What do you do for childcare when you have 4 children, no friends or family in the area you live but you and the hubby desperately need a "time out" weekend or date night? And oh, the hubby trusts no one with the 2 year old. Need suggestions.

Thank you so much for your suggestions. Just when you think you've exhausted all your options there is new hope. Your ideas were all great and ones I can honestly say I'd never thought of. You guys are great. You know I never thought to ask the teachers at my older children's school. That might be the trick to win over the hubby. I believe he could be won over with age, maturity and familiarity wiht the teachers or their student recommendations.

I'm also going to try getting out more with my meetup.com mom group Diane (thank you). I just went out this past Friday for the first time with them and my little ones LOVED IT! I will also check into my church, but it's so big I don't know if there's really an option outside of the Youth groups on Friday (that doesn't include the little one). And, Misty thanks for the Sittercity.com I think I looked over the website in the past. but was a bit shy by the fee thingy and the lack of familiarity with the hubby (stranger danger, lol). But, I take a look again.

You all rock...thanks again!

I would probably work on the whole "doesn't trust anyone with the 2 year old" issue. Find out what is driving this fear and see what you can do to help work through it. Ultimately, you'll need to find someone in your area who can help with the kids, even if it's in case of emergency. We have no family and very few friends where we live either, having only been a little over a year. But I have tried to find a few sitters who can help out in case something happens where we NEED someone to take care of my son. Don't want to have to cross that bridge in an emergency...
Are there other couples with kids with whom you could trade off nights?

Well, if your husband is leery of leaving the 2yo it might be tough. I appreciate how he feels - I would not leave my girl with a teenager or professional babysitter that I didn't know personally. Hmm. NO friends or family in the area? You need to make some friends! What I suggest is you focus on making friends with other parents first. There must be a mommy group you can join? (Check Meetup.com) Once you've established some friendships, try and come to an arrangement with one or two of them. See if you can trade babysitting for each other once or twice a month. We do this with our 17 month old because, like you, we don't have family in the area. Our rules are 1. kiddo is dropped off with clean diaper and has been fed dinner, 2. kiddo brings own sippy but can eat whatever snacks are on offer at the friend's home, 3. time slot is 5:30 to 7:00 so we're home in time for bed. This works well.

I guess the only alternative is to be creative and have a late, late date night at home when the kids are all in bed. That could be fun, too! Good luck! I know it's important to get some alone time to reconnect.