Book Club.....WITH MY HUSBAND!!!!

Christmas Break Date night 2010

One of the best pieces of advice I have been given about marriage & parenting is to put your marriage first and the rest will always fall into place. After all, the kiddos wouldn't be there anyways if it weren't for the love of husband & wife and one of the best gifts you can give your children is to create a warm, loving environment where they feel safe & loved.  This doesn't mean there needs to be 2 parents present for this to be created, but if there are two people in the house, hopefully they get along! B and I are huge fans of weekly or at least bi-weekly date night. Yes, it costs a lot to get a babysitter and then go out but we look at it as an investment in our marriage and if I can spend money on something like my manicures/pedicures/gym membership and Brandon can spend money on his boat, then we make it an effort to save money for date night to spend quality time together, getting dressed up, & having a special, romantic night out where any distractions at home don't interrupt us.

 Triple Date Night with Friends for Falcons Game!

Sometimes, we get our babysitter to come after we have put the twins to bed, so they don't even know we are gone anyways, but other times we think it is good for them to see us getting dressed up together, they get excited about having their babysitter come over, and they know it is date night for Momma & Daddy and they love watching us get ready & tell us to have fun on our way out!

New Year's Eve Date Night with Ashley & Evan

 Date Night in the city! 

 Our fabulous babysitter!

 The boys are learning to be so sweet & lil southern gentlemen from their Daddy! 

Anyways, besides our traditional date nights, I decided to come up with the idea of doing a book club with the hubby and to my surprise he agreed, under a few circumstances. First of all, I will read the book and he will listen to the same book on CD on his drives to work in good old Atlanta traffic.  It's all about compromise, so I agreed! Then, we will come together about once a week and discuss our thoughts on the book and how it pertains to our life just like a book club.

So, for our first book, I selected Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Busy Lives by Wayne Muller. I have heard amazing things about this book and can't wait to see how it speaks to us in our lives and marriage. Brandon gets to pick the next book and it is going to have a financial theme (probably something along the lines of Dave Ramsey or Rich Dad, Poor Dad to keep us focused on our goals), then my turn again and I am picking a parenting type book.  I'm excited to start this and will keep you updated on how it goes!