behind all his hair!). I didn't know that he called his dad, that night, telling him that he had just met the woman he was going to marry. 

When I look back on our six years the one thing that has been such a gift for our relationship has been that we date each other, regularly. As a matter of fact, it is probably one of the biggest priorities of our week is to make sure date night happens. Our dates have taken many forms. When I lived in Dallas Joe would drive to visit and we walked to the Italian cafe every Friday for a greek salad and to share a carafe of wine. Despite the fact that Italian cafe is sub-par food and cheap wine, it will forever be one of my all time favourite restaurants. It was there I learned Joe's heart as we lingered over our cheap wine and walked home in the warm Texas air.

Walking home from Italian Cafe in good ol' Las Colinas, Tx

In Australia we were beyond poor. We had two types of regular date nights. The first was to Costco for a 99 cent hot dog and to share a frozen yogurt. We loved driving our tiny little car through downtown Melbourne for our cheap date and sitting there relishing in the unhealthy deliciousness. The second was date night in. We would play beer pong, eat salami and cheese, and cuddle together under the tiny little space heater keeping our freezing apartment warm. We would talk for hours dreaming of our life together. Even though we were home we chose to make that time a date and it was amazing. I will never forget those dates and I continued to learn his heart.

Beer pong, just the two of us, and I was pregnant at this point so I played with Apple Juice :) 

Well, much has happened since Oz but we still date, almost weekly, (thanks Mom and Dad for babysitting!!!). It seems like almost always we have to squeeze a little bit in other areas of our budget to make sure it happens, but on the weeks we miss date night the disconnection between us is very evident. So, we make it happen! Most often these days date night is wing night. Wings at 25 cents a piece and a nice cold beer are a perfect and budget friendly opportunity to unwind and reconnect. We've had special dates too....formal events, concerts, surprise hotel stays. Some of our most cherished dates, even now, are date night in when kids go to my parent's or we put them to bed and we make European style feasts of bread, cheese, olives, and wine. We cherish these feasts sitting cross legged on the carpet and breathing deeply, and we make sure we are still in tune with each other's hearts. 

A whale watching dinner cruise in Hawaii. We were engaged that year!

Date nights are the only times we take selfies because it is just.the.two of us. YAY!!!

We love getting dressed up together. Those are special date nights too! I was pregnant with Judah here :)

Nothing like a patio together!

Even though date nights are casual I really like getting dressed up for my man.
Who cares if we are waaaay over dressed for a neighborhood pub on wing night!

Two months or so before we met our baby boy. Joe's first stadium concert.

I think that our dates are one of the biggest gifts we have given our marriage and our children. Date night shows them that we are in love with each other, that we prioritize one another, that we cherish the gift of carefree timelessness with our spouse. Liliana has just started complaining when we leave her to go on a date, but I always tell her that Mommy and Daddy need time together so we can be better mommies and daddies. She gets it and, more importantly, she gets to see that we walk the talk. My primary vocation is to my Joe and when I carve out time to make sure I still know his heart we can face whatever challenges greet us every day and we truly are better parents!

I am so beyond grateful for six years of dates with my Love, and I am excited that he is mine and I get to spend the rest of my life dating him!

Do you date your spouse? Do you have fun and budget friendly ideas for date night? I'd love to hear some of them!

Love and prayers for you this beautiful, sunny, winter day!

xoxo