The Cheesecake Factory

*I'm giving a fair warning now that all the pics were taken from my husband's phone and they leave much to be desired.

For our anniversary my husband and I went out to dinner last Saturday night. We had a difference of opinions on where to go, but my sweet husband gave me the final choice.

I ,of course, chose The Cheesecake Factory. We had never been there (I know we're lame) and I've been hearing about this place for the past 5 years or so. Let me just tell you it did not disappoint.

The one near us is attached to a mall. Since it was a Saturday night, it was hopping. We had a good 35-45 minute wait. So while we were waiting, we walked outside where a live band was playing.

 All I will say about them is that they were playing. :/ We got the most entertainment watching people walk by stop and dance, especially little kids.

And when no one was dancing, we took a dozen or so pictures of ourselves to occupy us.

Once we finally got in and were seated, we got to take a good look around. Overall I thought it was quite nice, though there were a few decorations I found to be a little odd.

Like these mermaids floating around on the ceiling. What do mermaids have to do with cheesecakes?

For an appetizer we ordered a caesar salad to share. When our waitor brought it to us, he said it was the smallest one they had.

I don't think this picture does it justice, it was huge. I don't think we even finished it.

I ordered the Five Cheese Pasta with chicken. When it came out my husband said it looked like they threw 4 cans of Chef Boyardee in a bowl.

I hate to say it tasted like it too. This was the only downside of the night.

My husband is a guy's guy. So what did he order? Of course a steak with not only french fries, but french fries topped with onion rings.

I have to say, that steak was delicious. It was so juicy and tender. And those fries? Don't even get me started on those fries. I swear I would go back just to order a plate of those fries, they were so good.

My husband, being the gentleman, switched plates with me and let me eat the majority of his fries. He tried eatting some of my pasta, but we ended up getting a box for it.

 When it came time for dessert, we were both pretty full. But we said there was no way were going to come to The Cheesecake Factory and not try one of their cheesecakes. We decided to share one, but we didn't exactly agree on what to get either. What we finally ended up agreeing on was the Chocolate Tuxedo Cream Cheesecake.

Half way through it my husband says, "We forgot to take a picture!" Yeah, it was that good. Pure yumminess.

Overall, it was a really great night and I so enjoyed spending some quailty time with my hubby. Happy 5th to us!

InstaFriday

Linkin up with LifeRearranged again.

The other day Nicholas was playing with one of his Hot Wheels tracks that he got for Christmas.

Little did he know, Neelix was laying in wait.

And when the perfect opportunity arrived, he would spring into action. It was quite comical to watch.

While Daddy was checking this tires of his car, Nicholas was trying to check out the engine.

Today is our 5th anniversary. Really, where does time go? Hubby surprised me last night when he got home from work with my favorite flower in my favorite color. Purple tulips.

He also surprised me with a little desert. We are going out tomorrow night for dinner. And if all goes as planned, we are planning a weekend getaway in the begnning of March. I'm really looking forward to it.

All Boy

Rick was doing some work on his car today. So while Ben was taking a nap, Nicholas and I went outside to keep Daddy company.

Whatcha doing?

Love this face. lol

He kept going...

and going...

and going...

and going.

My silly, all boy Nicholas.

In honor of Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

First InstaFriday

One of my favorite blogs has a weekly Friday ritual of posting pics from your cell phone of your week. I shockingly do not own a cell phone. How is that even possible, right? Well, back when we had 1 kid, 1 car, and I was always home, it was quite easy. In fact I had a cell phone but quite literally never used it, so we had it turned off. Now with 2 kids, 2 vehicles, and me always on the go, I'm in much need of one. I think I see one in my near future.

Anyways, I'm cheating a little and using pics I got from my handy, dandy camera. Which I then uploaded to photobucket and did some magic with. So here is my week in pics aka my first InstaFriday.

This is only a fraction of the aftermath Ben made with the chocolate cake. After he finished eatting, I took him into the bathroom and told him to look in the mirror. His reaction was priceless. He gasped and had this shocked look on his face like, "What happened?" I couldn't help but to burst out laughing.

I asked Nicholas to show me his eye to see how much better it had gotten. This is the face I got. Silly boy. His eye is actually a lot better already. By the time he had gone to bed last night, it was really red and puffy. Then this morning he woke up and it was almost back to normal.



It got a little chilly this week. Even Neelix got under the covers to warm up.

This pic cracks me up. I was trying to get a pic of what his hair looks like after a bath. I don't know what was up with this face.

I really do love his hair. He'll be 3 in June and I have yet to cut his hair. Everyone always asks when we are going to, but I just can't bring myself to do it. It is so fine and so soft. I often find myself petting his head. Maybe if it gets too out of control I'll consider having it trimmed.

2 down, 2 to go

There has been several posts floating in my head this past week or so that I've been meaning to write out, but I never got around to it. Partly because I've been dealing with some sick kiddos.

Nicholas woke up yesterday morning and I noticed one of his eyes was red. I suspected it was pink eye, but  prayed it wasn't. After talking it over with Rick, we decided to put some Visine drops in his eye and let him go to school.  By the time he came home, it was no better. I called his Dr's office trying to get him in, but they didn't have anything available until today. Hindsight, I should have just kept him home and called the Dr that morning. But isn't everything different in hindsight?

                                    

The Dr's office was quite eventful. While we were in the "sick" kids waiting room, there was a guy waiting with his son. The 2 boys were talking a little bit and starting to play together. That all changed when the guy asked what was going on with Nicholas's eye and I told him we suspected pink eye. Nicholas all of sudden became a leper. I can't say I blame him, I wouldn't want my kids exposed to something so contagious.

To top it off, when we got to the Dr's office I noticed Ben was a little warm. By the time we were called and got back to the room, he was burning up. Now I have 2 sick kids, but what better place to get sick than a Dr's office?

We ended up seeing a Nurse Practioner who said Nicholas definitely had pink eye. I told her he had also been complaining of a sore throat. After checking it out, she said it was quite red and wanted to run a test for strep. She said if it came back positive, we would have to check Ben in and test him. Thankfully, it came back negative. Though she did say there was still a chance it could be strep. We have to watch the boys for the next 72 hrs and if they weren't any better, we have to bring them back in.

When we got home Ben wanted to do nothing but sleep. I put him down and he was out for 3 hrs. He could have sleeped longer, but I wanted to get something in him considering he didn't eat lunch.

So at the moment both kids are sick and both Rick and I are ok. I'm praying we don't catch anything. Otherwise it's 2 down, 2 to go.

Love my Ben-a-min

Resolutions

It's the beginning of a new year and it's resolution time. I'm not big on making resolutions, partly because I never carry them out. But if I had to make at least one it would be to keep this blog up finally. I wasn't crazy with my blog title nor the look of my blog before. I figured if I'm going to keep this up, I needed to make it MY space.  So I gave it a new name, a new look, and even a new sound. I am really liking it so far. I want to play around with it some more and see what I else I can do with it. But in the mean time lemon drops are calling.