Me and my husband just decided to have a date night tonight. We try to do it every week, because one-on-one time really keeps us connected. And when we feel connected to each other, everything else in our house runs more smoothly!
How about you… how do you find time to relax and connect with your husband/partner?
The winner will get a complete set of momAgenda Desk Pads: this includes the new Chores pad, the Family Planner pad, the new Honey Do pad, the To Do pad, the Permission pad, the Weekly Menu/Grocery pad, the Babysitter’s pad, and the Love Note pad!!!
This complete set is worth almost $80!!!
Good luck everyone…
UPDATE
Congrats to Regan, our winner! We loved your responses, and will post a new contest very soon!
Thanks for including me.
My husband and I go to bed after all the children are tucked in and spend some time reviewing the day and talking about the next day’s plans. Every Saturday night, we send the smallest children to the grandparents and the teenagers get to visit friends so that we can have some time alone. Sometimes we go out for fun. Usually we casually buy the week’s groceries and just enjoy a quiet dinner at home.
My husband writes mini love notes for me before he leaves for work, or I’ll leave one for him in the middle of the night so he gets it first thing in the morning. It’s a great reminder that even though life is chaotic, we still love each other. Plus, what better way to start the day than with a smile?
Finding time alone together when we are not exhausted is hard! But, some ways we stay connected is inside jokes and lunch. We have little quotes that make each other giggle, like lines from a movie that we both love or words to a song. Having lunch together a couple times a month is nice too! That way we don’t have to get a sitter while the kids are at school and we are not exhausted from the days work.
My husband and I try to meet for lunch at least once a month when our kids are in school/preschool. We like to try a new place each time and don’t mind if it’s a nicer place, because we’re just paying for two instead of five.
This last year, he also began to occasionally e-mail cute jokes to me out of the blue every now and then. I loved knowing that in the middle of his day, he was thinking of me.
We try to talk after the kids go to bed… if we don’t fall asleep first!
We have a babysitter scheduled to come over once a week. We try and do something active that we both enjoy like riding our bikes or playing golf. We enjoy spending time together and getting some exercise makes us both feel better. My husband also has a flexible work schedule so he will randomly pop in during the day for lunch. I love the surprise and the extra time we get to spend together.
WELL…well…well,, what time??. With three kids and a soccer coach, player, and team mom, all in the same house, it’s very hard. A year ago when we started getting busier and busier, my husband decided that after the kids went to bed everynight, that was our time, whether we were tired or not. If you don’t have that communication or connection going on, eventually the relationship will get farther and farther apart. So everynight, regardless of how much the day weighed heavy on us, we make time to have a drink, watch t.v. or just talk.
My husband and I were high school sweethearts. We have literally grown up together so we have always been each other’s company. Fifteen years (6 married) and two kids later, we can still talk on the phone several times a day and not get sick of each other. I am the first person he calls when he hears something funny, when he is upset, or just when he wants to talk. This is one way we stay connected. Another way is when we put the kids to bed, we watch a funny show or movie and indulge in some really good dessert. I told him that being with him feels like a slumber party GONE WILD!
At least once a month, my husband and I have what we call a “planning session.” We get a sitter and go out for coffee or lunch – usually to an old haunt we’d go to pre-kiddos. Our date may sound buisness-like, but really it’s a time to talk about what we want for ourselves, our family, our world. It is such a great reminder of why we married in the first place – we both desire so much of the same things in life!
We relax and watch movies together on weekends when the boys are in bed!
We have 2 little girls 2 1/2 yrs and 6 months so it takes a little bit of planning if we want to do anything….But I decided that we would join a golf league together and be partners. So once a week we have one night where we are totally together golfing and talking…WE LOVE IT!!!! P.S. and I love your products!!!
We spend time catching up on our day & such after the kids are in bed. On nice summer evenings we’ll also sit on the porch together & talk while the kids play in the yard.
We have been married for 13 years and together for 18 we have two active boys 8 and 6 we go on one vacation a year together without the boys it may be a weekend in Vegas or this year for our anniv. we went on a four night cruise he works regular hours and I do in home parties so I am gone at night alot but after the boys are in bed we have an hour or two to catch up and have adult conversation….
Every other Friday is stay home Friday. We all sit at the table together and have dinner, usually followed by a special dessert. Then after some quick cleaning up, we play games! Board games, card games, whatever it is…we have a shelf in one of the bookcases where I keep most of them and we pick according to mood/wants, etc. I really look forward to our stay-at-home Fridays!
My husband and I love to play Wii together. We love Mario Kart and Wii Fit.
We put our boys to bed together every night and then we spend an hour or two snuggled up for a movie and/or pillow talk. We plan a date night once a month when we get a sitter and go out for dinner and a night on the town.
We have the same sense of humor, strangely enough, so there are a lot of TV shows we can watch after the kids go to bed. That’s our unwind time!
We try to do a date night once every few months….
My husband, a police officer, has a very unusual schedule, which can make spending time together somewhat difficult. The time we do get to spend together is extremely precious! To make it through to his next “off cycle”, I will make dinner, pack it up, and meet him somewhere in the area that he works to have dinner. Some nights I see him long enough to throw his dinner to him before he is off again, other nights we can sit and chat for a bit. Whether is for 5 seconds or 30 minutes, it is nice to see his face when I haven’t seen him for 4 days!
He makes margaritas and we sit on the patio and talk. We also plan a night out. Twice in the last year due to some unusual circumstances, the grandparents watched the kids and we traveled out of the country.
Finding time alone is very hard in our hectic household, but we find that it’s extremely important to stay connected. Since our schedules are extremely unpredictable this time of year, we try and give each other a call during the day to catch up on scheduling and then in the evening after the kids go to bed is our time to talk, plan, catch up, whatever! We also like to use your love notes and post them in unpredicatable places to remind each other that we love each other even though it’s busy!
My husband and I have been married for 14 years and have 4 kids under the age of 9. All of the kids are involved in various evening sports and activities but we still make an early bedtime a priority. It’s good for them and good for us. When they were younger they were completely tucked in by 7 and now it’s closer to 8 but that still gives us a couple of hours to recharge as a couple.
My husband and I have been married for 10 years this October. We have kids under the age of 9 also. He works in construction so time together can be very hard to find. We try to get together and do something at least twice a month.
Every week my husband and I have a date night, it always involves something different from dinner, going to our local casino for a night of dinner and gambling, or just staying home and spending quality time, but every once in awile we come up with ways to surprise eachother! This week I put little love note all over the house and extended them to work (we work for the same company) It started on the door to the bathroom cause he takes a shower first thing in the morning, then one in the shower, in the closet, on the front door, in his car, on his desk and in his lunch bag! They were all really sweet, or naughty, or motivational! He had the biggest smile on his face when he arrived at work!!! We have a 7 month old daughter and were always told that the first year with a baby would be the hardest so we have always kept it fun and made sure we don’t lose us in the hectic life we live!!!
My husband and I play Scrabble once a week. It’s a time where we can sit down and just talk while we try to figure out what we can spell with all consonants.
My husband and my favorite date night is going to Barnes and Noble to enjoy a sweet coffee drink and browse through a stack of books. It’s a great way to wind down a long day.
Once the 3 boys are asleep, we cuddle together in bed and watch our favorite TV shows that we have on TIVO. I do try to join him once in awhile when he goes somewhere nice for work.
We don’t, hehe.
Our alone time is in our computer room after kids are sleeping. Even though we don’t talk much (we pretend we listen to each other while browsing on the internet), we enjoy this quite time.
My husband has been travelling a great deal lately with the military and due to time zone differences, is generally unable to call. We added International calls to our cell phone plan and we text each other. I usually get messages once I’m and moving in the morning, getting our two girls out the door to wherever. We may not be “together” but we are connected.
We are one of those lucky couples that happen to have “younger” parents near by. My mother is 20 years older than me so she can still “hang” with the kids who are 8 and 3. My husband and I will often ask if she would like to have them for a sleepover so we can have a date night or a night to just hang out with each other and catch up on us. Yes, we snuggle at night watching our TV shows after the kids go to bed and even try and sit next to each other in the restaurant if we all go out to eat. It’s tough these days when the schedules seem to get busier and busier. With both of us working and the kids in school/day care and involved in sports, it’s a wonder we’re not all bald. LOL! However, you’ll find us in the kitchen hugging each other while dinners on the stove catching up on the days happenings, while the kids not so quietly do homework or torment the cat. It’s those brief moments that keep us connected even though they seem short. We are lucky to have parents close by and an 8 year old with such a social life that we hardly see him on weekends because of all the sleepovers he gets invited to. LOL! We’re grateful for the moments we have alone together, but even more grateful for those moments that we can share with the entire family.
We are another couple that sits down to a weekly chat. We go over the week ahead and make decisions on how to make it the best we can. If it looks like a stressful one, we try to purposely schedule something we can look forward to. This week, we decided we needed a movie mid week. We double check schedules to avoid conflicts and both ask each other in our own words: Is there something I can do to make your week easier? It feels so supportive to have someone say this to you! Even better, it feels great to say it to someone else. Finally, thanks to my husband who is so goal oriented….we both have a list of goals for the year. During these chats we often talk about how we are doing with our yearly goals. Being accountable to someone helps me make progress little by little. Last year, I cranked out 25 personal goals from little ones like write one letter a week to a friend/family member to a big one like learn to play the piano. I don’t think I would have accomplished all I did had it not been for the chats I have with my husband. They just clear my head and set me in the right direction.
Occasionally, my husband and I put the kids to bed then we both buy take-out for the other one and surprise each other with what we pick out. So, he gets me something like my favorite salad from an area restaurant and then an appetizer from another one that I love. I got him sushi from our local Japanese place that he loves. We then eat it together and enjoy the quiet and the fact that we know each other so well and picked out something special for the other one.
We plan date nights at home to enjoy time together after the kids are in bed.
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Well, my husband is in the Coast Guard and we live in Louisiana, so lately he hasn’t been home alot plus he travels.
We always put our 3 yr old son to bed by 7pm, and prior to bedtime our son picks out a book for each of us to read. We have fun together reading and laughing. We like to see which one of us can be the most creative and silly with our books and secretly laugh at each other! This process usually gets us unwound and ready to relax together. We tuck our son in bed and then we will talk and visit for awhile and watch something we recorded during the week. Sometimes we will have a drink in our big tub and talk and relax.
Suzanne
What a great giveaway!!!! My husband and I talk each night in bed after all the kiddies have gone to sleep. It’s the only time of day that it is actually quiet and we’re all to ourselves. We also meet each other for lunch.
We have few ‘date’ nights. Luckily my parents live very close by and watch my kids and we try to do a movie and/or dinner. And sometimes we get together with friends who also have kids the same age and the kids play and parents can hang out.
My husband and I subscribed to Netflix and have a movie night every Tuesday after the kids go to bed. A glass of wine, some popcorn and pj’s are a must (or optional). We each take turns picking out the movies so we watch movies from drama to documentary and enjoy having this separate night all to ourselves with out having to pay for a sitter or a dinner out.
Our kids are older, both teens, so they are usually doing something so we do get more together time than we did when they were little.
I’m not sure how original this is, but my husband and I try monthly nights out for ourselves. We have worked out a co-op sitting service with our neighbors across the street. We take turns on a Fri and Sat night and watch each other’s children so that they can go to their favorite comedy club and us to the movies. It works out great because our children are best friends and they are always begging us to go on a date! We also enjoy our nightly prime time together watching Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy! (He likes them too!) We spend the next week discussing the “drama” until the next episode! We like take extra time together when we take our boys to the park. We let them play while we picinc and catch up on the week’s events.
I remember hearing as a young woman that it’s the little things everyday that make a difference in a good marriage and raising great kids. Over the years the little things have changed, from the 5 minute stash & dash when the kids were little to recently using IM’s to flirt with my husband during the day.
Stash & Dash may not seem like a way to stay connected to your husband, but when the kids were very young by putting away distractions (kids toys, laundry, dishes) I could focus on him & us in the evening. Now that the kids are older (middle & high school) it’s hard to find quiet time in the evening, so we stay connected during the day with the kids trick of Texting my BFFL (best friend for life).
I still try and schedule distractions during the day, leaving weekends & evenings available for family time.
My husband and I don’t get to spend alot of time alone. He is in the Airforce and works long hours. We also have two small children. But we talk. We go to lunch every once in awhile. And we always always kiss and say I love you no matter if only one of us is going to bed. Now that both of my children have started school I am hoping to schedule some more time one on one with my husband.
Well, as a mother of two girls (5 years and 4 months old), a full time student (classes sunday to thursday) and a Full time worker (9 to 5). Is too difficult to find some time for my husband. He works monday to friday, but he is the worship leader in our church, so he uses the weekends to teach music at the church and to practice with the worship team. So, what do we do to stay connected? Fortunately his company moved near to my office, so I wait for him every day after 5 to be with him, to talk without that little voice (my daughter likes to talk all the time, lol) in our way home. Also on fridays we go to lunch togheter, we text each other during the day just to say hello or to send love messages. In these days is hard to spend some time toghether, but we love each other and we work on our marriage every day, taking care of each other always.