Cinco for Cinco de Mayo

We celebrated 5 years of marriage this past week, on May 5th to be exact and thanks to the help of a lovely young lady, Branden and I were able to get away for a night. Erica is home from college for the summer and very kindly babysat for us for about 30 hours. We only went about an hour away, up to Fresno, but it was great to just be alone, to hear ourselves think and be able to get through entire sentences uninterrupted. :)

I think the kids had a fabulous time with Erica and she thought Nora was funny enough to write down some of her expressions. (That's a babysitter who is definitely winning major points with me. ) I thought I'd share what she wrote: (and these are exact quotes from Nora)

At bedtime: "My Mommy lets me go to bed at 10 o'clock. Did she not mention that?"

When drinking her milk: "We have twisty straws...but my mom hides them well."

"When I'm grown up, will you babysit my kids?"

And after carrying away some of the babysitter's stuff: "let me tell you why I moved your bag...when I do it will all make sense."

And here are some quotes from today, just for fun: Singing to herself in the backyard, "Heavenly Father...I love you...much more than my parents."

I think that's a good thing, right? :)

Then at dinner time, Nora said the prayer, "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for everything, Amen." I told her afterward it would be nice if she thanked Him for the food. "But Mom, I SAID thank you for everything!"

After explaining a little more about how Heavenly Father likes to hear about details, she tried it again. "Thank you for the day, thank you for the food..." At this point Branden tries to point to me, indicating she should say thank you for Mommy (because its Mothers Day), but she gets a very confused look on her face, and obviously must think he is pointing to something past me, because she then says, "thank you for the desk?" :)

Anyway, it really was so nice to get away even if it was a little weird to leave the kids overnight with a non-family member for the first time. Erica seemed in good spirits by the end of it all, so I'm glad this experience didn't make her want to postpone having children for a decade or anything. :)

And happy anniversary, Branden - They have been the happiest, most contented 5 years of my life!