With the start of school happening faster than you can say fast, we often put off plans for Kevin's birthday.
Both sets of grandparents graciously offered weeks in advance to help with the kids so we could do something to celebrate with just the two of us since date nights happen less than five times a year, and yet we struggled to set a date.
We played around with ideas and eventually settled on Disneyland.
With the kids.
Why would he rather do that than have a romantic date out with his Mrs.???
Because he's the kind of dad who would choose to spend his special day with his clan. He gets the most out the time he spends when we are all together...the 5 of us.
I think one of the lessons we learned through his cancer is that every moment, including days such as birthdays when the self is celebrated, you receive the greatest gift by being focused on those you love the most. Kevin has this skill mastered.
He knows that one day we will have a lot of date nights when they boys are older. We have experienced how quickly time has flown already and we don't want to miss a second of it. For now, late nights watching movies from Blockbuster suit us just fine.
This family time thing...it has some significance. We know it is a gift. To be sure, there were moments of kids fighting, whining, and complaining. There were moments when I glanced at him and questioned, "Are you sure you wanted the whole gang to celebrate your special day with you?"
His answer was sometimes a bit hesitant, but always a "yes."
After our dinner at Rain Forest Cafe, we headed to the entrance of Disneyland where we realized the reason it was so incredibly swamped on the hottest day in 28 years was because it was the 1st day of Halloween at Disneyland. I'm sure they have some catchy Disney way of putting that, but it is late and the creative juices are dry. In case you can't tell, the picture below is a large Minnie Mouse pumpkin. Just imagine you're looking up her nose and it will become clear.
The weekend wrapped up with time in my classroom. I needed to bring Jack with me. He is a tad (a lot) on the wild side and I prefer (plead with Kevin) that he does not join me. So being the responsible and educationally focused mother that I am, I placed him in front of the DVD player. It turns out that letting your 4 year old stay up until 11 p.m. at Disneyland is a great nap inducer.
Kevin took Luke and Charlie to cub scouts later that evening. It is Charlie's 1st year and he's super pumped. You can tell, right?
Jack was teary about not going, so we settled on teaching his animals to play a mean game of Candyland instead. Jack even beat me and I'm not one of those nice moms who lets her kid win.
Hope you had a great weekend, friends!
Much love,
Katie
7 comments:
One of my favorite Mother's Days was when I chose to go to Disneyland. Even though it is on the weekend, it is not crowded on that day, and I got to spend the day with my husband and kids who made me a mother, and we all had a great time! A much more memorable and fun way to make a family memory than going out to a brunch.
I can relate to your husband. I'd so much reather have my husband and boys with me on special days, especially mother's day. I get enough of the little bits of "me time" I need here and there on routine days. My boys start Cub Scouts tonight in a new Pack, it's my little guy's first year too and although he's excited, he'll probably look the same way on the car ride over!
Happy Birthday to your man. He sounds like a keeper.
I've missed visiting your blog... it was a lovely post to return too!
I was never one of those nice let your kids "win" moms either ;)
He's obviously the best dad in the world! I wanna go to Disneyland! Must be so great having it in your backyard.
Happy Belated to your hubby.
what fun! my husband si the same way :) love the class room nap!
that classroom nap picture is adorable! and your husband sounds like the sweetest guy. some of the things you said about him had me close to tears - what wonderful qualities to have in a husband!
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