Intro : Our Adventure Through 52 At Home Date Nights
You know what the number 1 thing my wife asked me to get her for Christmas this year was? The screaming goat book and figurine. Now I don’t know about you, but what the heck even is this? She just started laughing and then showed me a video
I had to get her a tissue to wipe away the tears she was laughing so hard. Then she tells me there is this figurine on amazon you can get of the screaming goat and she wants it. I don’t even know what to say about this accept….coolest wife alive.
Ok ok, in all seriousness when I asked her what she wanted she said above all else she wanted us to start setting aside one day a week to do our home date nights again. She’s been bringing this up on a regular basis for the last 6 months. Guys, when the number 1 thing your wife wants is to just spend more time with you, you gotta feel like the luckiest guy in the world. I knew that we needed it too.
While I felt that we’ve done much more stuff over the years as a family making fantastic memories with our children, the daily time we’ve set aside for each other has been lacking. The key word there is daily. Sure, you talk a little when you get home or right after you put the kids to bed, shoot each other texts during the day, or have a once a year weekend getaway if you are lucky, but for the most part your best friend has become your roomy.
No more texts of pictures of her in a baby doll nighty…now you get texts of her saying, “want to see something hot”…you get all excited…”Oh boy..it must be and early birthday present !!”, then you get a picture of the A/C thermostat and it’s sitting at 90 and she says, “ The A/C’s broke…get it fixed.”
Most couples I talk with that come home from a weekend getaway, or heck, just a one day getaway without the kids, talk about how amazing their time was, how much they reconnected, and how much they needed it, but how do you make those times happen more frequently without breaking the bank on babysitters, movies, eating out, hotels etc. It’s really tough for most people. I believe daily intimate time spent with your spouse, which you make a priority, above all else, even your kids (God Forbid !!) , will in the long run make your marriage stronger, and set an example for the type of spouse your children will look for when they get older.
This is where Home Date Night comes in. You set one day a week where you absolutely dedicate that time at home for doing something special with your wife or husband. Don’t worry, that’s what we are here to help you with. I’ll briefly explain how we do our home date nights, but if you want more information on why we started this you can read my first blog post back in 2015 here…..wow…2015, the year McDonalds tried out all day breakfast, greatest year of my life, 2020 I weigh 682 lbs. Couch to 5k…here I come. For those who don’t know me, I’m super sarcastic. I don’t weight 682 lbs, and I just quit couch to 5k in week 2…who does that?
Ok, how Home Date Night works. Husbands, I’m writing to you. It’s your job to drive this thing. Sure, the wife can help, but men, it’s your job as the husband to chase the wife, it’s just how God intended it to be. They want to be chased; they want to be desired. You don’t even need to try that hard. A little initiative goes a long way. So, Husbands, it’s your job to pick up the items for dinner and the activity.
Again, don’t worry, At the end of each blog we will give you a list of everything you need and what the cost breakdown is. Sometimes you’ll find that maybe you make just the appetizers and do the activity. With Walmart , Amazon, or Publix grocery delivery this should be so easy. There might be some random things here or there that you have to go to a store to pick up, but just do this:
The day before your date night, make your supply collection day. Kids go to bed and you take 15 minutes to order the items you need, or you run out and get them. Next thing, bring the kids home a pizza or if they are really little make sure you feed them something easy when you get home, then off to bath time, story time, and bed.
Try to get them into bed as soon as possible. If your kids are older like our boys, 7 and 10 just bring home a pizza, have them eat, then showers, brush teeth, read for 15 or 20 minutes with them, then put on a movie and tell them they can’t come out of their rooms and 8:30pm lights out. They are old enough at this time to understand that mommy and daddy have one day a week that they make special for each other.
This is how it looks like for us, but you work it out with what works best for your family, but make it a priority above all other things. Don’t care if work was rough, don’t care if the kids were wild howler monkeys that day. Don’t make excuses, make long lasting relationship building memories.
So the kids are in bed and you guys are ready to make some magic….in the kitchen….with food….I see jello….how do I get out of this hole? Ok, clear your mind…start over…Ok, kids are in bed and you guys are ready to go on an adventure. Phew, brought that one back from the gutter.
Ok, for my wife and I, we love to travel and it’s probably the number one thing we talk about doing once the kids have left the nest. Travel and watch my wife cry because her boys have probably replaced her with their own wives. It’s a cruel cycle for mom’s, a slow break up they call it.
Anyways, back to travelling. My wife and I dream of travelling the world, exploring new things, and trying new foods. So that is what Home Date nights are about for us. We plan a place we’d like to visit, do some research about the food and culture, and plan two food items from that place, and cook (appetizer and main dish, or main dish and dessert, or appetizer and dessert…whatever) and then a fun activity.
For you though, we’ve done all the research, we’ve tested the recipe’s, priced out the activities. We hold your precious little millennials hands and reassure you week after week, “you can do this”, “keep up the good work”, “here’s a Home date night badge”. Just messing with ya, you are free to leave an “Ok Boomer” in the comments section.
Anyways, that’ pretty much how this blog works. You can skip all my up front story telling of our night and just get the recipes and activities. Whatever works for you. We have a new website. We are officially www.HomeDateNightDuo.com now. I’m still working on getting all the old posts from wordpress over to this site and archiving them somehow but I will be working that out in the next coming weeks. The site should be easier to find past recipes as well. It’s turning out to be a bigger project than I expected building the new site, so give me a few weeks to get each link working. If the page you click on says, coming soon, I should have that worked out shortly as well.
Wow, if you made it this far give yourself a pat on the back. If it were me, by the second sentence I would have left “TLDR” in the comments section.
Ok, So Friday’s I will be posting the blog. Wednesday will be the day my wife and I have set aside for our Home Date Night. Also, we’d love for you to participate as well, or send us your ideas. Leave a comment and let us know how your Home Date Nights are going, or leave a comment just to say hello and tell us where you’re from and what special foods your hometown is known for. Maybe we’ll work your recipe in for next weeks blog !!
As always, We wish you all God’s blessings on your marriages, So make that daily time each week to spend with your spouse…because your marriage is worth it !!
First blog will be posted this Friday as we take you too …..have to come back this Friday to find out 😊