My Date With a A Hottie

One Valentine's Day when I was teaching at our church's Pre-K, we were going around during circle time talking about all the special things they had done that morning. (I did this every year to steal all the good ideas other moms had!)

One sweet little girl said, "My mom gave me a present. Do you know what it was?"

The little boy sitting next to her exclaimed, "DID YOU GET A STAPLER?!"

It wasn't. She had received a necklace, but the sheer delight over office supplies has always made me laugh. I can certainly relate. I get a little giddy every year when the stores start stocking crayons, glue, scissors, and notebooks. (It's a little annoying that they start stocking them in July and get rid of all the patio furniture in anticipation. Brad and I went on a wild goose chase today looking for patio furniture and came home empty handed.)

This year we actually get to purchase said supplies for something other than our own personal use at home. On the one hand, it makes me little sad that we need to stock up on school supplies, and on the other there's the typical back-to-school excitement I remember experiencing as a child. In honor of this, I planned a Back-To-School Date for Eli and myself.

Now I understand that only a small percentage of people will understand the appeal of such a date. A date including dinner and shopping for school supplies. Carrying our list around Target, looking up items and checking them off as we deposit them in our cart. I was giddy with anticipation.



Eli chose Pei Wei as our dinner destination and we had lovely conversation over our shared Honey Seared Chicken with brown rice. (I found it a little ironic that my fortune cookie fortune read: If you put up with small annoyances, you will gain great results. How fitting for a date with Eli.) Then it was off to Old Navy to see if we could find the perfect pair of socks for the boy. He'll wear anything I set out for him, but we've had a bit of trouble finding socks that weren't too big where the heel came up over where a heel should be or socks too small that slip down into his shoes causing some major melt-downs. I think we may have found some, but I won't be holding my breath. Finally we arrived at the happiest place on Earth. After explaining and re-explaining that no we could not buy Spiderman pencils or dinosaur scissors and that we could only buy packages of 16 Crayola Crayons and not 48 or 120, we filled our cart and crossed off the last item on our list and ended the evening at Marble Slab. I had Double Dark Chocolate with raspberries and Eli had plain Swiss Chocolate. When I asked him why he didn't put M&M's or sprinkles or marshmallows in his ice cream he explained to me that he didn't like anything, anytime, anywhere. Seriously, how can I argue with that?

The evening ended, as all good dates should, with a good-night kiss, and my sweet boy telling me that he loved spending private time with me. Sigh.