Birthdays, Bubble Baths and Basketball

Today is my husband's birthday!  My sister offered to watch our clan while I took him out for dinner and some shopping.  With four kiddos, we don't have this time alone very often and we snatch it up when we do!

She lives in the town where we went to school.  I enjoy returning for visits, seeing the things that have changed, etc.  We dropped off the kids and listened as the girls chose their nail polish colors and the boys talked about which basketball games they were going to watch.  Everyone was content so off we went!

Our first stop was an antiques mall.  We toured the aisles and my husband found two Star Wars pieces that he wanted for his collection (yes, he collects toys!) and used his birthday money to buy them.  We caught glimpses of toys we had as children, we drooled over beautifully redone dressers that we would love to get for our girls if we had the bedroom space (someday...) and we did our fair share of people watching. We did a bit of clothing shopping and bought our son's birthday gift for next weekend.  We took the car for a bath at the local car wash (which is owned by an old friend from high school) and finally we wound up at the steakhouse, which was the intended goal.

My husband is a steak lover.  I am not.  Not even close.  Needless to say, I'm not a steak maker either.  I love to cook but that's not my area!  For his birthday, I figured he'd enjoy this treat.  We had a lovely meal, saw friends of my parents that I haven't seen in years, and walked out absolutely stuffed silly.

We waddled to the car and talked about what didn't happen during dinner.

We didn't have to refill anyone's cup.
We didn't have to clean up any spills.
We didn't have to cut anyone else's food.
We didn't have to tell anyone to turn around, sit down, chew with their mouth closed even once.

We talked about what did happen during dinner.

We ate.
We talked without interruption.
We sat.
We took our time.
We enjoyed.

It was a great day!  I got some cute pictures of pink and purple and blue finger nails and girlies who were chin deep in bubble baths and giggles and a boy who was lounging in the man cave in front of a big screen basketball game.  I had a nice dinner with my husband.  He had a nice birthday. 

I'm calling this day a win for everyone!