Approaching twelve years

Thad and I are celebrating our TWELVE year anniversary on Saturday, May 22. I can't believe we have been together for over half my life. And, guess what? We are actually going to celebrate it this year. After debating which fancy restaurant we should go to, he took the advice of some girls at the Ortho's office. So Norman's it is. I will let you know about the food.
Some things I have learned along the way that keep us happy (most of the time):

1. We are best friends. BUT, that doesn't mean that my husband has replaced my girl friends. Girl time is important. I am pretty bad at this, but at least we keep up via email, blogging, deep conversations, and facebook.
2. Just because we agreed to be together for life doesn't mean that we have to be together nonstop. We both wind down differently at night. Usually that means we aren't even in the same room. We make an effort, but for the first seven years of marriage, I was alone most nights, so we respect one anothers' routines.
3. We each have our separate hobbies that keep us individually happy. He loves to golf. I love to....go to Target & workout at Healthpros.
4. I am more outgoing than Thad, but overall, Thad is more social (if that makes any sense). He enjoys going out, staying out late, having adult beverages with friends, and pretty much any social scene. I am the early to leave type. Just because it works for him and it's not my thing doesn't mean that he gets angry if I choose to stay home or he chooses to stay out late.
5. We are who we are and after years of struggling with this, neither one of us is going to change. I used to hold him back from going out sometimes. Now, unless we have a vomiting kid, I really don't care. (Well I care if he has been working a lot, is coaching nonstop, and is gone a lot) Otherwise, it's fine by me.
6. He accepts my quirks thankfully.
7. We don't get up at the same time on the weekends. He sleeps in. I get up early. Later I nap if I want. It's a non issue, because we are both getting what we want in some way.
8. We laugh a lot and use sarcasm too often.
9. Although I nag more, I would say that it's evened out more over time. He thinks I leave messes (okay I do). I think he doesn't clean as well as he picks up.
10. When one if us is short with the kids, the other is incredibly calm. This is more of a "as luck would have it" but you get my drift.
11. Although he thinks my travel planning obsession is odd, he doesn't complain too often anymore.
12. Sundays between September and February are sacred. Only Ryan's hockey games interfere with the Vikings. I never even realized his obsession until we were married. If they lose, it's going to be a long day with Thad.

Some things we need to work on:
1. Putting "us" before the kids more often. We don't go out enough. Let's be real though. Paying a sitter to watch four children is expensive. I maybe should go out more to these shin digs, but after a long week of work, I get energized by relaxing, not partying.
2. I still get snippity more than I should.
3. Evening out our roles during hockey season. Coaching two teams last year was a bit trying.
4. Finding more than one show to enjoy together....Modern Family. If you haven't watched it, you MUST. I wish we had more tv shows to watch together.

Are we perfect? Hardly. I am likely forgetting some big white elephant that sometimes becomes an issue, but overall, I am pretty excited to celebrate on Saturday. Happy Anniversary Thad!