Three Things : Weekdays + Creative Family Giveaway

Lately, our favorite thing to do as a family is to go on nature hikes. The kids love to collect "treasures" and see how many animals they can spot. However, I really don't think that the zebra they claim to have seen is native to the North Georgia mountains :)

Thanks Ali,
My favorite memories of growing up and of with my own family are of sitting around the dinner table and laughing together.

Ooo--sounds like a great book (plus, YUM on the Three Things).
Our favorite thing to do together as a family is to go on a hike and then have a picnic somewhere. All of us (even my four-year-old) have cameras and are shutterbugs -- so, we're always pointing out this and that to snap (even if just one of us is carrying a camera at the time). It's sort of a way to be present in the moment together.

Love books like that! One of my favorite things to do together is baking - learning, creativity & yum!

As lame as it sounds - I like a planned activity as opposed to just being at home. I usually end up cleaning, because I'm home so little. My other favorite activity is playing board games with the kids. And a new favorite for the two older girls (of 3) - scrapbooking. Isn't that great?
Marlisa

Good Morning Ali,
We have a tradition for our boys that Sunday is actually called Funday. On Funday, the boys get to choose where we eat for lunch and dinner. We also get to play whichever game they want (no video games) so we play outdoors in the morning, crafts in the afternoon and board games right after an early dinner.
Super fun and a super great time for us all.
Linda

our recent favorite family thing has been movie nights on Fridays, turning off the lights with a giant bowl of popcorn and watching a movie together. The kids get their blankets and pilllows and it's just a lot of fun.

When we are waiting at a restaurant for dinner or whatever we play this game. Each person says "were going on a trip to Zimbabwe or whereever and I'm taking an apple". We go in alphabetical order as it helps with the ABC's. Each person takes a turn but before they say their item they have to repeat all the others in order. It's really fun and before we know it food is here. We change up the places all the time and sometimes we change themes-like I'm playing baseball and I'm bringing X to the game. Fun little tradition our family has started.

A couple of months ago, everyone in Phoenix was supposed to turn off all their lights for an hour. We decided to participate. We got out candles and everyone piled on to our bed. My husband read everyone a book and then all the kids told ghost stories (very entertaining from 4 year olds!). We had such a good time we try to do this every weekend. Maybe not for an hour, but definitely family time to candle light!

Hi Ali,
It's amazing to me that taking a walk/hike around your neighborhood or out in nature is such a simple and wonderful thing to do as a family. It makes you slow down, take time to talk, notice the things around you ...stop to smell the flowers. We are frequent hikers with our boys, and it's a wonderful family activity. Easy and inexpensive too!
Thanks,
Audrey

Our family of 4 likes to go out for gelato once a month. Our tradition in the summer is to take a dip in the pool for about a half hour- after dinner & before bedtime. In Arizona it is the best time to go swimming!

We love to take our dune buggy to the coast for the weekend. It is a four seater so we can all ride together and then play down at the beach. So relaxing to have a hobby that all of us can do together.

When my kids were growing up I had a can that was called Mom's Can Of Questions. After dinner almost every night we would pull that out and I would pick a card for each kid to answer. I have 7 kids so there was lots of talking and everyones different answer. It was always so much fun and kept us at the table for so much longer then we had planed. It also helped cleaning up after dinner so much more fun since the talk kept us going as we cleaned. I missed those days and them all being home. Their grown now most of them and have lives of their own now. It goes so fast, it's gone in a blink of a eye. Would love to have this new book to use with my granddaughters. Thanks so much Ali for all you do for us.

We love to be in the kitchen together. My older two (10 and 8) help me cook. My 3-year-old helps "cook" as well - stirring and pouring. The baby is in the high chair and then we all eat together!! Such good times.

Looks great....woudl love to have this book.
Love the products you highlight. Jess

There are so many, it's hard to narrow down. My son and i bond A LOT over cooking together. As a family we play games EVERY night before bed time routine. It's a ton of fun and laughs.

We love to take our boat out on the nearby river. We live really close so we pack up a cooler and snacks and head out. We turn off the boat and look around at the beautiful place we live and are thankful for one another.

Hi Ali,
My husband and my 3 year old daughter are always baking which is great for family time but not for our diets! Our daughter has been cracking eggs since she was two. Life doesn't get any better than standing around an oven waiting for the warm cookies to come out.

With 3 boys our favorite family time is when we all wrestle. All five of us get down on the floor and practice our best moves, Me as the only girl in the house would love it if we would go on a nice quiet walk or some scrap time but no I am out # and get pulled down by my oldest(10) and sat on by my baby(2) while my middle(6) child finds my tickel spot!
I treasure those moments.

I would love to win this for a friend's daughter and her three little ones!
Surprisingly enough - the death 2 years ago of my mother has brought my small family of sister, niece, nephew and families (their Nana)in three states together. We have a great time telling tales on Nana and Granddaddy since they aren't there to defend themselves!
~Mad(elyn) in Alabama

Our new found hobby as a family is geocaching! It's a great way of getting all the family out to the great outdoors, and spend some quality time together (and provides many photo shoots and scrapping opportunities too) My kids are 14, 7 & 5 so it can be hard to find things to do, that all of them are interested in! I'd highly recommend any one to check it out.

We have dim sum every Sunday with my husband's family.

Our favorite family activity right now is our family Wii night. We all play and have a treat and it's a lot of fun. I've had my eye on that book so I would love to win it! :) Thanks!

what cool fun stuff

There are lots of things we do as a family together...I'd have to say my favorite thing is hang out at the movies!! We have an awesome theater here...it's in an airplane hangar!! When life is crazy busy we all head to The Hangar for our favorite Baked Ziti and bread. We talk and laugh and catch up with one another. Then it's just a few steps to a movie. We share a big tub of popcorn and soda, laugh and goof off in the theater then watch our favorite flick. Once we surprised the kids and had a double feature night. That was such a BLAST!! Movie-dinner then another movie!!