Over Blackberry Cobbler
I read someone’s Facebook status yesterday that said, “Don’t forget to work on your marriage this summer – it’s worth it.” I appreciated this advice from a seasoned mother. In the excursions and activity of summer, marriage can get the cold shoulder.
Brad and I made this brilliant partnership with our neighbors down the street that we trade off a night each week. After we put the kids down for the night, the couple of the week goes out, one parent goes to the neighbor’s house, the other stays home with their own kids. I told you it was brilliant – no feeding kids, no bedtime shenanigans, just a quiet house of sleeping children. (And saving 10’s of dollars on a sitter!)
It’s been SUCH a God-send to have a 2 hour date every other week.
Time that we can finish our sentences,
catch our breaths,
unwind,
talk about things other than critters,
evaluate,
flirt,
focus,
while devouring warm Blackberry Cobbler.
I can definitely work on my marriage with Blackberry Cobbler by my side.
Love this post! It is crazy that Nick and I see things fighting for our time together and we don’t even have 4 kiddos- way to fight back for that time and your relationship!
Also, next time you feel like cobbler while staying in, I really do suggest the one I just tried from Pinterest and posted about. Simple and GREAT!
Love you, sweet friend and would love to provide you a date night at some point this summer, too. Maybe you could actually get one two weeks in a row! 😉
Oh man, blackberry cobbler in Oregon is pure HEAVEN. We have had an amazing 15-year-old exchange student from Spain for almost a year — and our dating life has been FANTASTIC this year! We are so sad she is leaving in a few weeks, we want to keep her forever. Not just because she is a great big sister. 🙂
You are really selling me on Oregon lately! 😉
What a great idea! Our in laws drive in once a month for a visit and kind of do the same thing for us by watching the kids after they go to bed.
Question though: Do you tell the kids the neighbor will be there just in case they were to wake up (unlikely with mine, they are usually OUT when they go to sleep) just so they don’t worry about the Neighbor being there?
Our kids are older now so we can actually get out without need of a sitter. But when they were small we lived in a house where all the bedrooms are on a different floor than the living spaces. So once every 2 weeks or so we would get them to bed about an hour early by bringing up a portable tv with a dvd into one of their bedrooms, and allow them to watch one of their favorites, while we enjoyed a special dessert (often 3 berry pie) together downstairs. To avoid interruptions we put 3 lines of quarters on the top stair. If a child came down they lost their quarter. This worked like a charm! I think only once did one child loose a quarter and we did this for several years.
Funny you should say that about working on the marriage this summer, my husband recently started getting out once every week (or two) this summer, just to focus on that, first we have kind of a meeting, and maybe eat out too, but just driving away from the kids for a while is worth it. And we’re Blessed my inlaws recently moved closer, and love to love on the boys.