May Date Nights

Well hello there! My oh my it has been too long since I last blogged! So let me bring you all up to date. 

March date nights weren't blogged and it was actually a rather hit 'n' miss month for dating. Just proof that even the most [wannabe] organized of people fall short. 

If I remember correctly the couple of date nights we had were a movie and Chinese evening and on the other occasion we brought to life an old chair with a new paint job. The chair painting date was great for encouraging good conversation however, our topic of conversation turned to one that was a touchy subject. It became more of a frustrating date night rather then romantic! But we can laugh at it! Lets face it, marriage isn't always all about romance and, sometimes those frustrating conversations have to happen. Its more about 'how' we have them. Husband and wife won't always see eye to eye but its important to remain respectful whilst honest. Just another #imperfect moment in dating history. 

Anyway, life has also gotten the better of us this month so, we're going to let slide the next few weeks and resume our date nights next month in May. 

Its remembering that it's okay to go with the flow sometimes. Whilst date nights are of high importance we also don't want them to become chores. And of course we're not saying that it's a chore to spend time with our spouse but lets be real, sometimes we're just not feeling it. Some nights/weeks it would seem more relaxing to just chill out in front of the tv or bury our head in a book we're dying to read and finish because we're  mums and reading time is too precious! Anyone feeling me?

So while we've been going 'with the flow' these past two months it has also sparked reevaluation. Its time to stop and acknowledge that our priorities have made a slight shift and that's okay but, now we must re sort them. 

Date nights for May:

Week 1 - Workout session

Week 2 - Bake/make a cheesecake for dessert. Neither of us have done this before.

Week 3 - Fabric painting/printing on some plain tea towels.

Week 4 - Write a short letter [to each other] on your first impressions of each other.

Remember I would love to here your date ideas!

February Date Nights

Its been both a busy and somewhat laid back couple of months. The holiday festivities kept us busy over Christmas and New Years, including a 3 week trip back home to NSW.  We've had random dates over the past few months but have otherwise not 'dated' weekly as we were. This month we resume our weekly date nights and continue to build on our marriage. 

Ideas have not been flowing easily but we've got a few things lined up. If you have any great date night ideas I'd love to hear them.

Week 1 - Watch a marriage DVD by Paul David Tripp "What did you Expect", redeeming the realities of marriage. 

Week 2 - Compose a song. Thinking praise or worship.

Week 3 - Play chess. I will beat my husband one of these days!

Week 4 - Write/draw a rough family tree of our families, going as far back as we can remember and adding all family members that we can recall. Matt and I haven't grown up knowing the others family so it will be a good exercise and challenge. 

Date Night Idea :: Paint your dream home

Last month one of our date night projects was to each paint our dream home, or rather 'attempt' to paint to paint our dream home!

It was so pleasant sitting out on our veranda in low lighting with a brush in hand and chuckling over our painting skills. It was very therapeutic and, we both ended up with red houses! Always learning something new about each other.

I highly encourage couples to have deliberate time together, time learning about each other. Don't ever stop dating! 

November Date Nights

4th Oct - write a [short, simple] children's storybook with illustrations. 

11th Oct - electronically collate children's book ready for printing. We'll have it printed at Office Works or somewhere that allows you to make your own books.

18th Oct - as an anniversary project we are going to build a coffee table that looks something like the picture below.

25th Oct - We're still working on this one but as it is our 4th wedding anniversary on the 21st, we are thinking of doing something a little crazy! Possibly putting on our wedding getup and heading out to a restaurant for some fine dining. Not sure that I'm brave enough to go out in my wedding dress but it would be fun to do!

October Date Nights

So here is what we've planned for Mondays date nights for the month of October.

7th Oct - write a letter to each other to open on our first date night in our own home... for whenever that may be!

14th Oct - using watercolour paints, each paint our dream house. 

Its probably more of a female thing but ever since I was young I've had this picture in my head of what my ideal home would look like... and its not a unique design, its very stereotypical actually. Wonder if you can guess what my dream house looks like?

21st Oct - make 'Jason's Rocky Road Trifle' from More Icing Please and watch a black and white movie... any suggestions on which one? Detox will be over and it will be a cheat night so we are going to indulge a little with this yummy trifle.

28th Oct - Mexican theme night - We're not entirely sure on the menu yet?

Apple Tarte Tatin

For our 'French' date last night I made Apple Tarte Tatin for dessert. I'd never made nor eaten this dessert before and I was delightfully impressed by its simplicity and flavour. I was also shocked at how much sugar is required! SO sweet! Not only because we're on detox but also because we want to limit our sugar [fructose] intake, I used Stevia, instead of the usual castor or brown sugar. I also did some experimenting with quantities but this just wasn't the dessert for escaping 'sweet free'.

Ingredients

40g butter

1/2 sheet puff pastry

1 granny smith apple

4 tbs Stevia

Coconut cream to serve.

Method

Preheat oven to 250°C. Melt butter. Grease 2 ramekins with a little of the melted butter. 

Halve the apple and place cut side up in each ramekin. 

Sprinkle 2 tbs stevia over each apple and drizzle the remaining melted butter over each one. 

Using base of ramekin as a guide cut 2 circles from the sheet of pastry.

Place on a baking tray and bake on the top shelf of the oven for 15 mins or until bubbling, and you notice the sugar caramelizing.

Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 230°C. Place a pastry circle over each ramekin and tuck down the sides using a spoon (so that the pastry hugs the apple). Return to the oven and bake for a further 8-10 mins or until pastry is golden.

Turn out onto plate and drizzle with any caramel left in the ramekins. Serve with some cream, ice cream or, as we did, some coconut cream for a healthier option.

Makes 2.

Note: I experimented a little with the Stevia/sugar quantities. I made two tarte tatins using 2 tbs (which we had for dessert) and then I also made one with 1 tbs and another with just 1/2 tbs. The ones pictured above were made with 1/2 tbs and 1 tbs and as you can see, they aren't overly caramelized. They were nevertheless sweet enough! But the tarte tatins using the full 2 tbs did taste better, and was the right amount to form a good caramel.

Date Night Project :: Charcoal Sketching

On our most recent date night on Monday just gone, we made homemade pizzas together and we also  sketched/drew head portraits of each other with charcoal. 

The pizza was delicious as always and, thanks to a fellow blogger we were let in on the the secret to making a professional pizza! It worked a treat. Can't believe I never realized how it was done?!

Upon finishing our yummy pizzas, in a candlelit setting on the balcony, we then pulled out the sketch pad and charcoal sticks. We probably spent about a half hour sketching each other before revealing our finished artwork to the other person... we had a good chuckle! Neither of our drawings looked like our subject but it was a lot of fun. I have displayed our portraits in a couple of square frames.

The picture in the middle was a little creation of mine. Created by 'smacking' a bunch of kisses onto some sketch paper (possibly a little odd)! I plan to hang all 3 frames horizontally above our bed. This was a great date night project... give it ago!

 

September Date Nights

Its been over a month since we introduced date nights, and it's been really great to have that one night of the week set aside just for each others company.

We didn't have date night last Monday because we had family visiting from interstate but here is a whats on for the next 4 weeks.

2nd sept - no date night, family visiting.

9th sept - poker night *wink wink

16th sept - We're going to make pizza together and then draw portraits of each other (good luck to me, I  can't even draw scribble).

23rd sept - A 'French' theme night. We going to cook a French dinner and watch Amelie, a french movie.

30th sept - Cheese and wine on the balcony. Discuss date night ideas for the next month.

Date Night Planning

In a recent post last week I wrote about the new found importance of dating my husband continuously for our entire married lives. 
We've decided to have weekly date nights to help us be more deliberate about spending quality time together. Quality time that doesn't consist of constant facebook checking, email and blog writing, instagram posting, news reading and or TV watching! There's something very refreshing about spending time together where our minds aren't constantly buzzing with media 'noise'.  Oh, and without the noise of precious little ones. 

We've chosen Monday nights to be our date night. It's often the day I don't take the boys out for any activities; it’s our home day after coming off of a busy weekend. It’s also the day Matt takes the car to work which means no drop off and pick up for me. I can spend the afternoon preparing a nice meal for Matt and I and make sure Rupert has dinner that bit early so that Matt and I can eat alone. 

It’s really quite simple having a date night. Babies fed and in bed. TV turned off. Phones and ipads out of reach. Nice dinner prepared. And an activity if we so wish. 

Although nice, date nights don't have to be an expensive fine dining experience or a movie on the big screen. It can be done in the comfort of your own home. 

Last week we had a baked dinner with a glass of wine and played a few games of chess. Monday night just gone we again had a nice dinner with wine and did a puzzle together. We didn't get to finish the puzzle - its 1000 pieces! 

Here is what we've got planned for our date nights in the month of August. It's simple and achievable.

5th - 1000 pc Puzzle

12th - Make sushi together. Something neither of us have done.

19th - Watch a movie "Star Trek Into Darkness" (see what a good wife I am :-P)
26th - Zumba workout

Fall in Love Again and Again...

One baby is okay, very manageable but 2 babies well that's a juggle. You are feeding one baby and hubby is wrangling the other baby who seems to have more energy than would be considered normal! You no longer hold hands with your sweetheart because someone is pushing the pram, holding the newborn or walking the child with ants in his pants.

When hubby gets home from work, it’s a passing kiss, quick hug and a sneaky pinch on the bum. It’s back to the stove where you've been cooking that Ossobuco for 3 hours, but surely it’s got to be done already!  You try to speed the process up cos it’s got to be on that Bunnykins plate asap and then has to be put in the freezer for a 1 min to cool. There are tiny fingers waiting anxiously for his dinner and it doesn't matter how many times you say the word "patience", he just aint getting it. So, out of the freezer and onto the table, we try and say grace as a family but we must keep one eye open for the little Bunnykins fork that is nearly poking us in the eye. Seriously, how do you teach a 16 month old patience! We chow down dinner and by now it’s nearing 6:30pm and that's a good thing. Rupert takes a book from the shelf and hops onto daddy's knee for his bedtime story in the bedroom. Daddy reads him the same book he chose the night before, and the night before that and… the night before that! But that's okay, daddy doesn't even need to read, he knows this book off by heart. Into bed, lights out and we're one down one more to go! A quick tidy up in the play room oops sorry no, that's actually our lounge and dinning but only takes a few minutes and we can see that.

Life is certainly fuller with children, it’s challenging, rewarding, tiring, fascinating and exciting and, whilst you may miss the good old days before babies, you never seem to regret having them.

The stats say that the divorce rate in mature age couples is rising. Parents have invested so much love and time into their children (not a bad thing) that once they're no longer living at home they discover their marriage to be somewhat estranged. Life has been so full and busy with raising children that they forgot to continue growing their relationship and friendship.

Matt and I haven't even been parents for 2 years and we already understand these stats. We have a good loving and committed relationship but we don't 'date' anymore. Holding the title of husband and wife and mother and father, we seem to think we're qualified for eternal love and happiness. Not so.

I believe in falling in love with just 'one' person but I also believe you need to fall in love with that person many times over.

 I fell head over heels for Matt when we were dating and it’s for that reason I wanted to know more about him. It’s called dating. But why is it that after marriage we no longer see the need to date and continue to get to know each other? After all we're still individuals and we are still growing and changing.

I am a wife before I'm a mother! My husband comes before my children and when my relationship with Matt is being nurtured and growing strong it allows us to be good parents. We can then be good examples of love and commitment to our sons.

When Matt and I were dating I asked him what his favourite food was, his answer was "donuts". A few years passed and I asked him again, the answer was still "donuts"! But then I asked him just a few days ago and his answer was no longer the same, his favourite food had changed. My husband’s favourite food was now "hot chips"(of all things)! If I had not asked I would have assumed donuts to be his favourite for many more years to come.

 I want to know my husband both through his unchanging habits and through his changing likes.

So, we've decided to date again! We're introducing date nights. A concept not unfamiliar to many of you but for us it is new. With the birth of Rupert we didn't seem to feel the need but when Samson came along we began to feel the stretch of marriage, it subtly becomes all about bedtime stories, dirty nappies, baby babel and milestones. But when there are no more dirty nappies and you no longer have little children to read bedtime stories to, what will we do with ourselves? We must start now. We must engage in each other’s interests together. We must continuously date and fall in love so that when we are old we can show that we weren't just committed by law but that we have always loved as husband and wife should.

We shall never fall out of love but we will constantly try to fall in love again and again.

As it’s a new month I have started to write up a date night planner.  We have chosen Monday nights to be our “date night” and as we intend to have our date nights at home because it is logistically and financially easier, we are having to be a little creative. But this is for another post. Stay tuned.

on one of our dates back in 2007 just weeks after the Darwin Show ordeal.