Date night IN!

Okay, so with three kids, Seth working many hours each week, and very little extra income, we have started having Date Night In! Seth read an article about having date night in your house in Redbook (don't let hime know I told you he read this magazine), and so we are giving it a try. We choose a day each week, we try for Sundays. Our focus each date night is to take some uninterrupted time with each other. We put the kids to bed (of course this doesn't always include Dane), and then we spend time together. It is simple, inexpensive moments together. The photos were kindly taken by Elliott, as she had to come down stairs to see what we were doing... which I took advantage of having the extra person so she could capture a photo. And then back up to bed she went! Seth and I were enjoying Shrimp Scampi - a frozen entree from Sams Club. It was easy to fix, tasted close to restaurant style, and only cost us $5.00. We did (after Elliott went back upstairs) were able to enjoy a peaceful dinner without having to fix drinks for kids, add ketchup, or discipline children as we enjoyed our dinner. Other 'date night in' activites have been boardgames, coffee (decaf of course since date night happens after 8pm) and pie, strawberries and chocolate. I will say it has been nice to have the time to talk with each other. We are so busy during the times when the kids are awake, that we rarely have time for a single conversation! So we now know we can at least get one good conversation in each week. Even though Dane has joined us during Date NIght In, he doesn't talk as much as the other two! I told Seth we need to write down our experiences and after the end of one year, we need to publish a book and share our experiences with everyone else! So many of us are in the same situation with little extra time, money and the energy to plan a night out... so bringing it 'in' every so often is nice!