Adoption, Life, My Not So Empty Nest, Parenting

A Forever Date With Dad

A good friend called to tell me she was going to be alone on Valentine’s Day and wondered if I’d like to be her date. Since Mike and I don’t normally go out on Valentine’s Day, I told her that sounded like fun. To make the deal a little sweeter (get it . . . Valentine’s Day . . . sweeter . . .) she said she’d watch the girls so Mike and I could go on a date on Friday!

I convinced Mike that this would be so perfect for all of us (I have my ways, you just don’t worry about how I did the convincing, alright?), and my gf and I started planning our date. 

Then I had this great idea. Since Mike and I have never really been “Valentine’s Day” kind of peeps, I thought it would be a sweet tradition for him to take the girls out on a date every year for Valentine’s Day.

My idea was that if he starts now, and it’s something they do every year, when they are older and they either don’t have a boyfriend OR some stupid boy has broken their heart, Valentine’s Day will always be special to them because their dad has made it that way. And I suppose when they someday marry and their husband wants to take over the Valentine date, he can. 🙂

Does that make sense?

Mike officially called the girls and asked them out on a date. They were very excited about it, but weren’t really sure what a “date” was.  Zack and Jacob had each taken the girls out on dates before, but that was quite a while ago, so their only frame of reference was that Mom and Dad go on dates and they get left at home. So the idea that they were going on a date with Dad seemed pretty exciting.

Mike took the girls out for a romantic dinner for three at Rudy’s Barbecue (that man knows how to show a girl a good time), followed by a fun evening of toy browsing. Nikki and Shannay love to toy browse and are surprisingly good-natured about not purchasing anything.

I texted Mike in the middle of the date and asked him to be sure and take pictures, because, you know, he’s a dad, and dads don’t always think of those things. He started by sending me these pictures. (I’m guessing that at the moment I texted him they must have already been in the toy store.)

 

 

So then I texted him and said, “LOL. Be sure to take one of all three of you together.” And here’s what I received.
What’s so great about this picture is A. He took it in our garage  B. It’s blurry.   C. He’s clearly having a good time trying to make me happy by taking a picture of the three of them!
At least he tried.
I’m looking forward to seeing the Valentine’s Day Date picture every year and comparing it back to this one.
The next day I asked the girls how their date was and they said, “We just went out to eat and looked at toys. Is that what a date is?” LOL. Their expectations may have been a little high. Welcome to life girls, welcome to life.
All that to say, sometimes I come up with really great ideas for traditions. And sometimes not.  We’ll see which this pans out to be! Hope your Valentine’s Day was just as sweet!

 

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