It is quiet in this house right now.

Zach is home for his Thanksgiving Break.

Oh yes, he definitely has a real job that takes College-esque breaks.

They have two weeks off for Christmas. Yep. Two. Weeks.

Not that he ever takes that full break, I mean, who can afford that...???

Anyway, he still had to go into work for a little bit this morning, so he took the girls with him! They could not have been more thrilled!! Oh my goodness, this is pretty much the best morning of their little lives.

Well, except for the fact that Scarlett like scratched her eye or something this morning and has been just bursting in to tears with her little eyelids shut tight, screaming, "Mommy! I can't open my eyes!! I can't open my eyes!!!"

First of all, let me tell you there is no more terrifying sound than those words, ok. And I'm not strong in the compassion department, really I think I have a sickness called callousness, but she's so tiny and even though rationally, I know that it's just a scratch and it's probably more irritating than painful, it is so heartbreaking, I can't even explain it!!! It's awful. Those little cries will haunt my nightmares.

Second of all, as soon as they get home, we're going to the doctor. There's not many times, when I call up the old doctor's office and demand to be seen. But I can't listen to that anymore. My baby girl needs help!!!

Anyway, right now, in the house, without the girls and Zach, it's just Stryker and me hanging out. And he is kind of being the cutest, most independent child ever. Without his sisters around, he is just so darn easy. I forgot what it's like to have only one kid. Oh man, what were we thinking????? Lol, that's not entirely true. I really believe for parents, no matter how many kids you have, whether it's one or twenty-one, you're at your limit. When it was just Stella, I felt the same exhaustion, I was at the same level of overwhelming. It's just you adapt and add, and then adapt and add again with each additional child. Your mind gets used to one kind of crazy and then makes room for more. And then we call it life.

Ok, So. Last night, our date night was supposed to be canceled. BUT. A miracle happened. We hired Zach's sister! And can you hear the choir of angels singing The Hallelujah Chorus??? Because I definitely can.

It was one of those easy nights where we basically just asked her to come over after all of the kids were down and sit with them for a couple of hours while we grabbed a late night dinner.

She is living on her own for the first time, and jumped at the chance for some easy cash!

Basically that's what you call a Win-Win my friends.

Zach and I were desperate to get away, I'm not going to lie. I mean, I can't tell you how excited we were for my mom to watch the kids overnight, we were like texting about it and planning it and it took up the majority of our dinner time conversation and seriously, we don't plan anything like that! Ever. We were SO thrilled.

And then poor mom and the flu! She was miserable! We were miserable! That's what you call a Lose-Lose!!!

Just kidding! It wasn't that bad for us, we would have been so more than fine.

But here's the thing. We hadn't been on a date since Halloween.

That's a long time, not to get some alone time.

And in between Halloween and now, there has been a lot of time apart with that Maternity Store Job. So... We just needed to reconnect and have a grown up conversation.

Well, I'm not sure if the grown up conversation happened or not. But we did get away. I mean, seriously, at that point I would have taken just driving somewhere alone with the man. It was just nice to be together and out of the house!

We went to this little wing place. The one, I told you I had the coupon for.... And actually ran into some really good friends of ours!!! And then it turned into a double date and oh my word, it was so fun!!!

And the food was good.

But most importantly, we got to have an amazing time with friends and we were out of the house and even though the kids did not even know we were gone, we knew we were gone. And that was all we needed.

Our friends don't have kids. So they, of course, invited us out tonight with them too. And since we're on a regiment of one date a month apparently...., we didn't even know what to say to that!!! Um, you guys go out two nights in a row? What is this college????

Oh, college, because that was the last time I was not either pregnant or nursing..... Oh and because they're doing Pizza and Pint night and that is something we did religiously every Wednesday night in college. In fact, I feel like it sums up my whole senior year.... Well, parts of it anyway.

Oh well. One day, when I'm forty and all of my children are off to college, unless of course I go the Michelle Duggar route and still happen to be popping out babies at the point, which, let's be honest, there's a good chance I will, but if not.... Zach and I can go out two nights in a row then.

Right...?

If not, I think we'll survive. With nights as fun as last night, I can safely come home to my children, appreciating them again, thankful for the man that I married and looking forward to the next time I have to get out of the house or the vein bulging in my neck might burst, sending a blood clot to my brain where it will inevitably aneurism and I will die.

Or something like that.