2nd Date

Okay so week one of 52 dates wasn't our/my best....

I was starting to kick myself over the fact that in one week I couldn't fit in one "couch time" and then I realized that everyone's couch time might look a little different...

I think Beau and I get couch time 3-5 times a day, in the kitchen in the morning, driving to work in the morning, at lunch (lots of time we get to eat lunch together, and during the school year sans kids!), afternoons in the car, earlier evenings at work, cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, and then we always hang out together at night watching our "Murder She Wrote", and we do talk then, but we've been talking all day that I don't think it looks the same as it would had we not had the whole day together....

anyways, I will continue to try the "couch time", but I will also remember that this will look different for us, and to try to make it intentional and about each other.

anyways...week 2 will be WAY better, we can totally do this...

Ice Cream Taste Off anyone....

go to your local ice cream parlor (without the kids....is that legal?), frozen yogurt place, the freezer section at your grocery store, and pick out 2 or more flavors that neither of you would regularly try, both of you have to choose at least one...then that night after the kids are in bed have an Ice Cream taste off...and talk about different ice cream memories,

what was your favorite ice cream flavor as a kid?

do you have a memory associated with ice cream?

did you ever make ice cream?

did your neighborhood have an ice cream man?

did you go to an ice cream parlor or frosty with someone special (dad, grandparents, older sibling, uncle, etc) as a child?

get to know your spouse and all about their ice cream memories, while creating the newest ice cream memory...

and then vote on who's flavor was the best...

this is going to be a fun one...might have to have this date 2-3 times this week!

and can I say I'm really looking forward to asking Beau some of these ice cream questions...I have no idea what his favorite ice cream flavor was growing up, still not even sure of what it is today...(I can always tell what flavor he WON'T pick but never which one he will!)...

let me know if you and your husband go on an Ice Cream date...

and whats even better about this date is it can happen on your couch and maybe count as couch time...

Couch Time

Okay well I told you I was going to do it...

I was going to date my husband...this week's "date" was couch time...

and REAL time, not two different couches, with you on your laptop and him watching the game, or him on his laptop and you with your nose in your book....

or our version of couch time, Beau reading some dork book spread out on the floor and me watching "Murder She Wrote", with Beau half watching it also...

We were supposed to spend time together when he got home from work, talk about our day...

no kids 

no pets 

no dinner boiling on the stove

no cell phones...

just the two of us sitting on the couch, the porch, taking a walk... 

some place where we could focused on each other...

take 5-10 minutes and just talk...

okay...

so this DID NOT happen this week...

our schedules are always sort-a-kind-a crazy, 

we have one car, 

2 kids, 

and 2 jobs (yes we both work at the same place...but still)...

and that might not help, the working at the same place, because we sometimes come home together (or I've gone to pick him up, or he's picked me up...)

yeah, did you see that all excuses...I need to stop make excuses for not doing things I NEED to do...

anyways...it hasn't happened YET...but I have till Wednesday so I plan to fit it in the next 2 days...

we did take a family picnic to the river the other night...okay so that's not a date...but the kids did wander off to the river and the two of us were able to have some alone time...like 30 seconds...

we even documented the moment...Beau just loves taking pictures...he ruined my two good smiles...I rarely have a decent smile and look what he did!

and then when he decided to take a good picture my smile had gone away...

and then they found us...

...that is us...cuddling boy, me without my hair or makeup done, Beau with a weeks worth of stubble, and Madison the life of the party!

I'll keep you posted on how our couch time goes this week...and I hope/plan to keep at it for a lifetime...

I'm Dating Again

It's time, I haven't dated for almost 12 years and I decided that it's time to get out there again and see what it's all about...

Okay, so I'm planning on dating the same guy that I dated 12 years ago...it seemed to work so well the first time I figured why mess with a good thing...

My friend over at Creative 2x Mom has started a wonderful trend of dating her husband...

52 First Dates...the idea of 52 weeks in a year and 52 maybe-new dating ideas to help build your relationship with your spouse (you chose him, so now remember why!)...

I think the line that had me hooked and made me realize not only that I wanted to do this, but maybe I NEEDED to do this...

 What a great thing it would be to finish off the year and realize that your marriage has actually improved rather than just survived?

I do want my marriage to improve, to thrive, to be a marriage that improves rather than survives 

I don't want to get to the end of this next year and have our marriage the same as it started...

I hope that our marriage is stronger, healthier, happier, funnier...

I'm not saying that we don't have a strong, healthy, happy, fun marriage...

but should we just say 'okay'...and leave it?...

we all know that if you're on a diet or a weight loss plan, and you reach your goal weight you can't just go "okay, I'm there!" and stop...you need to maintain that weight loss by continuing to work out, eat healthy and make good choices...

that's what I want for our marriage...I don't want to look back and say, "wow we reached our goal in marriage on year 12"...I want it to be that every year we reach a new level of good and keep at it...

so here's to dating my husband for the next 52 weeks...