Our Friday the 13th Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday my husband Steve and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. Honestly saying that we have been married for 13 years makes me feel so old - especially when I think that we have been a couple of 20 years. Steve and I first met when I was only 15 years old. We first met at the McDonald's at South Coast Plaza (hence where my email address came from).

Before we had children we would have the most romantic anniversaries. We would go dine at a romantic restaurant or have a lovely meal at home by candle light. Now that we have three kids the way we celebrate has changed so much. Our 13th wedding anniversary was more like Friday the 13th.

We were planning to attend a pre-screening of African Cats in Burbank last night with the kids. It was the perfect opportunity to have a fun dinner in LA followed by a quiet evening in the theatre.

For the first time I attempted to take a nap with Tyler so I would not have any dark circles be all rested for our exciting night. During that hour I got woken up by the UPS driver, the FedEx driver, one of Andrew's friends who needed to see Andrew's vocabulary words and a neighbor who had to complain that our porch light that we have had for three years was now just a too bright for her to sleep at night.

With no nap we headed out for our family night on the town!

After about an hour on the parking lot freeway filled with complaining children, flying goldfish and a flying sippy cup slapped up the side of Steve's head. We decided it was not worth the three hour drive. We headed into Steve's favorite restaurant The Cheesecake Factory. We were seated right away and the evening already seemed promising to be a fantastic dinner.

The dinner was filled with arguing kids over who was taking the most bread, Tyler spilling his food all over me,  and Andrew crying from his chest pains because he snuck a piece of Ella's chicken. It was so romantic that I found myself wanting to run away and hide. Actually I did try and run away - but the kids were right behind me on my dash to hide in the bathroom stall. So I spent my five minutes of quiet that I so despartely needed in the bathroom listening to one of my kids reminding me about everything he needed for his field trip the next day.

We both went to bed with a headache laughing about how it was possible for some many things to go wrong in one night. Steve and I decided that there is no point in celebrating our anniversary again until the kids have grown and are off to college. Next year we will celebrate at Chuck E Cheese where the kids can run and play while we enjoy a romantic dinner over sugary pizza and dance with a singing mouse.