Friday, August 26, 2011

How we spent our Anniversary!

We’ve never done anything super elaborate for our anniversary.  The most elaborate thing we’ve ever done was to have dinner at The Melting Pot.  That was going to be a ‘tradition’ from then on because… well, have you been there?  It’s AMAZING!!

The tradition lived on for 2 whole years…….

….. and then we were poor.  Eating at The Melting Pot is not cheap, my friends!  Each time we went it cost us over $100… for just the two of us!!  Oh, but it was soooo worth it!

Since then, we’ve done absolutely nothing fancy whatsoever.  Remember?  5 kids?  Umm, yeah, that’ll put a stop to any plans you might have for dinner and a movie.  Not only are movies and restaurants overpriced but what about a babysitter? 

We used to have one of those.  Actually, we had a few of them.  Anthony has a sister that lived just a few miles away with four kids, and all our kids adore each other…

… she moved to Arizona this past Christmas.  ON Christmas day.  Is she nuts?  I think yes!

My parents were always willing as long as they didn’t already have something going on…..

… my dad was offered a job in Santa Barbara, CA in January of this year.  He took it.  The nerve! 

My sister was willing if she didn’t already have plans to go clubbing or something….

… she moved to California with my parents.  How rude! 

I’m beginning to see a pattern developing.  It’s US!  **Gasp**  I promise, we shower!

So now, we are in a predicament.  While it’s easy to find someone to babysit the girls {they are pretty well-behaved and have some manners}, the boys are a different story, entirely! 

My grandpa would even watch the girls if I asked him to.  Anthony’s parents would have no qualms about it.  I have a cousin who also would not object.  She actually comes to get my girls on a weekly basis just to go play at her house with her daughter. 

No one wants to take on the boys.  My cousin HAS taken them but I feel that they overwhelm her slightly… besides they {my cousin’s little fam} go to bed at like 7:00 or 8:00 every night.  No, seriously!  It’s ridiculously early!  I don’t know how they do it. 

I know there are some neighbor girls who would babysit {but seriously, they don’t know what they’d be getting themselves into with little C} but I have issues with leaving my five children in the hands of a teenager…… at night…… with no adult.  And besides, I once asked a girl in my ward what she charges to babysit.  Do you know what she said? 

$3-$5 per hour, per kid… {and she claimed this to be pretty standard for all teen girls… please tell me she’s wrong!}

WHAT?

So, for me to leave my five children, even at only $3/hour… that’s $15/hour….

Dinner + Movie = 4 hours {approx}

divide by 3, add 7, multiply by x, remember the square root of pi {isn’t that banana cream?}, and carry the Y…

{or something like that…}

That equals $60 bucks… FOR A BABYSITTER!!!!!!!

PLUS, probably another 40-60 bucks for dinner and a movie!

Ummm, no thanks! 

So, what did we do for our first anniversary without a babysitter?

park7

park6

park8

park1park2park3park4park5park9park10

Maybe not ideal but you know what?  We really enjoyed it!  Happy 11th anniversary to us!

How do you usually celebrate your anniversary?

 

12 comments:

Kate said...

Hi!! I'm stopping by and follow from the Wild Weekend Blog Hop. I hope you'll check out my blog Frazzled Mama at http://frazzled-mama.com and follow me back.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Time 4 Me said...

I LOVE how you spent your anniversary. We have had more than one anniversary that we spent at home. I often think it's neat to spend our anniversay with the children. We take time in other ways to reconnect with each other. It's fun to use our anniversary as a celebration of our family. That's when it all began after all. Lol. This last year my husband and I did go away for the weekend but the year before we did a family movie marathon. Anyhow, happy anniversary to you!

Rose said...

Looks like you ended up enjoying your anniversary! Congrats on 11 years.

I just saw a comment you wrote on another blog stating that you hosted a blog hop that didn't go so well. So I thought I'd stop by and show some love. I'm now following your blog and hope you will keep in touch!
http://ourtipsforsaving.blogspot.com

Jessica said...

We usually celebrate very much like this! Now we've got a couple older daughters (10 & 12) who love babysitting the younger two for very little money. So, we tend to get out a bit more now. Still all date nights, including anniversaries, have remain cheap. We do a lot of grocery shopping.

Connie G said...

Happy Anniversary!! I'm a new follower from Wild Weekend Hop!
You can find me at http://www.peanutbutterandwhine.com
Connie

Dayna said...

Hi there - I found you from the Freaky Friday hop. Great little site - I'm a new follower. Happy Anniversary!!! I think I spent most of my anniversaries with my kids in tow until they got into the double digits. You have quite a nice size family there! I would look for someone like me to babysit - someone who is dying for grandkids. I would watch your kids for free.

Dayna

Dana said...

I think your day was spent the way it was supposed to be. I have so many times spent mine with my kids and really it's so fun for the kids to celebrate with you. It makes it special for them as well. Wish I was there to help.

Ali said...

Babysitter are sooooo expensive! I usually try to save my family "favors" owed to me for special occasions. This year we were on vacation. We tried to go out to eat- really not worth it. Hubbie and I decided to let the kids stay in the pool and we just had some drinks and pizza.
Happy anniversary!
Ali

Ashley @ It's Fitting said...

Stopping by from Say Hi Sunday! And yes, babysitters make a LOT of money these days. It certainly limits our date nights as well. Boo.

Kristin said...

I love the alternative! I especially like the picture of the parents on the monkey bars. Before long you are going to have 3 built in babysitters!! :)

Kellie Bowling said...

http://babm8krs.wordpress.com
I love that you included your children in your anniversary celebration! We have a total of 5 kids between my husband and I and I can totally relate to not being able to go all out! Being together is all that matters! Stopping by from the Managing Monday Social Hop!

Ashley said...

Brooke you should have told me hon lol i would have taken the kids for free, cause i know what its like no being able to find a baby sitter and trust me i can handle it all i have watched kids for a living lol i took on kids from well B's age on up and i aint scared lol but next time if you need some one to watch the kids just let me know i will do it for ya i will even come over to your house lol :)