Kid dates, lady date and a family date

The alternate title of this post is Dates X 3.

Date #1: Kid Dates

In an ongoing attempt to keep our children from killing each other we've been trying to split them up and give them individual parent attention.  This seems to help their emotional well being because they don't have to share us with each other.   More emotional well being equates to less rivalry and less rivalry results in significantly less murder. Someday I'd like to figure out how to take each one out separately but with both parents.  I guess once Elliott is old enough to be left home alone we can do it. 

Saturday mornings seem to be a good time for these dates.  This past weekend was a Daddy/Elliott date,

and a mommy/Spencer date.  And actually, I should tell you that neither kid calls me mommy anymore so I should probably stop calling myself that too.

Spencer and I first headed to TC Eggingtons for breakfast. His choice. We had to wait for 30 minutes for a table because about 9 million people who had just finished Pat's Run showed up right before us.  FYI: Pat’s Run is a 4.2 mile run that raises money for the Pat Tillman Foundation, which invests in military veterans and their spouses through academic scholarships. 

We were quite hungry by the time we got our table, but I guess maybe not as hungry as the people who had run.

Spencer had hot chocolate.

I had coffee. 

Spencer had bacon, eggs, potatoes and toast.

I had a meaty omelette and potatoes.

After breakfast we went to Arizona Mills mall.  We walked through the mall on our way to the movies and stopped in to Black Market Minerals to shop for some rocks.  I bought a salt lamp for Spencer's room.

Then we went to see The Jungle Book.  I took a selfie using selfie mode.

This is what it looks like.

But how creepy is this?  I lightened the picture and we're actually in there.  I seriously gasped and then laughed when we appeared.

We also took a selfie with the forward facing camera so we could use the flash.  It was brighter, but I cut my head off.

While Spencer and I were on our date, Michael and Elliott went out for pancakes,

water play,

and lunch/games at Dave and Buster's.

Date #2: A Lady Date

Shireen hosted my ladies group at her house for our April get-together.

We've been talking about getting group shirts for years and we finally did it.

First we had a baked potato bar.

Then we watched Miss You Already with snacks.

It was the first time since October that we were all together.

Cynthia was taking an action shot of us but Maryellen and I ruined it at the last minute by looking.

Shireen has two new puppies!

When I got home from my lady date Michael was showing the kids videos from when they were both babies.  This is Spencer at about 4 months.  Michael had it hooked up incorrectly so it was black and white.  He fixed it after I took the picture.

I was in no mood for cooking that evening so I put on my new dress that I took from a pile of clothes Lauren was clearing out of her closet, took a picture to text to Lauren,

and took my family on a date to The Waffle House.

Date #3: Family Date

We were the only people there.

You get great service when you're the only customers in a restaurant.

More models and more

Michael's parents spent the night with us on Saturday the 16th.  The next morning we went to breakfast and then took them to look at some model homes.  Some of the homes we had been to before.  Some of them were new for all of us.

Once again I was on the hunt for tile black splashes.

This one was fantastic.  Very shiny and pretty.

Gorgeous shower

Elliott was ready to move it.

I don't like the orange color, but I love how they painted this wall cut-out and then put the iron artwork on top.

I would love to do something similar with our own wall cut-out.  The tiny paintings aren't doing it for me any more.  It's just unfortunate that those metal scroll things are so expensive when they're so big. 

I also loved the stone accents in this house.

We could totally do this in the arch to the dining room.

We went back to the house that has the tiny little door leading to the attic.  The kids want to live in this house just because of this door.

Back at home Michael and his dad finished working on the home projects we had been anticipating for a long time.  I'm going to write a post about all of this, but here is your sneak peak of the cabinets and where we hung a new light.

And a sneak peak of the faucets in the bathroom.

On Monday the 18th I got my new license in the mail.  For confidentiality reasons I can pretty much only show you the picture.  Spencer said I look chubby.

On Tuesday last week I stripped Spencer's bed and threw the sheets on the floor outside of the laundry room.  Ginger found herself a  new spot to cozy up because any fabric on the floor automatically becomes her bed.  I've actually decided that I'm going to throw these sheets away because they are so greasy, but until I actually do it Ginger is welcome to enjoy.

Last Thursday it took me 2.5 hours to drive to work.  It normally takes 25 minutes.  The morons in charge of the Arizona Department of Transportation decided to completely close I-10 during weekday rush hour in order to repair a bridge, so every single car heading south out of town was diverted into a single lane on a two lane highway.  Way to go, AZ. 

I could see my school (it's under the white water tower on the right) for a looooooong time.  I just couldn't get there.  I had to pee so bad I thought I was going to die.  My hands were shaking, my eyes were crying involuntarily and I was drenched in sweat.  It was seriously awful.  I can not overstate how bad it was.

On Friday I took Spencer in for his follow-up appointment with hematology.  This appointment was much, much more timely.  The whole thing took 40 minutes and that included finding out some of the results for blood they took during the appointment.  Based on his draw from March his hemoglobin was still too high,

his erythropoietin was too low and his carboxyhemoglobin was too high.  Those two values contradict each other and are basically impossible. 

So, the hematologist is still not incredibly concerned.  He did take more blood to run a few more tests, but he said we can just call to get the results and we don't have to come back unless these tests come back positive for something or we have new concerns.

I took pictures of the orders because there was no way I could remember.