Date night.

I chuckled a little as I typed the title of this post.

Date night.

For the first 7 years that we were married, my hubby and I went out a lot. Heck, every night was date night! It was just the two of us and our dog and we lived a carefree life. We ate out a lot, we went to movies, concerts, and sporting events. we went bowling and miniature golfing. We rode our bikes and played tennis and took long walks.

We had plenty of time and resources to do what we wanted when we wanted.

When we talked about growing our family we said we'd make ourselves a priority. Once a week we would have date night and go out. We would go on romantic trips without the kids...etc.

Then Adam was born.

We were head over heels in love with him so why on earth would we want to leave him and go on a date? Besides we weren't yet comfortable with the idea of a babysitter tending our precious little guy. Finally when he was about 9 months old we took a risk and got a sitter. We went out to dinner and talked about him the whole time. I can't even remember if we went to a movie that night because we were so anxious to get home!

We went on a handful more dates here and there but I could probably count the number of times on both my hands.

Adam is 3 1/2 years old now and Cooper is 5 months and we haven't gone on a single trip alone together.

Life is busy these days. Our time is invested in our children and our money is tied up with all those things that keep our home running smoothly.

Date night isn't as cheap as it used to be.

Does this mean I don't think date night is important? NO! I think it's so important for us to "date" our spouse. It's important to have one on one time with each other and keep that spark alive. When we do get an occasional date night I look forward to it and cherish every moment I have alone with my hubby.

But over the years since we started our family we have had to get creative mostly for economical reasons. We find ways to connect every single day with each other. Even if we only get 10 minutes alone in the kitchen as we are cleaning up after dinner, we make sure to pay attention to each other. we talk we laugh we flirt.

Some of the times I have felt the most love for my husband are the times when he is playing with our boys and I see his genuine love for them.

Every night after I'm done singing lullabies to the boys, My hubby is waiting in the hallway to give me a hug and to tell me he loves me.

One of my favorite date nights that I remember after Adam was born was when we decide to roast marshmallows. It was the middle of winter so we pulled out our camping stove and set it up in the living room with our s'mores supplies. We laughed at our own craziness and had a fabulous time.

We make treats and we play cards.
We have movie night downstairs where we can cuddle on the couch (with more treats of course!)
Instead of leaving the house to go bowling we bowl on the Wii
We still go on bike rides, we're just towing kids behind us now!
we still go on walks and hold hands as Adam walks along next to us and Cooper sleeps in his stroller.

I know that one of these days we will get to go on that elusive romantic getaway but for now I am just grateful that the spark is still there, stronger than ever, date night or not.

What do you do for date night?