Book Code Love Notes

Weekly date night can be tough. We get so busy and wrapped up in the every day routines, we forget to "really" take time for each other. That can go for spouses and also with children. Since our little girl was born, we have not set aside any time to spend some real quality time together. Adjusting to life with two little ones is getting to be a bit easier, but we still have our challenges.  So we are wanting to change that. Each week we are going to set a side a time for date night.

When we think date night, most people think they need to get a babysitter and go out for a bit. That is really hard. Especially since you will most likely be paying your babysitter. The expensive of going out and paying someone to watch your kids can add up quickly--especially doing it every single week. Glenn and I wanted to spend some quality time together--but not feel broke afterwords. We also wanted to not resort to sitting on the couch and watching some show.

We decided that once a month we will do one out of home date, three at home dates, and occasionally a family date (us and our kids). We also switch off each month taking Johnathan out for some mommy/son time or daddy/son time.

How do we make date night at home different than any other night? 

We are starting to switch off who plans the date night. Glenn plans odd weeks, I plan even weeks. We switch off every month on who plans the out of home date.
We actually had a date night to plan dates. We wrote down a list of fun things we would love to do for our date nights (both at home and out of home). We know have a list of things we can bounce off of when it is our turn to plan. To make our at home date nights a little different from the other nights is we make a little fun treat to go with our planned activity.

What are some resources on getting at home dates started? 

You don't have to go all out and crazy for them, but one great place to start is to check out the Dating Divas sight. They have so many at home and out of the home date ideas that are different than your typical dinner and a movie. They have a lot of fun free dates. https://www.thedatingdivas.com/

This past week, Glenn and I got the idea from the Dating Divas to share love notes we wrote using a code we wrote from a book. It was fun and to see what the other person came up with was even better.

First: go pick up some cheap (random books) or if you want to use some books you already have on hand, go for it. We did circle a some words in the books, so if that bothers you--get some books you don't care to have a few circles in.

We picked up a couple books that were 50 cents each. 

Now to begin:

You can either think of a message you want to write your spouse before hand (what Glenn did) or wing it after each word (what I did). Flip through your book and find the words for the message you want to write.

• Circle the word in the book. 
• Write down the page number, paragraph number, and page number on a piece of paper. 
• Continue until you have a complete little love note for your spouse.

After you are done, give your spouse your book and note. Your spouse will then flip through the book based on the page, paragraph, and line number you wrote and decode the message. 

We had a lot of fun with this activity and reading what the other person came up with was fun and exciting. We ended sharing a little treat and putting together the little toy that came in it! YUM.