Saturday, March 20, 2010

DATE NIGHT

Yesterday I left THIS cute boy...

To go on a date with THIS cute boy.
It's been awhile.  Maybe a few months even.  I spontaneously stopped at the Outlets on the way home and picked me up a sassy new outfit...because I could.  I love surprising Steve.  When I got home, he greeted me with his infamous BEAR hugs.  How I love his hugs.  I told him we were going out.  He was giddy.  I snuck upstairs and got dressed.  I came down and the house went wild.  "WOW" they all said.  "Where'd THAT come from?" asks Steve.  I tell him I've had it for forever and blow it off like it was nothing.  (that's my favorite answer to that question...makes Steve laugh everytime)  Stevie spotted the tag hanging out the back that I forgot to cut off.  "It's BRAND NEW!" she tells me.  Darn, she's smart.  ;)  Steve was feeling a little under-dressed and left in a hurry to go change.  We kissed the kids goodbye and headed out for date night.  Fratello's.  It's my favorite local restaurant.  We happened to have a $50 gift card, even better.  Paul Warnick was there.  He's a music/band teacher at my children's middle school and an EXCELLENT performer.  I love to hear him sing/perform.  He was playing at Fratello's that night.  Even BETTER!  While we were sitting at dinner, talking about the past week as single parent's...trying to catch the other one up on the other half of the family, Paul walks over to see us.  He proceeds to tell Steve and I how much he LOVES having Stevie in band.  You see...she's a music nut.  I started her in piano a few years ago.  (like the rest of my kids)  She's loved it the most.  She would have me give her a lesson daily vs. weekly if I gave in.  She could be a lot better if I were more diligent in teaching her.  Last year she was allowed to start playing an instrument at school.  I had the flute and clarinet lying around but she wanted to play trombone.  Thankfully my mom had one of those lying around.  She excelled.  This year she's not only playing band for HER grade, but also SIXTH grade.  A few weeks ago she snuck the clarinet out my door and to school.  She's been wanting to play that too.  I told her no.  Mostly because I didn't think she'd be allowed to play two instruments.  Paul told us about how she forgot her trombone instrument for her lessons one day but she mentioned that she had a clarinet and told him she knew how to play it.  He of course was skeptical, gave her a book and sent her to a practice room to try it out while he finished trombone lessons with the other kids.  30 minutes later he came back to check on her...thinking she might be able to figure out the first few songs in the book.  She was already HALF.WAY.THROUGH the book at that point and played the songs better than some of his students that have been playing for a couple years.  From that day on she continues to attend her trombone lessons after school on Monday's and now attends clarinet lessons before school on Wednesday's.  BUT...in band class?  She plays BOTH.  He says she faithfully sets out both instruments in front of her at the beginning of class and when Paul works with the brass section, she's picks up her trombone and when he works with the wood wind section, out comes the clarinet.  He LOVES it.  Thinks it's so cool.  Remember the flute that I mentioned we had sitting around?  It's no longer sitting around.  This child has a serious musical drive.  I'm thinking I might have to hide Kaleb's trumpet that's now sitting dormant or else she might start to overwhelm her band teacher. We left with full bellies and full hearts.  It's always nice to witness success in your children's lives.  We spent the rest of the night socializing with some dear friends and fell into bed exhausted.  Today I made the long drive back to be with Benjamin.  Back to our second home.

14 comments:

Eleyna Julia said...

Yea! I'm so glad you had a fun night out. I can't think of a lady that deserves it more. Sure love you!

Joy said...

Glad you had a hot date with your hubby and glad you picked up a new sassy outfit...every wife and mother needs to do that every now and then!!

Smilin' sunshine said...

Where is a picture of your old outfit? the one that still has the tags on it?!
Hooray for date nights! You deserved it!

Junior said...

So happy to hear you had a great date night. You sure deserved it.

LL said...

GOOD FOR YOU!!!!
much deserved. glad you guys had a good time!

LL said...

BTW, STEVIE ROCKS!!!! good for her.

April said...

Oh I'm so glad you were able to go out with your hubby with new outfit to boot!
And WOW! Way to go Stevie! What talent!!

Jo Jo said...

Hey, looking for pictures! How can you post sassy and not having anything to back it up? And Stevie, she's just driven. She's an exceller she is. What a multi tasker. How nice your teacher appreciates her many talents! That's what happens when you don't get plugged into electronics.

troutdalite said...

Hooray for new clothes, date nights, complimentary teachers and dedicated moms!!!

ANewKindOfPerfect said...

Seriously, where's the picture of you Miss Sassy?? :) We need to live vicariously through you!

I'm glad you got away for a night. That's so important! We don't do that nearly enough.

As for Stevie, she's amazing! I was sooo musical in school. By the time I graduated high school i could play flute, clarinet, sax, trumpet, and drums. I was in the high school band as a junior high kid, because the junior high band was too easy. I did marching band, jazz band, and drum line. I think my most favorite was drum line. I love that Stevie is so multi-talented!! :)

Unknown said...

Sarah read your blog ahead of me, and was talking about it at the dinner table. When she got to the part about you hiding Bubby's trumpet, Mason piped in and said "I'll find that trumpet for Bubby!" I think Bubby walks on water in Mason's eyes.

shirlgirl said...

What a wonderful post!! So glad you and Steve had such an awesome date night. I'm sure it was great just to be together and catch up on life. Love all the info about Stevie and her musical talents. All I can say is WOW!! Stevie, you are an awesome niece! Lots of love to all of you. Aunt Shirley and Uncle David

Tara Bennett said...

How did I miss this post? Oh yes, I've been a blog slacker.

I'm SO glad you had a date in a new outfit at a cool restaurant with live music. What is it about live music that makes food taste better? I don't know but I love it!

Amy M. said...

What a great date night.
And Stevie sounds amazing- what a talent.