While we were gone

First time Steve has worn KU gear, we were headed to a KU basketball game and our friends insisted he wear appropriate attire.

Steve and I are so thankful for the wonderful people who love on our kids while we have date nights. Being that we do not live near any family to watch the kids while we get time alone, we are so blessed to have a few families who love our kids as if they were their own family. The kids look forward to our date night and often double check that they are staying at our friends home and we are leaving.  As you will see below, they have much more fun without us.

Eating our way through KC

This past weekend Steve and I celebrated 8 years of marriage. Our actual Anniversary was Tuesday the 16th, but we had friends who took our kids overnight, so we enjoyed a little "Stay-cation." I was still recovering from flu like symptoms and it was cold and rainy all weekend, so we are glad we didn't have major plans, we did what I love most, ate out a lot and napped in the cold rain.

Steve was gracious to let me choose where we ate, as he has many more lunch meetings out and gets to eat at his favorite places often, and the kids and I don't have many lunches out at all, and if we do get to treat ourselves out, it is usually Chick-fil-a.

So here are some of my top places to eat in KC (in the order we ate at them).

The Chicken and Asparagus is my favorite 

(Andy's Wok website)

Their Five Star Cheese Pizza on Honey Whole Wheat crust is my absolutely favorite pizza anywhere!

(Minsky's)

Five Star Cheese
International blend of provolone, feta, Monterey Jack, Romano and Swiss cheeses with alfredo sauce, sprinkled with Rosemary

This was the first time we ate here and the following skillet stole my heart and made me want to go back. I even had leftovers the next day and it tasted as good.

(TheEgg&I)

Cambridge Skillet

Diced ham, bacon and hollandaise sauce on a bed of ranch potatoes with melted cheese and two eggs any style. Served with an English muffin. (I substituted for fruit cup)

We had a groupon here and I have been wanting some good old manicotti and they did not disappoint
(Garozzo's) 

 
 
 

 We ended the weekend in the woods hunting together. We didn't see any deer, but it was a beautiful evening and since I haven't been in the woods in almost 3 years with Steve, I know he enjoyed having me there. He knows I won't go out in the cold, so this was probably his last chance to get me out.

Thanks to our friends who watched our kids so we could have some husband and wife time!

Romantic Getaway

Oh how I love time away with my main man. We try to do regular date nights, but we also try to get away for a few nights each year. We so value our time alone as husband and wife. We love our kids but we know that there will come a day when they will leave our home and we want to make sure we still know each other intimately and have passion for our marriage. So we get away.

We had purchased a Groupon for a rustic B&B about an hour from our house. Wednesday late afternoon, we left the kiddos with Mimi K and headed for Circle S Ranch. Our "Romantic Package" included 2 nights, breakfast each morning, a 1 hour massage for each of us, and a picnic lunch. We loved the ranch, it was so private and peaceful. It was a great time of year. (FYI - We did get a heads up that they might be doing another Groupon for the summer, it is a great deal worth watching for).

The Ranch

Our picnic

View from our room, the color was amazing

Sunset view from our window

I loved the rolling hills

7 years down, I look forward to many more

To top it off, we loved coming home yesterday evening to watch the Cardinals take it all! Go Cards!

Loving Fall

We have been eating up this weather, spending as much time outside as we can. I understand better why when we lived in Florida, Steve missed fall.  This past weekend was so nice to be home.

We went and hiked, had a date night,  I had a girls breakfast out, such a pleasant weekend.

Sister wanted to be carried, we laughed because we can imagine Buster running away from us, not wanting to be held back, while sister wants to be nice and close.

Oh my first Pumpkin Spice Latte! I was giddy over the weather, time with family and my fall drink!

Our terrible attempt at a family pic :)

For date night, our sweet friends Dave and Amber watched the kiddos. Steve and I haven't had a date night in about 6 weeks (a really long time for us), since we have been traveling so much. We had a coupon (restaurant.com) where you had to spend a certain amount of money for your coupon to work. Needless to say, it was a lot more food than we needed, it was the family feast for 4-6 people.  I am still eating off some of the leftovers!

My girlfriend Brandie turned 30 last week, so we had a girl date out Saturday morning. We had breakfast and watched a movie. She is ready to have her #2 (a little boy) any day, so we so enjoyed the time away from our kiddos and before little man enters the world. 

Such a restful, family filled weekend!

My piece of Heaven on Earth

While in Florida, Steve and I got to have a date day to good ole' Lake Wales where I went to college. We started out eating at one of the best local BBQ restaurants you will find. I had many meals (mostly because it was one of the few good restaurants in town) and many wonderful conversations at this place. It is completely a hole in the wall, but I love that almost 10 years later, the same servers are there and you run in to people that you know. 

After lunch and cruising around my college, we headed to Bok Towers which is my Heaven on Earth. This is one of the most beautiful places in Florida. In college, I would spend hours alone on a blanket under the huge trees and Spanish moss, soaking up quality time with the Lord. It is one of the most peaceful places for me.

Florida does not have mountains, it barely has hills, but this point is the highest point in peninsula Florida. 

Oh the Spanish Moss!

The walkways are amazing, so is that hot guy who jumped in the picture :)

I couldn't get over the lily pads, and the scrumptious man too

I am so blessed to have him as my life partner and lover

Another view from the top

This is the actual Tower built in the early 1900's

Steve and I had a great day, enjoying each other and nature without the kiddos.

Theater in the Park

It was date night for the Southards last night. Steve let me choose and we went to Theater in the Park (if you live in the KC area, this is a great summer outing) to watch Aida. It was so much fun, a nice change of venue and something fun for the summer. Watching a play/musical was also on my list of 30 before Thirty.  Thanks to our friend Rebecca who came over and watched the kiddos!

When we got home Mr. Southards had an extremely nice gift for me. He has been working on this gift for months and was successful at surprising me with it.  My face hurt from smiling so much with excitement. It was something I have been wanting for years and let's just say it has a nice sparkle to it. Thank you my love :)

Take me out to the ball game

Date night last night for Mr. Southards and myself. It was date night/guys night/erin crash guys night. Steve's buddy had tickets for a few of the guys to go the Royals game. We already had a sitter for date night, one guy couldn't go because his wife had a baby Wednesday, I simply made a suggestion :) and it was a great night at the ballpark! Royals lost and I seem to have a little less heart in it since our buddy was traded before this season, but it is still fun to be at a sporting event, on a beautiful evening, with a stud of a husband and no kiddos :)

Shower and Valentines

Well I have been MIA this past week due to trying to get taxes done and spending time making different things for Hilary's baby shower that happened on Sunday.  The little spare time I had was taken up quickly.

Sunday my neighbor Ashley and I hosted a baby shower for Hilary and her twin girls. Of course the girls weren't there, as they are still in NICU, but we had a great time with neighbors and her church friends.  The girls are doing great. Reese is in an open crib and is to a very low level of oxygen and Ava has had the top off her isolate, so she is sustaining her body temperature well. Her lung development is a little behind Reese's. The girls are in clothes now and are so cute.

Here is a quick shot of me, Hilary and Ashley.

Valentines Day - Steve and I were spoiled to get to go out together. We didn't expect to be able to get away because finding sitters is hard for the day. Our dear friend Kelsey contacted us and said she was off that day (she is a nurse) and would love to watch our kiddos so we could go out.  Her fiance is in Iowa, so she graciously spent the evening with our kiddos. Steve and I grabbed dinner and a movie and had a great night just the two of us. 

The kids and I arrived safely in Florida yesterday evening. The flight went as well as it could for 1 mom with 2 little ones. I was thankful to get here and have that part of the traveling behind me. We look forward to a great week in Florida!

Date Night All Night Long!!!!

The Mr. and I got our first date night since C-man was born. With Payton our first date night was in the first week of her life, she was such an easy baby that we left her with whomever and she was quite content.  Little Man has not been quite as content. We didn't want to scare away anyone who has been gracious enough to watch Payton, loosing our chances for future babysitters. 

In come the Zimmers... Mike and Candice have E-man (Ethan) who is one of Payton's top 5! Ethan was very colicky for the first 4 months of his life, they went through a lot with him. They completely understand a fussy baby. E-man is one of the cutest little guys now, with one of the best smiles I have seen a little kid have.  They graciously brought dinner to us this week and Candice listened to my frustrations (completely understanding) while the kiddos played. They offered for us to have a date night and they would keep both the kids overnight (if we were comfortable with it). That was one of the most gracious offers we have received in a long time. 

I went back and forth whether or not to leave Colton. Payton was a no question, she has had multiple sleepovers before, she was good to go. I completely trust Mike and Candice, I just hated for them to be up all night with little man.  Well, C-man had 2 good nights leading up to last night and I figured we wouldn't have this offer anytime soon, and I really missed time alone with my husband. After discussing it again and making sure our friendship wouldn't be over if they were up all night with a fussy baby, we left both kids and headed out. 

E-man was not about the pictures

He was thinking "Mom, get this lady with the camera out of my face!"

No Florida tans for us, sunshine what?!?!

The lovely couple Mike and Candice

We had a great dinner out at Japanese Restaurant, and headed home to cozy up to watch a movie.  I was so craving some Frozen Custard (even though the temperature was probably in the single digits) but due to my dairy free diet for little man, I settled for some Purple Skittles. When we walked in the house, I soaked in the silence!

Side note here ..... I believe the dairy free diet is helping him BIG TIME. We are on day 4 and I have seen a difference in gas and his contentment.  I am hoping this continues.

It was so wonderful to sleep all night and wake up to our own bodies alarm, not the cries of one of our children.  To me a big splurge is breakfast out. That isn't something we get to do often, so we headed out to Cracker Barrel before picking up the kiddos.

Cracker Barrel Fireplace (Steve makes so much fun of me for the pictures I take for this blog, I see the eyes roll often)

Thank you so much to the Zimmers for the complete night out! That was a gift that was rejuvenating. The good news was Colton was so good. He fell asleep at 9pm (he hasn't gone down that early for us yet) and didn't wake up until 4am, took his bottle and slept until 7:30am. I am so glad they had a great night, he was a content, happy guy and Payton was thrilled to be with E-man. She did not want to leave and is now asking when E-man is going to come to go night-night at Pay Pay's house. I am now more confident to leave them with other sitters, without the fear of losing relationships due to his fussiness.  We are so thankful for wonderful people in our lives.

Have a great Saturday, I am off to nap while the kids are down!