The Co-op

Bryan and I are cheap. Not about everything - we would never give up our trips to Disney. And we like to eat yummy food which includes meats and fresh produce and not a lot of stuff that comes out of boxes. But we rarely go out to dinner, see about one movie a year in the theater, budget everything each week, and don't spend a lot of unnecessary money. Enter the babysitting co-op. This is the best recent invention of our lives. We've been members for about 8 months or so and it is amazing. For just $5 (for a lifetime) we get babysitting from local families we know and trust. All we have to do is sit for other families in exchange. Since babysitters around here go for about $10 an hour, the idea of going on a date or some child free errands was crazy to us - who can pay that kind of money on top of dinner or a movie? And asking your same best (childless) friend that you can't help in return to babysit all the time isn't great either. Since we don't have family in MD, the co-op fits us perfectly and we love some of the families we've met through the meet and greets and sitting.

We recently watched Noelle's little friend Sarah for most of a Saturday afternoon and evening while her parents went to a wedding. Here's a picture of Noelle sharing her Elmo and Minnie with Sarah!