As new parents, my husband and I are quickly learning how rare, how expensive–and yet how essential!–it has become for us to spend time together as a couple. We have tried to enjoy “quality time” together with the kids. But if our two-year-old isn’t insisting that she needs to go potty during dinner, she is bringing us books to read or asking an endless string of questions beginning with “Why, Daddy?” And during meals, our nine-month-old takes center stage, either gagging on the latest vegetable I’m introducing or reaching for my plate and doing Neanderthal grunts, as if to ask why I am offering him strained puree in lieu of the real food the rest of us are eating. As important as this family time is, quality time as a couple becomes even more critical with children!

If friends or family offer to babysit, take them up on it! Hiring babysitters is incredibly expensive and can easily double the cost of your date!

We are blessed to have nearby grandparents and a teenage aunt (who loves spending time with our kids!). Although they all lead very busy lives, they have helped with the kids more times than I can count–particularly last summer while I was on bedrest and during my son’s NICU stay.

We are also blessed to have an engaged couple in our church who has offered to babysit our kids once a month, so we can go out on a “real” date. Such a thoughtful idea! and so giving of their most precious commodity–time! (We think they may be experimenting on our children, before they have their own!–but we have taken them up on that offer the past two months.)

Save restaurant gift cards for dates and use coupons whenever possible.

For our January date, we used a gift card we were given for Christmas (another wonderful gift idea!). The couple that babysits for us also brought us a handful of coupons for local restaurants. (They had one of those “buy-one-get-one-free” coupon books and weren’t going to use all the coupons.) Again–incredibly thoughtful!! and so practically helpful, when we are trying not to spend money frivolously, but we still need that time together as a couple. Those dates have felt like our first “real” dates, since pre-kids!

For more deals, go to Dealnews.com and search “restaurants.” Restaurants.com often offers discounted gift certificates–right now they are cutting 65% off any gift certificate with the coupon code “SAVINGS”.

Find time in both of your schedules for “mini-dates” now and then.

A date is primarily to spend time together, enjoy each other’s company, or talk through things with just the two of you–no babies crying or toddlers placing toys that sing on your lap. “Mini-dates” don’t have to include dinner or cost money.

Sometimes we purposefully spend time together after the kids are in bed. Maybe eating a piece of cheesecake or drinking a smoothie. Maybe watching something together on TV or just chatting about our day.

My favorite mini-date is an early-morning cup of coffee at home! My husband is a morning person, and by the time he gets home from work, we eat dinner and put the kids to bed, he is really winding down. It’s rare for us to have a profitable, serious conversation (about finances, things that need to be done around the house, rearing the kids, etc.) late in the evening. He also has an unusual work schedule–some days he goes in at 7 a.m., other days he goes in at 11 a.m. Looking at our schedules, we realized that the kids stay in bed until about 7 a.m. (whether they are awake or not), so we could take some of those mornings when he goes to work late, brew a pot of coffee around 6 or 6:30 a.m. and sit and talk, even if it’s just for a few minutes before the kids wake up.

Be purposeful about dating your spouse!

I’m a new mom, but older women I respect keep reminding me that in 20 or 30 years, the kids will be gone, and it will once again be just my dear hubby and me. So I want to make the most important relationship in my life a top priority!

Hop on over to The Happy Housewife and read “Date Nights at Home,” for more ideas on how to have a frugal yet special date at home!

Hams were on sale: 99 cents/lb. Being new at this “homemaker” thing (how long can I claim “novice” status?!?!), I don’t really know whether that’s a good deal or not, but I bought a 10-lb. ham, not really knowing what size to buy. That sounded like enough ham to have company over for dinner, with some leftover.

I was not prepared for the vast amount of leftovers we had, but I was determined not to waste any of the meat. So right away I began searching my favorite “leftover-converter” site allrecipes.com.

We ended up with over a dozen meals from one ham! Thankfully the recipes were diverse enough that we didn’t feel like we were eating ham for two weeks, although we were! In fact, we enjoyed the various meals so much that I am going to buy a large ham on sale again. At this point, our family consists only of a my husband and me, a 2-year-old and an 8-month-old (who isn’t eating ham yet!), so maybe this would make 6 or more meals for a family of four.

Here are the meals we enjoyed:

• Obviously, first we had a ham dinner with sweet potatoes and broccoli and invited another couple over to join us.
• I love scalloped potatoes, so I found a super-easy recipe called “End of the Line Ham Casserole” at allrecipes.com. Basically, it’s diced ham, cream of celery soup, potatoes (sliced), an onion, milk, and pepper. I made a couple of modifications: doubling the recipe (except for the onion) and using 2 cups of cheddar cheese (in place of the parmesan cheese).  I was afraid it would be too bland for my husband, but he said they were some of the best scalloped potatoes he’s had! (And this is coming from a guy whose mom makes everything–biscuits, bread, cheesecakes, pie crusts, strawberry jelly, syrup–only from scratch!!) This recipe made us 3 meals (two dinners & one lunch).
• Another very easy recipe (Garlic Potatoes & Ham) takes red potatoes cut into wedges, frozen broccoli (I used fresh), cubed cooked ham, and a package of herb & garlic soup mix. All of this is cooked together in a skillet. LOVED it!! The soup mix made it so simple, yet delicious! This only made one meal, even though the recipe says four servings–maybe that’s because even my 2-year-old daughter ate so much!
• Then: Delicious Ham and Potato Soup. Wow, the name is accurate, although I would prefer a superlative somewhere in the title: “Most Delicious Ham and Potato Soup . . .” or “To-Die-For Delicious. . .”  I chose this recipe based on the 5-star rating out of 2,161 reviews! Amazing! When we tasted the soup, we knew why! It was fabulous! I love a good potato soup, especially during these bitterly cold winter days! I made a few modifications: I didn’t have celery; I added a couple chopped carrots; I had some heavy whipping cream leftover that I used in place of some of the milk; and I decreased the amount of chicken bouillon since it sounded really high to me. Despite my modifications, it was still incredible! I also increased the servings to 12 before printing the recipe. We got 6 servings out of it (but we used a bowl of soup as the main course in our meal). If we had used it as a side dish, we certainly would have had 12 servings.
• I had never used an entire ham, all the way down to the bone! So I was curious. I decided to find a recipe that called for a ham bone. Since I also had a package of 15-bean soup in the cupboard, this recipe worked out well for me. We had to freeze some of it, because there was no way we could eat it all. I like it, but I like bean soup. And wow, the ham really fell right off the bone! I was so pleased that I had used the entire ham!!

Besides the ham, the main things I had to buy (for all these recipes) were a bag of red potatoes, a couple onions, some broccoli, and some milk. Most of the other ingredients were things I already had on hand.

1 Ham, 12 Meals! This Works for Me!

Hop on over to Rocks in My Dryer to find many many more tips on Works-for-Me-Wednesday!

Mara had an especially fun afternoon and evening at church on Sunday. Of course there was nursery! and then after church, a pizza dinner and a business meeting.  During that meeting she played in the back of the room with Corban and Macie; and when the kids were getting a little too wound up, Chris & Daniel took Corban & Mara out and let them play together with a couple of balls on the landing above the stairs. Mara ran around squealing with delight!

Later that night we prayed before bedtime. (Each night before bedtime Mara and I pray together. I ask her what she would like to thank God for or ask God to help us with. Usually she says “Pay nur-chee [pray nursery]. Pay fren Micah. [pray friend Micah]” And she will usually add something from the current day: “Pay home group” [if we went to home group] or “Pay frens come over.”)

So on Sunday night when we prayed, she suddenly brightened, and with great enthusiasm, she begin listing off all the things she was thankful for. “Pay nur-chee! Pay other nur-chee! Pay play ball with Daddy on stairs!” Then she put her thumb in her mouth and bowed her head waiting for me to pray.

I want to encourage her in this. I want Mara to always look back on her day with thanksgiving to God for the good things that He always gives.

Mara’s simple prayers rebuke my heart. How many of my words and thoughts are filled with gratitude throughout my day for all the blessings God continually pours out on me? How much of my prayer time do I spend giving thanks? How often do I look back and reflect on all that He has done?

“Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” – Ephesians 5:20