Best Anniversary Gift Ever

Last night we celebrated our fourteenth wedding anniversary in a very low key way.  We made great burgers and had dinner with the kids.  Then we sent them to bed early and....watched a Red Box movie, Julie & Julia!  The movie was slow and not nearly as funny or foodie as I had hoped, but what I got out of the movie is that both Julie and Julia's husbands wanted them to be happy.  Their husbands simply loved their wives. 

And during one of our intermissions Nathan gave me the greatest gift ever.  He said to me, "Don't worry about what you're going to do after you raise our babies.  I'm not going to look at you one day and say, 'Honey, about time you go get a job.'  I want you to do what makes you happy.  I love it when you write.  I see you getting excited about your story.  I don't want you to worry about if your writing ever makes money.  Just do it for yourself."

He simply loves me.

No Apologies!

WARNING! Some of you will read this and say, "must be rough..." I know this because someone already said that to me this week. So I am starting out this blog by refusing to apologize for my life. I refuse to apologize for the fact that I am a stay-at-home mom, instead of a career mom. I refuse to apologize for homeschooling my kids, instead of sending them to school. I refuse to apologize for having a husband who works from home, instead of spending fifty plus hours a week at work. I refuse to apologize for being over-weight, instead of thin. I refuse to apologize....period.

This has been a typical week for us:

Monday at the beach, with friends.
Tuesday at the river, with friends.
Wednesday, at a friends house for science co-op. (Yes, we are still doing school. At our house we finish the course before moving on and I refuse to apologize.)
Thursday at the park with friends, plus grilling dinner at the park with husbands when they are done with work.

Considering the fact that the kids and I have been using the house as "base camp" this week, it is no wonder that I have had a hard time keeping up with the household chores. Sure I've done some dishes and tossed some laundry in the washer and dryer, but tonight it hit me. Mount St. Laundry is about as big as it gets. I am pretty sure the only clean dishes we have left are the big serving spoons and a few large Tupperware containers. The bathrooms have sand on the floor and my plants are drooping and begging for water. So what do I do? I look at my husband and I say....

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry the laundry is out of control. I'm sorry the kitchen is a disaster. I'm sorry the entryway is piled high with towels and shoes. I'm sorry you've had to take care of the dogs. I'm even sorry I haven't shaved my legs all week. I'm sorry." and he says to me.....

"I'd rather have a girlfriend then a mom."

You see, apparently he's okay with a messy kitchen and having to find his own matching pair of socks sometimes, but he doesn't want us to stop having fun together. And after what we have been through lately that is the best thing I have heard in a long, long time. (Oh, by the way I did shave my legs, but the dishes are still piled to the ceiling!)