Project 52 Date #26

Words! That was the name of the game for tonight's date. The game was taken from a blog(simplymodernmom.com) and what happens is you're given a word and you have to say the first thing that comes to mind when you see/hear that word. So we were taking turns reading the words out and then both of us would give an answer. Some were pretty dull and some were pretty funny and there were a few that won't end up in print in the off chance you let your children read our blog...And there were a few that we both gave the same answer to(sorta):

Word: Name
Mia: Rose
JT: a rose by any other...

Word: Modern
Mia: Family(tv show we watch)
JT: Family

Word: Movies
Mia: popcorn(we always get a huge tub of buttered popcorn when we watch a flick)
JT: giant popcorn

This was a really easy date as far as prep time and required materials goes. It was simple and there was alot of laughter due to some of the ridiculous answers we were giving and to how different some of ours were from each other.

She says, this was fun and simple and it totally reflects how we think of things. This one reflects how we think so different. We were given a word and I used it as a noun and he used it as a verb.
Store
Mia: groceries
JT: for the winter
Hence most of our miscommunication

But I will leave you with my favorite
Birthday
Mia : Mine
JT: Suit

Love is… Investing in your friendships (Week 26)

Friendship is the most powerful gift you can have, in my opinion. Without it life just wouldn’t be much fun! Who else but a friend is going to laugh at your dorky jokes, cry with you when your heart is broken, and help you pick up the pieces? In high school, investing in your friendship is so easy. You hang out together every day, you spend time together on the weekends, you go shopping, see movies, study. Your life can revolve around your friendships! However as we get older, and life get’s busier it is easy to let your friendships slide. You have a full time job, a
spouse, maybe some kids, and suddenly you don’t have time to chat 24/7 on the phone, or hang out every Friday night! That is when investing in your friendships becomes even more important!

The best way to invest in your friendships is to make time for them, and show up! Make them a priority, it doesn’t have to be a 3 ½ hour phone conversation…. It can be a 20 minute one. Each of you gets to share what’s going on, and you know what is going on in their life, the good and the bad. A text, email or card, just to let them know you are thinking about them! In today’s technological world, there is no reason any true friends should lose contact, as long as both are investing in each other!

Another way is a night out. One of my AMAZING friends organizes a small get together every month for 4 of us girls! She always has such great idea’s and it allows us a time to hang out in our otherwise very busy schedule and catch up with what’s going on in everyone’s lives! She is my hero for organizing those girls nights… without them, I would be lost! I look forward to them every month! Thanks Regina!!!!!

And probably the best way to invest in your friendship is to show up, both for the great things in their life, and for the sad moments. Show up with a smile, some chocolate and a hug when they have broken up with their boyfriend! Show up with a camera, lots of tissues (just in case) and tons of happiness when they are getting married! Be there to let them know you treasure them, and are there whenever they need you for whatever the occasion!

I’ve been blessed with some pretty amazing friendships! They have shown up and taken care of me in the worst of times, built me up in the times that I doubted myself, and celebrated all the wonderful occasions in my life! I rest assured knowing that most of them I will keep, because they invest in me, and I try my best to invest in them!

““A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults.” Charles Kingsley

- Barbie

Project 52 Date #25

Tonight's date was really fun. It was doing a toy model TOGETHER. So I was so happy to draw this date out of the jar because I had already bought a toy police car model with the thoughts of doing this some time in the future, so this was perfect!!! So I got out our favorite drinks and set up the table for the model. The one rule was that we had to do it TOGETHER. Not one person do one part and another person do the other..... one person had to read the instructions and the other had to complete the instructions. This turned out easier then I thought and soon enough we had a cute little police car. Please excuse the photo, JT wanted to do something different :)


He says: Tonight's date night was something new. we actually completed working on something together without a squabble ensuing. Normally what happens is we get into a spat because I have certain ways I like to do things and I usually like to do them by myself, also Mia and I are both rather stout type A personality people. BUT NOT THIS TIME! I had alot of fun with it and we had fun putting the model together. And maybe Mia learned some stuff about police cars...she keeps asking but I'm not letting her drive mine....Our model turned out pretty sharp, we had fun putting together something together, and yeah the picture was my idea cuz I was tired of the same old ""here's the two of us sitting next to each other all happy after our date". So I hope you enjoy our model and our crazy eyeballs!

Love is… in a father’s eyes (Week 25)

Have you ever looked past the groom, and bride at a wedding and look at the father as he gives his daughter away…? Or seen the look in a new dad’s eyes as he stares down at his newborn baby for the first time. Dads, simply put, are amazing. They have a capacity to love in a way that no other can. I am a self proclaimed Daddy’s girl, and I can tell you that my daddy was/is my hero. He is always there…
whether it be waiting down the hall while I gave birth to my first child, or refereeing my first softball game. He found ways to lift me up, but keep me grounded in reality. He was/is always there telling me how proud he was of me, and he has been there through the roughest days in my life. Yes, my dad is one of my biggest support systems.

My little girl has a pretty amazing daddy too! She has him completely wrapped around her finger, and when he walks in the room you should see the way her eyes light up and she dances across the room to him! His love for her runs deep. He is going to be a dad that is always there, supporting her, loving her, and being her biggest fan. She is lucky to have him, as are all kids who have an amazing father in our
lives.

But there is another Father we must not forget about! We may not be able to see His eyes, but we can rest assured that He loves us more than ANYTHING! He gave His only son for us. He thought of us before our parent’s parents were even alive! God is our Heavenly Father! His love far surpasses any other fathers love (and having watched some pretty amazing dad’s around me that blows my mind). He wants us to know Him, to search for His face, and for His designs for our life! If we would only just rely on Him we could move mountains, and reach way beyond what we believe our potential is. So as we pass a holiday that we celebrate all fathers, I want to take a moment to turn my eyes upward, and search for His loving gaze! I know He is smiling down on us, loving us for who we are (both the good and the bad) and cheering us on to accomplish all that He knows we can do in our lives!

Project 52 Date #24

This post is a little late but this was our Sunday night date

We all have fanciful dreams about things we would like to do someday right? Climb Mt. Everest, write a sonnet, save a damsel in distress? We all have those aspirations but do we ever write them down and make them a true goal? Tonight's date night was to create a "Bucket List" over two cups of hot chocolate! Well obviously it's been too hot here for the chocolate so we opted for huge root beer floats instead. and yes "Bucket List" as in things you want to do before you kick the bucket. We came up with some pretty interesting stuff. I actually had kind of a hard time coming up with things. Mia on the other had was off to the races and covered one side and almost the other side of her piece of paper. It was interesting to see some of the things we listed. Several were things we had done but not with each other before. It was a very simple date but alot of fun to see what kind of adventures we might be attempting together sometime in the future!

She says: Buckets lists are something I always wanted to do, so this was exciting for me, but its not something that you can come up with, within one night. So I started writing away and decided to look up on the Internet what other peoples buckets lists were, and that's were I got a majority of my ideas. JT wasn't to keen on me "cheating" but all the other lists reminded me of things that I wanted to do but haven't thought about in years! So this was alot of fun for me and I really enjoyed making my list and re motivating myself to do some stuff for me :)

Love is ...always there (Week 24)

Love is …always there

It’s easy to see that love is in the good times! When a new baby is born, and friends and family flock to the new family, showering them with support (and often food! ) love is there. At a wedding love is there as we all gather to celebrate the new marriage by dancing, smiling, and supporting the new couple! When someone gets a promotion, has a birthday, or has a similar good experience love is there, giving a
high five, a birthday card, or just a simple smile! Yes, it is easy to see love in the good times!

Love is also in the everyday things. When your baby looks up at you with love in his/her eyes, and tells you how much they care. Love is when you hang out with your friends, and it is filled with laughter and great conversation. When a project goes well at work, and your boss takes the time to let you know they appreciate your hard work! You move across country, and just when you need it most you get a call
from a friend, or a card! Yep, love is definitely in the everyday things.

But sometimes life goes wrong, a tragedy happens, and you’re scared, heartbroken and you wonder where love is. That’s when love can show up in the most amazing ways. I am constantly amazed at how strong love shows up, when things are bad. Those that love you circle the wagons, and protect, and care for those that are hurt. I have seen prayer warriors’ staying up to all hours to hold a prayer night asking
God for a miracle only He can pull off. Witnessed friends step up and take kids for multiple days while one spouse cares for another spouse. Friends sitting with a mom and a sick child at a hospital, to show them that they are not alone! Love is supporting each other, lifting each other up, and being there to catch them when they have fallen to rock bottom. Love is there in the arms of a friend as you cry on
their shoulder, and express how much you hurt. Love is there sitting at a funeral, crying with you, and love is there even when you can’t see it.

Yes, I am sure love is always there!

Project 52 Date #23

So this date was to enjoy our entire meal while being blindfolded.


This week we have been trying to eat what is in the fridge as we are going out of town for student camp this week and don't want to come back to a fridge full of bad food. So I actually had to try to come up with an idea of having ready made stuff that was fun to eat too. I went to HEB and found that they have these new things called ready made meals. So I picked up three of them, Flounder, Spaghetti and Meatballs and Chicken Parmesan. I let JT choose what he wanted for dinner (personally I thought Spaghetti would be funny) but of course he went with the flounder. So I cooked up our meals, set the table and brought him in blind folded.
Good Parts: He LOVED his dinner, no drinks were spilled and we had a great conversation while eating
Bad Parts: I can't stand the smell of fishy fish, so his dinner made me loose my appetite, but he didn't know it until the blindfolds were off :)
Overall: Great dinner and Wonderful conversation and a little bit of hide and seek with the food made for our own amusement

He says:
I'm a big fat cheater! So about half way through the meal my blindfold came up just enough to see a corner of my plate..and well the rest is history and a clean plate...This was alot of fun actually and not at all easy. At one point Mia tried to give me a bite of her chicken and reached over and stuck a forkful of chicken right into the side of my face. It was pretty hilarious as you can imagine. Lucky for me I didn't have to reciprocate(for once I was grateful she doesn't like fish) because that could have had disastrous results. I'd like to keep my wife, fork stab wound free thank you very much. A funny date and well planned by my lovely wif, and great meal to boot!

Love is . . . sacrifice (week 23)

Memorial Day just passed, and I can’t think of a better time to give a shout out to all our military! I am not in the military, and neither is any of my immediate family, but I have witnessed many families around me sacrificing for our country. I have watched mothers be separated from their children, fathers facing being deployed for their child’s birth, and most of that child’s first year, friends who have been
separated from their spouses, and families grieving as their brother, son, friend has paid the ultimate price. There are no words I can say, or actions I can take to express how deeply my gratitude goes both to the one actually serving, and to their family. These men and women are keeping us and our country safe. They don’t receive the respect, or paycheck they deserve, and they recently faced going without pay while our government tried to figure out a way to fix our budget crisis (and let me go on record as saying that even considering not paying our military is absolutely atrocious). All I can do is give them my respect, and make sure I take a moment to say thank you.

So thank you! Thank you for your sacrifice, your love of country, and your willingness to put yourself in harm’s way for our country. I try and say thank you whenever I can, and as often as I can, but I know I fail in giving them the respect they so deserve on a daily basis! But we (my husband and I) do try…

The day after Memorial Day my husband and I were traveling back from a family vacation. While in the DFW airport you see many service men and women traveling. While stopping to eat some lunch at a restaurant we had a chance to give our thanks anonymously (which truly is the best way to give in my opinion). We were blessed to be able to buy 2 tables of military men’s lunch. I don’t know their story, I don’t know whether they were heading home, or out to the front lines, but I hope I was able to give them a little bit of encouragement. I hope we let them know that our country stands behind them, and truly appreciate all they sacrifice for us. Their courage and willingness to answer the call of duty is what love is all about!

Project 52 Date #22 Cinemariffic!

As in the cinema, as in the movies! So this weeks date was a trip to the movies sans a baby! So we decided on Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End after much debate. We grabbed a BIG popcorn and a couple of amazing 1/4 Angus hotdogs and got our seats. Now Mia and I have this Siskel and Ebert kinda movie rating thing with the previews that she started doing with her dad a long time ago. I always forget through the first preview and have to be reminded with a big ole PSSSSttt and a couple thumbs up or down after the clip. Couple good previews out there, so we might do this date again
The movie ended up being really good, far better than the one before it in my opinion. But I'll never look at mermaids the same way again...or maybe I'll always look at mermaids...see the movie and you'll get my drift...Anywho, the date was kinda the traditional movie date as far as date's go but we always love splitting a huge tub of buttery goodness popcorn and I think the 1/4 pounder hotdogs are going on the list too now. Doesn't get much better than a hot chic, a good flick, and a couple of dogs...

Mia Says: Our date didn't originally go as planned, so we went to plan B and caught up on a movie! We have been really good about doing things that don't revolve around the TV and movies so it was nice to do the generic date thing! Great movie and even better company and of course a wonderful on call babysitter!!

Love is . . . from a child’s point of view (Week 22)

To kick off my part of the “Love is…” Series, and to finish off my school year I decided to ask my 5/6 year old students what love was to them. Someone once said “When we try and teach our children about life, our children teach us what life is all about”, so I wanted to know what love meant to them. The answers I received were both insightful and funny! I read them and couldn’t help but smile! Ask the kids around you and find out what love is to them! I guarantee you will smile!

Spending time with your mom and her caring for me.

When you love someone so much you want to stay with them always… even when they get old and smelly.

When your mom can’t stop kissing you.

Giving someone flowers

When you give someone lots of hugs

When your mom and dad are proud of you always

When you take care of someone by tucking them in at night

When you clean for your mom.

Watching a tv show you don’t really like because your dad likes it

Protecting someone by going in to the army.

When your mom reads you a bedtime story

When daddy plays tea party with me.

Letting my little brother sit with me when he is scared

When my teacher tells us she loves us, even when we get our clip moved.

Chocolate cookies in my lunch box!

Letting mommy and daddy sleep in on the weekends.

Not letting anyone pick on my baby sister

When your teacher or mommy drops everything and comes running when she thinks someone
is hurt or sad.

When your mommy tells your daddy he smells good, even when he is all gross from cutting the grass.

Important… ya know, without it my heart would be sad.

When you can’t stop smiling when you see someone…. I think your heart and your smile are attached!

As I read it, I realized the kids found love in the little things in day to day life…Reading a story, cookies, tea party, and being there no matter what. I think that’s what love is. Love is the little things! Hope you enjoyed these as much as I did.
- Barbie