Eleven Years

Today I celebrated my eleventh wedding anniversary.  It hardly seems possible that I've been married to my high school sweetheart for that long.  But here we are, eleven years and three kids later.  Time sure flies. ;)

I love you so much, Babe.  You're my hero and my best friend.  You're always so patient and loving, even when I'm less than an ideal wife. :}  Thanks for making the last eleven years so wonderful and memorable. :)

I was spoiled this year...we got to celebrate our anniversary two weekends in a row! :)

We knew ahead of time that our actual anniversary weekend was going to be crazy and that our babysitters were not going to be available.  So last weekend, when my sister-in-law (Hubby's sister) and mother-in-law agreed to watch the girls for us, we clicked our heels with glee and sped away quickly before they could change their minds. ;)

Our traditional place to eat for our anniversary is Red Lobster, so of course that's where we decided to go for our early celebration. :)

Our favorite restaurant.  This place holds many memories for us...we even went here together back when we were dating. :)  So many birthdays and anniversaries have been spent here together.  It's our special place. :)

I got my usual meal: Shrimp Your Way with Shrimp Scampi, Popcorn Shrimp, and Garlic Mashed Potatoes.  (I also had a salad and one Cheddar Bay Biscuit).  And just for the record, I did NOT eat all of my popcorn shrimp and for the first time in a long time, I left the restaurant feeling pleasantly filled instead of stuffed.  Yay for me! ;)

After our meal, we walked through the mall a bit and Hubby got me an anniversary present:

The Funko Pop Dr. Whooves figure!! :D

I mean, come on, it's the ultimate crossover...it's basically David Tennant in Pony form.  What's not to love? ;)  (By the way, there will be more pictures to come in a later post.) ;)

I'd been eyeing this guy for a while, so it was so exciting to get to bring him home!  He looks pretty awesome on my My Little Pony shelf. ;)

Hubby and I had a great time together and were so thankful for our impromptu date night. :)

So today, I was invited to participate in a "Doll and Teddy Bear Tea Party" by one of the local doll club members.  The girls and my mom-in-law were invited as well.  I was thrilled that my family would get to meet some of the ladies I've grown so close to in the past several months. :)

When I woke up this morning, these flowers were waiting for me on the kitchen counter.  Hubby bought and arranged them himself and gave me a really sweet card.  He was still asleep when I left (he's worked two 70 hour weeks in a row between his two jobs), so I left my card for him in the same place for him to find when he woke up. :)

The girls each brought their dolls:  Oldest Gal brought her American Girl Elizabeth, Little Gal (in the middle) brought her blonde Alexander Girlz doll Jane, and Middle Gal brought her brunette Alexander Girlz doll Leisel.  (And yes, I should have swept my floor before taking this picture.  Why is it that you never notice the crumbs and stuff on the floor beforehand?) :} 

I brought Hayden with me (along with several other dolls...I'd been asked to speak about some of my play line dolls) and was planning to do this whole clever post about the party with Hayden telling the story.  Yeah, sometimes brilliant plans don't really work out.  We ended up getting to the house an hour early, and since I felt going inside that early wouldn't really follow the rules of etiquette, we drove around for a bit and then parked about half a mile away in the shade of a tree.  Of course, then the truck decided to die on me (battery issues, apparently), and there was no cell service, so Oldest Gal, Little Gal and I walked to the party while Mom and Middle Gal stayed with the truck.  I got to use the house phone to call Hubby and let him know what was going on.  So that was our beginning!!  The party was fun but very busy and crowded, and between supervising the girls and speaking, it just didn't work out to take...um...ANY pictures. :}  Better luck next time, perhaps? :}

Later, we decided to take the girls to our favorite family restaurant, a little Mexican restaurant with very friendly servers who adore our girls. :)  Oldest Gal loves practicing her Spanish with the servers. ;)

I had part of a Tostada (Hubby finished off the last part) that was delicious! :) 

When we got home, the girls spent a bit of time trying to woo the kittens who live next door.  They've been wanting to make friends all summer. :)  If you look closely, you can see the cute little gray and white kitten on top of the little planter on the other side of the fence.  The kitten actually came over and let the girls hold it, so they were over the moon! ;)

All in all, we had a wonderful couple of anniversary weekends.  Nothing overly fancy or spendy, but just right for us. :)  Sometimes the best things about life are its simple pleasures:  food, family, and precious memories. :)  

Well, the kids are in bed, so I suppose I should go spend the last few hours of my anniversary with my Hubby instead of writing about him. ;)  Talk to all of you later! :)