Kid-Free Weekend with Netflix

If you follow me on Instagram you know that my wonderful mother offered to take our girls for the weekend to give us a couple of kid-free days before baby brother makes his grand entrance in a few short weeks.

 

To say we are feeling overwhelmed with possibilities would be an understatement! LOL

We have not had a kid-free couple of days ever.

EVER.

My mom took Grace overnight before Avery came along, but Grace was so little we thought one night would be best.  On top of that, Andy was working and studying like a madman so we didn’t really live it up like we are this time around.

But now?

Now we know the gift we’ve been given and we’re soaking it up!

We are also missing our girls like crazy and we keep talking about how eerily quiet and kind of sad the house is without them.

We also keep checking our phones for pics texted from my mom (thanks mom for keeping us updated on all the fun you three are having!).

True story.

When we aren’t missing the girls or looking at pictures of them, we’ve been doing a great job of maximizing our alone time.

On the way home from my mom’s yesterday we went to IKEA alone.  That meant we could linger in each display as long as we wanted.  We could debate ad nauseum about this rug vs that rug without anyone begging to move on.  We could skim right through the kid section without slowing down to allow sufficient playtime.  We could also buy a couple of spontaneous Christmas gifts for the girls :)

We hit up the grocery store after that and bought ingredients for our favorite 7 layer taco dip which we made right away and ate copious amounts of while watching Netflix DURING THE DAY.

Grown up movies before sundown and eating junk food without having to share?!?  Is this heaven?

HAHA.

The house was so quiet and it was so dark outside that we thought it was 10pm when our first movie ended.  Realizing it was only 6:00 and the night was young, we watched another movie!

We started our afternoon by watching Catching Fire.

Both Andy and I read the Hunger Games book trilogy, but we’ve fallen behind in watching the movies.  I love that Netflix has a great variety of new and old movies!  We hunkered down on the couch with our taco dip and really enjoyed this one.  I think the movies have done a good job of capturing the books and this film was no exception.  Not to mention, the scenery was really well done and believable.

Our second movie was kind of a “Let’s see if this one is any good” choice and we were pleasantly surprised by Jobs (a story of Steve Jobs, Apple Computer’s founder).

I was really skeptical about Ashton Kutcher starring as Steve Jobs, but I’ve got to say he did an awesome job!  The opening scene was so realistic I thought it was old footage of the real Steve Jobs right up until the moment Ashton started talking and I recognized his voice.  He really nailed Steve’s vocal inflection, posture, presence and distinctive walk.  It was fascinating to learn more about the man and the story of how Apple computers came to be.  We are die hard Apple fans in this house, and knowing the back story of it all was very cool.

Today after enjoying a peaceful and quiet breakfast alone, we read and napped and then fired up Netflix again!  We just can’t resist watching our own stuff during the day when the girls are normally up and around.

So far we’ve had a marathon session of Parks and Recreation which I shared how much we love in my last post.  We got to the end of season 6 and look forward to watching the final season when it airs on TV.  Or, we may even just wait for it to come to Netflix because we love watching episode after episode on our own terms and commercial free.

Definitely what I love most about Netflix :)

Right now I’m sitting cozy on my couch typing this post while listening to ambient Christmas music and the crackling fire of Netflix’s Fireplace For Your Home.

It turns your TV into a crackling fireplace that actually progressively burns down while it plays.  If you don’t have a fireplace and wish you did, this is a gem!

Don’t knock it for being cheesy until you’ve tried it!  It’s a family favorite over here and I’m a huge fan.

I mean check out this ambiance!

I’m about to wrap up this post and we’ll work on picking our next show or movie to watch.

Thanks Netflix for giving us so many choices from the comfort of our living room!

 

Disclosure: I am a member of the Netflix Stream Team and will be sharing monthly tips and stories about how my family uses Netflix on a regular basis. As a member of the Stream Team I was provided with welcome kit including a voucher to apply towards my Netflix account. I was not otherwise compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.