Anniversary At Home

It seems the more kids you have, the harder it is to get out of the house on a real date! I knew that my husband and I would have that problem this year on our 9th anniversary (especially since it fell on a Tuesday night) so I decided to plan a special "date night" at home for us.

I made an early dinner of mac-n-cheese for the kids and had them eating while I worked on a special dinner of steak, roasted red potatoes, and broccoli for my husband and me. I also made a strawberry cheesecake for dessert.

After I had fed the kids, I sent my husband upstairs with them to get them ready for bed (that's usually his job anyway) and I started prepping the kitchen table for our date. I brought in a lamp from our hall table, various flowers (real and faux), faux rose petals, candles, and our wedding photo. I set the table with silver chargers, our nice china, cloth napkins and crystal wine glasses.

Before he came down, I turned out all the lights except for the lamp, I lit the candles, and I turned on "At Last" by Etta James. The result was perfect!

It was weird, despite the fact that we were sitting in our kitchen, it still felt almost just like a real night out. I think that the lighting and table transformation really helped. After we ate we slow danced for awhile, and then he helped me clean up and we watched a movie together. It was wonderful!

So next time you can't go out, stay in. It can be just as special. ;-)