Valentine's Dinner with my girls

Yesterday was our very first Valentine's Dinner without Daddy. Although we missed him very much, we had a great time! Here is a photo of my girls!

I am just such a proud Mama at how well mannered Sara (6yrs) was last night. She entertained Josselyn (8mo) while I ate my salad, and again after she was done eating and I was finishing my dinner.

We went to Gambardella's Pasta Bella. I ordered Focaccia Bread for an appetizer. I have always wanted to try it. It was a bit crispy but it IS Fairbanks and probably one of the busiest nights for what few nice restaurants we have here. So, I didn't complain. Sara actually liked the olives on top. Not too surprising since she always seems to want black olives at Subway. Well while we were eating our bread, Sara said, "does daddy like olives? Can we save him some bread?" She was heartbroken when I told her no. But I did tell her that we could maybe come back when daddy gets back. And let me tell you, she may be only 6, but she isn't gonna forget that I said that. I am sure as soon as Josseck gets back, she is gonna be asking to go!

Well after the bread came my salad. We were seated upstairs back in a corner. This is where I had requested to sit because I didn't want the kids, car seat, coats, and diaper bag to be in anyone's way. Well, all of a sudden we heard loud cheering and clapping from downstairs. I looked at the lady across from us, whose hubby had just gone down to the restroom, and said, "must've been a proposal.. guess she said yes." Sara proceeded to ask what a proposal was and I told her it was when someone asks the person they love "will you marry me" and the other person says "yes." Then Sara said "ugh, why did he do that here?! He is supposed to do that at home!" Ha ha, I said, "maybe this was their special place and he had an audience." "What's an audience?" Sara asked. "A crowd of people," I said. Sara then looks at me and says "Momma, why are we sitting all the way up here in a corner?" I explained to her why and then she said "but we are supposed to be sitting downstairs! I would've liked to see that proposal!" What an awesome kid. I love her so much!

Sara ordered the spaghetti with meatball.. yes.. meatBALL. They are quite large! She was so excited about her BIG MEATBALL.. and then asked me to cut it up so she could eat it, lol. I ordered the stuffed flank steak and it was served with the creamiest red mashed potatoes I've eaten in a long time and some pancetta peas. I am not a pea fan and I had actually asked to substitute asparagus instead of the peas. But, the waitress came and said there was a mix-up and Sara's food was ready before mine. So when she came back with both plates, mine with peas instead of asparagus, I felt bad for her. She was running around all night. It was very busy. And I felt horrible having kids at this nice place anyway, even though they were being so good. So, I tried them.. and I liked them! NOT the same as canned peas.. these were fresh.. and made with pancetta! YUMM!

After dinner I told the waitress that I had seen in the paper they were giving free scoop of gelato to military. So, I pulled out my ID and ordered our gelato. Sara ordered dark chocolate turtle and I ordered chocolate peanut butter with toasted coconut. Mine tasted close to eating coconut s'mores and was very good. Well, I was paying attention to the baby and looked up to see Sara scraping the side of her glass with her finger trying to get every last bit of gelato. When I said "no, ma'am. we don't do that" she looked at me with the cutest look and said "but, mom, there is still some chocolate left". I gave her a wipe to clean herself up and politely told her why we aren't supposed to do that at restaurants.

Although Josseck was not here with us, I'd say I still had a pretty amazing night with my girls. Our ticket was only $34 and we have enough left over for 1 1/2 more meals.

FYI.. for all of you on-post dwellers, Gambardella's delivers! And in a timely manner! I think we've gotten delivery from them more than we've actually eaten there!