Gettting to Know You! Sunday

It's Getting to Know You Sunday (Memorial Day style) over at Mannland5!

Have you ever snooped around someone else's house?

Umm, sure.  I was (ahem..and maybe still am) the queen of snooping around looking for presents.  Christmas, birthday, you name it.  One year, when I was probably 12 or so, I found the Christmas presents.  My mom would label them with our initials on a bottom corner, so she knew who they were for.  I'll admit, I opened a few of the "Ks" and retaped them!

 

Can guys and girls be friends?

I have guy friends, but they aren't my closest friends. 

 

Can you curl your tongue?

Yup! And I taught my nephew to do it.  He can also flip his tongue.  So funny!

 

Have you ever stolen anything?

I really don't remember.  If I did, it was something trivial, like from my school store growing up or something. 

Would you rather talk on the phone or text?

Depends on who it is.  I don't like to talk on the phone to people I don't know really well. 

Memorial Day plans?

We are visiting Kurt's brother's family in Charlottesville, Virginia this weekend.  It's our nephew Will's 1st birthday.  Yesterday, we went to a vineyard and to dinner at a Mexico restaurant, where Will dug into the free birthday fried ice cream. Today, we  are having Will's birthday party cookout.  Tomorrow, the guys are going golfing and I think my sister-in-law and I (along with the two nephews) are going shopping. We'll head home in the late afternoon.

 

What do you do to relax?

Lay on the couch, watch t.v., play on the computer. Recently, I've started running again.  During the long runs, I feel stressed, but afterwards I feel much more relaxed.  There's nothing like a 5 mile run to clear your head!

 

Do you do anything to honor those that have died fighting for our freedom?

We hang our American flag outside of our house.  This is something I've always done, even when we lived in our condo.  My parents and Kurt's parents always have their flags flying, so I think we just continued doing what we grew up with.

 

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Friday Fives!

It's Friday Fives over at Beth's blog. This week, we are answering five random questions.  Without further ado...

1. Are you a MAC or a PC???

PC, but I think I'd like to be a Mac one day.  My brother-in-law has a Mac Book and loves it.

2. If you could go anywhere on vacation this summer where would you go???

Well, I'm excited that we are already going to the Outer Banks.  My mom's side of the family goes to the Outer Banks every other year, and this is our year.  I'd also love to go to Ireland or Italy, but I don't think that's happening this summer.  Unless a certain mister wants to surprise me...hint, hint, Kurt!

3. Which is your most cherished childhood memory?

Hmmm.  I have a terrible memory.  I have a lot of good memories of spending time with my cousins.  I have a fun memory of running through the sprinkler in my grandparents' yard with my cousins in our pajamas.  We were soaked!  Also, I have good memories of spending a week each summer with my girl cousins on my dad's side of the family.  We used to spend time at my aunt's house at Deep Creek Lake and had many laughs, including my sister losing her bathing suit while skinny dipping!  Ironically, one of my cousins found it a year later when diving in the lake!

4. What were you doing the last time that you had a good laugh?

I like to laugh.  I laughed a lot today and yesterday at school while talking with my coworkers about how we were sweating so much at Field Day (it all revolved around our thighs rubbing together--gross!).  I always have good laughs with my family, too.  My sister does an impression of one of her coworkers that gets us all dying of laughter.

5. What is your favorite book or magazine??(We need some beach read ideas)

For the beach, I like a variety of books and magazines.  I'll take my US Weekly, and some chick lit. 

 

Happy Friday and Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Show Us Your Life: Proposal Stories!

This week's "Show Us Your Life" is Proposal Stories.  For some reason, I thought this topic was on the schedule for a few weeks ago, but I was wrong.  At any rate, I'm reposting our story.  Thanks for stopping by!

Our engagement story is one that I love to tell!  It's funny, sweet, and very Kurt!

Let me set the scene for you:

It was Friday, July 21, 2006.  I was taking summer classes for my Master's degree, so a lot of my free time during the days was being spent doing school work.  That day, however, I had spent most of the morning babysitting two cute kids in a nearby neighborhood.  I got home from babysitting and took a nap because I was tuckered out from my busy day.  Kurt had called me several times...and I ignored his calls because I was napping.  Finally,  after ignoring it for probably five times, I answered my phone.  Kurt was probably sweating it at this point! He was calling to find out what I wanted to do for dinner that night. 

(Us in New Hampshire two weeks before the big engagement!)

Now, let me explain a little here.  I am always the one to bring up dinner.  I am typically starving by dinner time, due to my early lunch time.  For Kurt to bring up plans for dinner was unusual, but I didn't think much of it.  He kept talking about how he wanted to order from a local Chinese restaurant.  He insisted on calling to place the order (all part of his little plan!), so I told him what I wanted: sweet and sour chicken with white rice.  Remember the rice...it's important in this story.

Kurt arrived home and a little while letter, the delivery man knocked on our door.  We lived in our condo at the time, so I didn't think anything of it when the delivery man was all smiles when he knocked on the door.  I figured he'd go to the wrong condo or was just super happy or something!  Anyway, Kurt got the food and took it over to the counter.  In my typical "Give me food...NOW!" style, I began opening up all of the containers immediately, trying to get food onto my plate as quickly as I could.  When I lifted up the box to pour some rice on my plate, I noticed that the rice box was really light.  I specifically remember saying, "Jeez, they didn't put enough freaking rice in here."  Again...all part of Kurt's plan.

I opened the rice container and saw very little rice.  In fact, there was no rice in the container.  Instead, there was a ring box.  I took out the box (I think a lot of "Oh My God"s and "Are you kidding me?"s were happening at this point) and looked over at Kurt who was on one knee.  He said a lot of really nice stuff (is it bad that I don't remember what he said?!), started crying, and asked me to marry him!  I'm not sure that I ever cried.  I just couldn't get over how he asked me!  I was so excited! I, of course, said "YES!" and tried on the beautiful ring!

There was a note in the ring box that said, "Put the food in the fridge.  Limo is coming at 6:30!"  Kurt had arranged for a limo to come pick us up and take us into DC for dinner at an Italian restaurant.  We called our families and friends, drove around the monuments downtown, had dinner (complete with our own personalized menu!), and then went to my sister's place for champagne.  It was a magical night that I will never forget!

(Us in Key West two weeks after the engagement!)

So how did the ring get into the rice box, you ask? Kurt had his friend, Brandon, meet the delivery guy downstairs.  Brandon had the ring box ahead of time.  He dumped the rice into the dumpster and replaced it with the ring box.  He said he tried to explain to the delivery man what was going on, but he didn't seem to get it!

Later on, I found out that at a Happy Hour for Kurt's work earlier in the week, my engagement was the hot topic.  Apparently Kurt's coworkers were all trying to give him ideas on how to do it, but what he actually did was a plan he came up with on his own!

Can you believe I don't have any pictures of us from the night of the engagement?  I think I was so caught up in the moment, that I didn't think to take my camera with me!

(A snapshot from my mom's friend on our wedding day!)

Top 2 Tuesday: Best Dates

Over Taylor's blog, it's Top 2 Tuesday! This week's theme is best dates!

This one was really tough for me!  Kurt and I have been together for ten years, so a lot of our dates have kinda merged together.  Is that bad?!  In the beginning, when we were poor college students, a lot of our dates revolved around going out to dinner and just hanging out.  After college, we continued doing dinner and movie dates (can you tell I like to go out to dinner?!), went on trips, and just spent a lot of our time together. Now, we like to do things...whether it's shopping, traveling, taking Macey on an adventure, going out to dinner (still!) or many other things, we are always busy! 

One of my favorite dates was one summer day a few years ago when we took Kurt's parents' boat out and just hung out on the water all day.  We've actually done this a few times and every time we do it, I think about how much I really enjoy relaxing on the boat and soaking up the sun.  Once, we took a little sailboat out and had lunch on a sandbar.  I much prefer the power boats, though!  Sailboats make me too nervous! Power boats have their issues, too, though.  That favorite date ended with us getting towed into the creek by a larger boat and Kurt ended up paddling and swimming up into the marina slip.  My intelligent husband flooded the engine!  I think he just wanted to show me how strong he was by swimming the boat in! 

My second favorite date was just last year when we want to AT&T National golf tournament at a local country club.  Kurt is really into golf, so he was super excited when his uncle gave him a free ticket to the tournament.  He convinced me to go with him, and I was so happy I went!  We had the best time following around the golfers and getting autographs from some no names.  Tiger Woods and Anthony Kim were paired together, so we followed them for a few holes.  It was such a great time and I was so glad that I was able to experience it with Kurt!

Apparently sporting events play a huge role in our relationship! I had trouble narrowing down my favorite dates...with our trip to Ravens Training Camp last summer as another top contender! We had such a fun time and I was so excited to get Joe Flacco's autograph on Kurt's jersey for him!

Our boy, Joe, just before he signed Kurt's jersey!

Ray Ray!

Can't wait for many, many more special dates with my favorite guy!

Thurday Five!

It's Thursday Five over at Mannland5. Time to think of five things that have made me joyful, excited, grateful, appreciative, elated or just plain happy this week.

1.  This sign that I ordered off of Etsy:

I hung it on the wall as you first walk in our front door and love it there!  I've been looking for one of these for a long time and finally found it through Nestlings.

2.  Our basement renovation is nearing completion.  Just carpeting throughout and cabinet installation in the laundry room are left before we are finished!  We have a couch being delivered next week, so it will really seem all put together once that is in and we start decorating.

View from the stairs

Macey loves the new basement! 

(Please excuse the 1960s carpet.  That will be replaced by a lovely grey berber tomorrow!)

Laundry Room with new washer and dryer!

3.  Teacher Appreciation Night at Melting Pot with nine of my fellow teachers.  It was so nice to have a chance to catch up over a great meal!

4.  Getting together with my friends from high school at "Wine in the Woods" last Saturday.

Jen and I are enjoying our wine!

5.  Helping my friend's son, Brennan, celebrate his first birthday on Saturday.

And while we are at it...

6. That my mother-in-law is now recovering from pneumonia at home.  She went to the ER last Friday and stayed a few days.  She's now home...let's just hope she continues to take it east and get better!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

So Excited!

It's Friday night and I'm so excited! I'm excited that it's finally the weekend (longest.week.ever.), but I'm also super excited that I've won my first blog giveaway!

Kathryn over at Est. 3.31.07 was giving away a super cute dish towel from catsudio. I entered and won! Here's what I won:

I love that it has all of my favorite cities and things about Maryland on it!

Thanks, Kathryn!

Show Us Your Life- Favorite Books

It's Friday, so that means it's "Show Us Your Life" over at Kelly's Korner. The theme for this week is favorite books. As an elementary school teacher, a lot of the books I read are children's books. I don't do a lot of reading for pleasure, because, quite honestly, by the time I get home, the last thing I want to do to relax is read some more. I'd much rather be on the computer or watch t.v. I do read on vacation, though, so I need to get my stack of books ready for our trip to the Outer Banks in July.

My favorite children's books are:

Charlotte's Web

This is one of our third grade core books, so I've read it many times with my students, but I remember reading it a few times when I was young, too.  I think it's probably one of my mom's favorites, also, as she always loved reading it when she was a 3rd grade teacher.  Even after reading it so many times, I still get choked up at the end.  What's even worse is listening to a tape (yes, my school still uses cassette tapes!) of E.B. White reading it.  So much emotion in his voice!

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I think everyone has had one of those days!  This has also been one of my favorites for a long time!  I've loved the illustrations, even though they are very basic, since I was young. We use this book to teach point of view.

The Mitten

Taking it back to my Ukranian heritage!  Fantastic illustrations!

First Day Jitters

I read this book to my students every year on the first day of school.  I think it's important that they know that they aren't the only ones with butterflies in their tummies on the first day of school!

When I do read for pleasure, I really enjoy anything by Jodi Picoult, like

The Pact

My friends from school and I had a book club (that kinda fizzled out...) for a couple of years and they introduced me to Jodi Picoult.  I really love her books!

My Sister's Keeper

Loved the book!  Hated that they changed the ending in the movie.

I also have recently found that I like Nicholas Sparks' books, like

Dear John

I never saw the movie, and I'm not sure I want to.  I've heard it wasn't as good as the book.

Also, my principal lent me this book a few summers ago

The Glass Castle

I couldn't put it down!

What are your favorite books?  I need some summer reading recommendations!

Top 2 Tuesday!

It's Top 2 Tuesday over at The Undomestic Momma. The theme for today is "Dream Houses."

When we were looking at houses, I found my myself pulling towards Cape Cod style homes. Even though we didn't end up going with a Cape Cod, there is something about that style that makes me think about a nice, cozy home.  I'd love to have a newer Cape Cod style home decorated in all Pottery Barn.  Wouldn't that be fantastic?

It'd look like this:

With this entryway:

This bedroom:

This guest room:

This "Craft Room":

And this patio:

Now, if that house doesn't work out, I'd love this home:

With this view:

I'd love to be able to buy a beach house at the Outer Banks!

What are your dream houses like?

(All images borrowed from Google Images)

A Wild Ride!

I had the craziest ride to work today!  The drive itself was great...uneventful, actually, which is a good thing if you know traffic in this area.  It was two things I saw that made it so crazy!

First, during the beginning of my drive, I looked over towards the sidewalk and saw a man, clearly on his way to work wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, wearing a helmet and riding a Razor scooter.  It was very odd!  When I told Kurt about it, he said he sees this often on his drive to work.  I guess this is one way of going green!  It's just crazy to see a grown man riding a scooter, and in a suit, nonetheless.

I continued on my way and turned down a residential street I take to get to Macey's doggy daycare.  This woman catches my eye in her front yard.  She is wearing a striped beach towel around her waist.  "Odd!" I thought.  I had no idea what was coming to me because within a few seconds of thinking how weird it was that she clearly ran to get something from her car while wearing a towel, did I see her butt staring right back at me! 

 I got mooned (and so did everyone else driving by!) at 7:45 in morning! 

She had some things in her one arm and was clearly trying to cover up with the other arm, but it was not working.  I mean seriously?!  What the heck was this woman thinking?!  Our school secretary lives on the same street and I totally need to tell her about her neighbor.  I wonder if she does this on a daily basis?

You think you've seen it all and then something like this happens!  Never a dull moment!

Getting to Know You...Saturday!

It's Getting to Know You Sunday (Saturday edition) over at MannLand5.  I'm up and at 'em early this morning because I've got a busy weekend ahead. Without further ado...let's get started:

What has been your most memorable Mother's Day? (with your mom, as a mom, or with your wife)

When I was younger, we used to go to my Grandma Dot's for Mother's Day.  There are eight children in my dad's family, so it was always fun to get together to celebrate all the moms in the family.  Of course I always had a great time hanging out with my cousins!

Have you ever been pulled over for speeding and were you able to talk your way out of it?

Let's just say that it helps having your dad be a police officer in the town where you live.  I've pulled the, "Do you know my dad?" card once or twice.

What's the oldest thing you have hanging in your closet?

At my house, I don't have very old things hanging in my closet.  At my parents' house, I'd probably say some of the dresses I wore to different dances in high school.  They're probably 13-15 years old.

Do you whiten your teeth?

I use whitening toothpaste and Arm and Hammer Whitening Booster.

I think it works quite well, when I use it consistently.  I've also used Crest White Strips. 

Underwear or Panties..What do you call your "unmentionables"?

Underwear.  I have a huge dislike for the word "panties."

If you could go on vacation right now..today..where would you go?

I'd love to go back to Nevis, where we went for the first half of our honeymoon.  I was just talking with some people at work about the Four Seasons Nevis, and it really made me want to go back.
Do you get offended when people cuss on their blogs?

If it's done tastefully, no. I try not to.

If you had to give up one luxury item, it would be....?

Gym membership.  Is that a luxury item? Considering I've only been a couple times in the past month, it would probably be better for my wallet to not pay the fee every month.

Now I'm off to finish some things before I head to do 3-mile run, go to Jenni's wedding shower, bachelorette party, brunch with with the in-laws, and dinner with my family...all in the next two days!  Phew!  I'm tired already!  Have a great weekend!

Show Us Your Life!

This week's Show Us Your Life over at Kelly's Korner is baby names. 

Even though I don't have children yet, I still wanted to participate.  I've picked out what I would name my future children.  My mom is a twin, so the joke is that I'll have twins...two girls...and Kurt will go crazy being the only man in the house!

So, my non-existent (future) twin girls will be named:

Ella Kate and Madison Elizabeth

I've really liked the names Ella and Madison for a while, even before they were as popular as they are now.  Madison would totally go by Maddie, though.  The middle names are after my first and middle names.  I was named after my mom's aunt Kate and Elizabeth is my mom's twin's middle name and my great grandmother's first name.  So, the tradition would carry on with my children.  Chances are these names will change once I actually have children.  That's just how I work!

Now, if these (future) children happen to be boys, they will probably be nameless for some time because there aren't really any boy names that I love.  Some I like are:
Gavin
Andrew
Sam

Now, for the one very hairy, fur child that we've named, Macey, Kurt and I debated for a while.  She was almost Ruby.  I had my students vote between Ruby and Macey, and they chose Macey.  We ultimately decided on Macey because when we would call her ("Come, ____, Come!"), it sounded better to say, "Come, Macey, Come!" than it did to say, "Come, Ruby, Come!"  She's totally a Macey, too!  Her middle name, Mae, was in memory of my  my family's old dog, Ellie Mae Melissa (Melissa was the name they gave her at the Human Society, so we made that her second middle name!), who was named for my Grandma's old Bassett Hound, Ellie Mae.  Kurt doesn't like that Macey's middle name is "Mae" because he thinks it sounds like "Macey Gray" and, as was recently evident on Dancing with the Stars, she's kinda out there!  Oh well, I like it!

So, there you have it.  The names for my possible future twin daughters and how we named our Miss Macey!

Thursday Five!

It's Thursday Five over at MannLand5, which means it's time to think of five things that have made me happy, thrilled, jubilant, elated, or ecstatic!

1.  Teacher Appreciation Week- Our PTA has taken good care of us this week (with lots of food!). I've received several bouquets of flowers and one planter from my students.  We had a yummy lunch on Tuesday and breakfast today, provided by the PTA.  Tomorrow is "Note Day" where students are asked to write their teacher a note of appreciation.

2.  Dinner with my family on Monday night.  We went out to a local restaurant to celebrate my brother's 25th birthday.  There was a lot of laughing, and probably a lot of stares from other restaurant patrons due to that laughing!

3. Kindergarten Orientation today and tomorrow.  It was so fun to get to work with the (mostly) cute four and five-year olds who will be in kindergarten next year.  Most were really excited to be at school.  Others were not.  And there were others that we'd wished hadn't come.  I didn't say that, did I?!

4.  The start of my 8K training program.  I ran 3 miles on the track last night!

5. Going to look for new furniture for our almost finished basement.  We're looking for a black leather couch.  Any suggestions on where to look?

Tomorrow is Friday!! WOO!

Wishful Wednesday!

This is my first time participating in Kelsey's Wishful Wednesday.  The topic for this week is...

'I wish' .... I was fluent in another language, in addition to English, and it would be ________!

Spanish.  Definitely Spanish.  As a teacher in a fairly diverse school, I wish I was fluent in Spanish so I could communicate (through coversation and e-mail) with some of my students' parents who only speak Spanish.  Out of my 28 students, three of them have parents who speak very little English.  I feel bad when I have to have an interpreter at conferences or use the Language Line to call home. I avoid e-mail at all costs with those families because my written Spanish is far worse than my speaking/understanding. Clearly, my four years of Spanish in high school and two semesters in college did not stick with me!

 

In which language would you want to be fluent?

Top Two Tuesday!

Today's Top Two Tuesday over at Taylor's blog is "Splurges."

I just had to ask Kurt what he would consider my splurges, because I couldn't really think of any off the top of my head.  He rattled off four in no time! 

Massage Envy!

I got suckered into the Massage Envy membership program.  I went for my initial $49 visit and loved it so much!  After listening to their whole schpeel (is that even really a word?) about the program, I decided to join.  I don't always go every month, but it's so nice to know that I can go when I'm feeling stressed or overwhelmed.  The visits build up over time, so I think I now have three waiting to be used. They also started doing facials, so a couple of times I've used two months visits and had a massage, then a facial.  I really like the massages a lot better than the facials, though.  Much more relaxing, and they don't tell me about the issues my skin is facing as I get older.  That's just what a girl wants to hear, right? Changes in pigmentation and fine lines and wrinkles...they really know how to make a girl feel less stressed!

Fancy cupcakes!

About once a month or so, Kurt will stop and get me a cupcake at one of the many cupcake stores in our area. It's usually on a Friday after a long week.  I recently became a "fan" of one of the stores on Facebook and each day, they tell the "Secret Cupcake of the Day."  The first 100 visitors who ask for the "Secret Cupcake of the Day" by name, get it for free!  My sister-in-law and I took advantage of this on Easter and got the best "Easter Bunny Cream" cupcakes.  At nearly $3.00 per cupcake, these are definitely a special treat and surely a splurge! My favorite?  Plain old yellow cake with vanilla frosting!  I'm also a fan of the almond cake with vanilla frosting, though!

What are your splurges? 

Getting to Know You Sunday!

It's Getting to Know You Sunday over at Mannland5.  Here we go...

Are you superstitious?

Not really.  I do believe that children are crazier when there is a full moon.  Only talking from experience here, people.  (Is that even superstition, though?)

 

If you were an animal..what kind would you be?

I've thought before about what it might be like to be Macey.  When she does something ridiculous, I think, "What the heck is going on in her head?" It might be cool to be her for a day to see what she's thinking when she runs around the backyard in circles like a maniac.  I mean, who can resist this face?

You would never catch me wearing.........?

At this point in my life, a bikini or leggings.  I am just not confident enough in my body (ahem, and a bit out of shape) to be rockin' the bikini.  I'll stick with the tankini.  I've always been pretty modest, though.  And leggings?  I wore then back in 1987 and plan to keep it that way, thank you very much.

 

If someone posts a VLOG..do you watch it?

I've watched a couple of them.  I think I prefer plain old blogs, though.

 

Have you ever waxed your girlie/manly parts..or any other part of your body?

Yeah, a couple times.  I was really nervous the first time, but it ended up being no big deal. I also get my eyebrows waxed.  I've definitely learned that I need to do that at night, or when I'm not going out in public afterwards because I get really, really red.  Embarassing!

Are you a spender or a saver?

Spender.  Good thing Kurt is really good with money!  I have recently paid off my car (a year early) and paid off my student loans.  I think that's pretty successful.  Kurt and I decided that we're going to continue to put the money I used to make my car payment in a separate account each month, so when I'm ready for a new car, we can use that to make a nice down payment.  We're talking at least 2-3 years down the road here.

 

If you were starring in a movie..who would you want to play your leading man/woman?

I'd want Reese Witherspoon to play me. Great actress, classy, pretty.  What more could you want? As for my man...hmmm.  Maybe Ben Affleck.  I feel like he's really changed himself for the better since marrying Jennifer Garner. I wasn't so sure about him during his JLo phase, but now I really like him!

Smoker..never smoked..social smoker..or smoked back in the day?

Nah, never have.  Saw what heavy smoking did to my grandfather and never want to go through what he went through.

 

It's supposed to get downright HOT here on the east coast today!  Stay cool, everyone!

Date Night!

On Wednesday night, I had a date night with my favorite little guy.  He's short and cute with dirty-blond hair.  We went to dinner, pranced in the park, and met up with some friends. Kurt wasn't there, but he was okay with me going out with my guy!

Here's my date!

Kurt's brother came up on Wednesday to go to the hockey game with Kurt.  I convinced him that Jack, his 3-year old, needed a little Aunt Kate time (uhh...maybe Aunt Kate needed a little Jack boy time). 

We dropped Keith off at the metro and were on our way.  First, we went to the mall.  I knew things weren't going to go well from the moment we walked into the mall and saw clowns (yes, plural---not 1, but 2 freaking clowns!) walking around.  Jack's never seen a clown before.  He noticed them when we first arrived, but I didn't make a big deal about it and neither did he.  We ordered our Chick-fil-a (he loves it and so do I...perfect meal for the two of us!) and found a seat at the food court. Things started going down hill from there.  The clowns started walking around.  They came up to us and he jumped out of his seat and into my lap.  I explained to the clowns that he was scared of them, as if it wasn't obvious.  Jack continued eating and wouldn't you know it...the clowns came around again.  Clearly they didn't get it.  This time a melt-down was beginning to brew.  Knowing how swiftly he can swirl into complete melt-down fashion, I quickly packed up the meal and left the food court.

I tried to distract Jack by taking him to the play area, which was far from the food court, but he just wasn't having it.  He kept looking around for the clowns.  Poor little guy!  He was so scared!  I decided it was time for us to leave the mall, but not before he reminded me that I had said he could get a treat (that's what aunts are for, right?!).  We stopped at the candy store and he chose a Ring Pop.  I later found out that he'd never had a Ring Pop before, but he surely knew what to do with it.  Little kids amaze me!

We left the mall and went to a local park where he played and ran around like a crazy man.  A lot of  "Aunt Kate, try to catch me!" was played.  The dude can run!  Then we went over to visit Jenni, Blake, and Sophie.  By the time we got home, he watched a little Calliou (never heard of this guy, but J-man sure knew who he was!) and did bath time, and my little date went to bed.

Lessons learned from Wednesday night:

1.  Most kids do not like clowns.  Chick-fil-a/mall food courts are filled with little kids.  Clowns at Chick-fil-a/mall food courts are not a good idea.  Jack was not the only upset kid I saw that night.

2.  Kids forget things that scare them very quickly, but also remember the things they really like quickly.  Jack never mentioned the clowns later that night, or the next day when his mom and dad asked him about what he did with Aunt Kate (Phew...I didn't scar him for life!).  He did, however, remember where he hid the rest of his Ring Pop and proceeded to find it, and put it in his mouth from the time he woke up in the morning, through their entire 2 1/2 hour drive home.  I may have created a Ring Pop Monster.

What a fun Wednesday night!  I love this little guy!

Who can resist those eyes and that smile!