Dan and Tara: April Date

So in March, we had no date. Sad to say. It passed with no time to ourselves, boo hoo.

This past Saturday we realized we had no evening plans and a mother (mine) we could visit to ask to watch the kids for our last ditch April date! Score!

We went out for Thai food. To a small town around here that has just about every type of restaurant food you'd want. We tried Thai, I hope to try more restaurants in the future. Our food was delicious.

 Half way through our evening I remembered our neighborhood friends were also on a date night that evening so Dan texted them. Lo and behold they were a few doors down from us so we planned to meet at a bar for drinks! Good times!

Before our friends arrived I snagged a trivia sheet from the bar and made Dan cooperate with me for quiz time. I learned he gives up pretty easily if he doesn't get the answer right the first time. :/ I also learned my horoscope for the month was to consider professional help for the goals I hope to achieve. Hmm.....Dan and I both agreed that professional help might be in the form of an interior decorator. Would that be nice?!

 That's as exciting as it gets for us here. Next month's date will be out of state and I hope it will be more exciting!! :)

Penelope and Morty April Date

Morty and I had nothing planning for April but a date night just fell into our laps.  We were in Des Moines visting friends and family and our niece and nephews offered to babysit so we could go out.  We went out for sushi (Penelope likes, Morty hates) and had martini's after with Mort's brother and his wife.  Date night turned out pretty well!  I think I am going to make Morty plan date night for May.  I have high expectations!! 

1st Quarter Standings

Hello everyone! I'm here to update everyone on the end of the first quarter point standings!  Remember, you can always earn extra points for the $200 jackpot by doing any/ all of the following in separate posts:

*Share your Love Story
(Write a short story to be published...How long you have been married, how you met, do you have children, etc.)

*Tell us about your First Date
(Write a short summary of your first date! Who asked who, what did you do, etc. Was it a match made in heaven?)

*The Proposal
(Was it grand or bland? Either way is fine, but tell us how it all went down.)

*The Wedding Photo
(Who doesn't love looking at wedding photos? Send us a photo from your wedding to share)

Additional bonus entries will also be added from time to time.


Date summaries:

January- 10 couples posted their dates!
February- 8 couples posted their dates!
March- 5 couples posted their dates!

*Remember, you have until the last day of each month to complete your monthly date and until midnight on the 7th of the following month to post your summary.

Several of you have completed the bonus items and these can be done at any time during the year.

Here is where everyone stands: (1 point = 1 entry)

Katie & Dan  4 points
Mindy & Jason 2 points
Kenzie & Dan 4 points
Krystal & Justin 2 points
Penelope & Morty 5 points
Stephanie & Craig 6 points
Tara & Dan 3 points
Monica & Lonnie 2 points
Robyn & Josh 3 points
Amber & Matt 5 points

Remember, it only takes one ticket to win!! Keep working on earning those points and having fun in your marriage!

The Love Bird List Details

I know I have been MIA lately here.  Life has gone a little crazy the past few weeks in our house.  Many of you have asked about where several of our couples are located.  This post will give you the general skinny on who is who (and where!) 

Daniel & Katie

Glenwood, Iowa

Married for 7 years

3 children

Penelope & Morty 
Detroit suburbs
 Married for 2 years
6 month old baby boy

Josh & Robyn
Bennington, NE
Married 10 years
Three girls, ages 8, 7, and 2

Krystal & Justin
Glenwood, IA
Married 13 years
Ttwo boys, 9 & 6

Stephanie & Craig
Glenwood, IA.
Married 13.5 years
Two boys, 7 & 10 1/2

Dan & Tara
Philadelphia, PA Suburb
Married 11 years
Two kids--girl age 3 and boy age 4

Matt & Amber
Glenwood, IA
Married 8.5 years
Son, age 7 and a baby on the way!

Kenzie & Dan
Des Moines, IA Suburb
Married 3 years
4 Doggie children

Mindy & Jason
Glenwood, IA
3 children

Lonnie & Monica
Glenwood, IA
Married 16 years
3 boys(10, 8, 7) & 1 girl (2)

As you can see, we have quite a variety!  We have marriages from 3- 16 years, 0-4 kids, and are located in four states!

I promise to be back soon with some more great date ideas and the video post of our winner from the March challenge question.

Amber & Matt- March date summary

Our March date night did not go quite as planned.  As I mentioned before, Matt was going to be in charge of planning this one.  I told him about mid month to pick a date and write it on the calendar for us.  We have been working on watching our money so I told him that I had an Olive Garden gift card if he wanted us to use that.  I also told him a few nights before our date night that he should try to pick something free.  He laughed at the idea and didn't know what he could find for free.  I didn't marry Mr. Romantic, so I know not to expect him to pull some huge plan out for date night.  Asking him to find something low-budget as well is really not in his creative genes either.  He told me Thursday night that he had a few things planned for us, but I really didn't ask what they were. 

After another busy week, I was looking forward to a light day at work.  I had one home visit in the late morning and would have the rest of the afternoon to finish up paperwork etc. in the office.  It was such a beautiful day and I was ready for the weekend.

On Friday at about 12:30, our plans changed however.  We received "the call".  I think all of you know this already but we received the call that we were selected by a birth mom for a baby that was due in May.  I was about 35 minutes from home and didn't know how I was going to drive all the way back to tell Matt the news.  I didn't want to just call him, I had to see his face and be able to cry, hug, and kiss him when I told him.  As I drove back I called to tell my sister (I needed to talk to someone to keep me sane as I drove).   She asked how we were going to celebrate and I told her it was supposed to be date night.  She suggested we go out and I tell him while we were out.  I told her there was no way that I could wait that long and we needed to save money more than ever now!!

We had plans for our son to go to a slumber party at one of his grandma's house with a cousin.  We picked him up from school and told him that he had to come home for a while and then we would take him back to grandma's.  After sharing the news with him, we took him over to gram and papa's house and let him share the news with them.  We told him goodbye and said we would see him in the morning.

After a quick stop at Matt's aunt and uncles to share the news, we  headed up town to meet Matt's mom and step dad at one of our favorite wine cellars.   We enjoyed dinner and drinks as we shared the news with them and talked about our hopes for pink in the future. 

After dinner, I was pretty tired from the emotions of the day.  Matt suggested we stop to play a little shuffleboard but I really was too tired.  We decided to head back home and grab a movie.  We stopped at Red Box, grabbed some beer, and headed home to watch a movie in the quiet house. 

I asked Matt to wait a few minutes (30 ) while I made a couple quick calls to let some people know the news who had known of our plans.  We had heard through the evening that my grandpa had called everyone on his phone, so I wanted to share the news with the handful of people before they heard it from someone else. 

While waiting, Matt didn't want any beer after all because he had heartburn and got really sleepy.  So, our night ended with him snoring on the couch and me blogging in the chair.

But...  Saturday morning, I woke up and decided to go work on my "running practice" as I call it.  I signed up for a 5 K in June and couldn't run one lap at the track a month ago. I have already seen improvement and decided to go out before I went to pick up Brock and the day got to hot (90's expected).  Matt woke up as well and joined me on the beautiful morning.  This was the first time that I can say we actually went "for a run" together.  He has been supporting me in my practice and is doing great at encouraging me.  It was really nice to enjoy the quiet time together on the trail.  (well, quiet except for my huffin' and puffin')

This isn't a great picture- I had cried about 100 times that day...but we are happy as can be as we were sharing the news that night!

We better hurry with our April date-- it could be our last without a new little one!!!

Josh and Robyn Bike Ride Date March 2012

My mother in law once again kept our kiddos overnight for us but our budget is very tight as we have a fun family vacation planned for the end of May. Not wanting to spend money, we decided to take our bikes out for a great ride. We rode around the Bennington Lakes and then came home and grilled some yummy filets. We enjoyed the bike ride without having to stop and wait up for little ones peddling behind us. Our dinner was the same, peaceful and quiet. We crashed before 10:30pm. Josh was supposed to work the next morning but they called and put him on call. We enjoyed sleeping in and decided to go for another bike ride. This time we ventured around Standing Bear Lake. After our ride, we met my mother in law and kiddos at the zoo. Not a very exciting date but a very peaceful and relaxing one. We have had amazing weather in Nebraska this Spring and it is hard not to spend every waking moment outside!

Daniel and Katie March Date

Once again we have had a very hectic month and struggled to find time for "date night." Went to our favorate place to eat, Longhorn Steakhouse, and then watched the Hunger Games on opening night. Had a wonderful time and felt young at heart as many others in the theatre were teenagers! And we both liked the movie. We talk on every date that we need to be more adventurous and do better at participating in the blog, thus far haven't made progress but will try harder. :)