Three Things : Weekdays + Creative Family Giveaway

Right now we are just a family of 2..but I can remember growing up the best thing to do as a family was the road trips. Pack up the station wagon (with faux wood siding) and two kids in the back separated by pillows so we would not fight (like that worked!). But I will always have those memories of seeing all the sights and asking "are we there yet" frequently. Hopefully someday I will be able to do that with my kids!

We love to bike ride outdoors in nature as a family. It inspires us to live healthy lives and appreciate our world!

Our favorite thing to do together as a family is walk to the park. We just moved into a new house that has a great park within walking distance. Once we get there, the kids love to play.

We like to go to the zoo. We got an annual family pass, so we can go for a short amount of time if our 16 month old gets tired and not have wasted money.

Our favorite thing as a family-hmmm...it could be "Movie the week night" on Saturdays where we play old films from the Marx Brothers, etc...
or it could be going to used bookstores together...
or it could be just the 3 of us sitting in the living room together as one plays with his legos, one works in her journal and the other works on the computer and we're all talking and laughing as we do this...hmmm... ;)

Each night we gather as a family after the jammies have been put on and teeth brushed to say prayers and talk about what we're thankful for. More often than not, the boys talk about being thankful for their brothers and for mommy & daddy. No matter how the day went, brothers fighting, mommy & daddy losing it, talking about all the things that went right in the day allows us to say in fact, it was a good day.

My two favorite things to do with my family, one "creative (I made it up) and one not: Any dinner where we are all present together (not as often as I like now that 2 of them are teens), we play "Good/Bad". We go around the table once and each person tells a good thing about their day and a bad thing. The bad thing is optional but good never is. I love getting a little peak at what was important or meaningful to them that day. And I love if no one can think of anything bad that day! Our other family constant is movies. We try to go a couple times a month, all together. We sit in a long line and share popcorn and sodas and sour jacks. The whole deal. We laugh and might be a bit too loud sometimes, but we love it. Like you, I watched Amanda launch her book and I sure wish it had been out when my kids were little.
tonya

As a family we like to go bike riding down by the Mississippi River. I have been following Amanda Soule's Blog and enjoy her creativity as well as yours.

Since we have about 30 family members locally, we celebrate at least one birthday each month--with as many as 5 in a month. Birthday parties are one of our favorite things and finding ways to make them unique is something that brings us together.

My family always used to go to brunch on Sundays after church, with my grandparents. It always felt so special to try out a new restaurant or visit one of our old "favorites". Regardless of where we ended up, it was always a great family bonding time--everyone together to talk and not worry about cleaning up the dishes or having to cook.

Our family loves to go swimming every Friday. It is fun for us to be doing the same thing and only focusing on each other. There is not a phone ringing, television or the dog barking to distract us from each other.

Camping together in our trailer. No distractions. A close second would be time in our hot tub.

This book looks awesome...can't wait to get my hands on it!

Our favorite family activity is "Family Movie Night". Most Fridays we rent a movie, order pizza, and bake brownies. We love it!
Our two girls, ages 9 and 6, don't let us forget it!
Steph
Tillamook, OR

Our favorite thing to do as a family is hike! There is no gameboys, laptops, tvs, or radios to take away our attention!! Living in NH we have many options for hikes:)

What a treasure of great ideas in all of these comments. Lately one of our favs is to head to Heritage Park, a local park with lots of green space, old trains, a boat ride and a few small rides. Great for our family of 3 children 4 & under. Great for mom and dad b/c there is so much space and breathtaking scenery!

With just a newborn baby, we loved to lay in bed with Emerson in between us and talk about all the cute new things that he did that day.

My favorite thing right now is watching my two year old discover new things or achieve new accomplishments. It such a gift to be able to see things again thru a 2 year old's eyes. It's amazing how such small things like this can bring such big pleasures!

We love being, literally, close to each other. Whether smooshed on the couch watching a movie that makes us all laugh, eating in a restaurant booth, or crammed in our small computer room while Dad is on the computer and the rest of us working on separate little projects.

Bowling! We actually have gone bowling on Thanskgiving nights the last few years and its so much fun. I think everyone can just let loose when they're doing that.
Thanks for the book suggestion though-- my friend just had a baby and its a perfect gift!

OH Ali!! I have been looking for this book! Our local bookstore didn't have it in and now it is on your giveaway...the law of attraction is working for me ;o)
Thank you for the opportunity.
m

Hi my fav time is when the grand kids come round they shout nana it melts my heart, it has taken Adam my autistic son nearly 3 years to acknowlege the grand kids it so important to have a close knit family. xxx

Our most favorite thing to do is on a weekend where we don't have a million things to do... the kids cuddle up in our bed and we hang out and watch cartoons until we feel we are hungry and then we mosey into the kitchen. I love that time because we laugh and talk and giggle and play together.

Eat dinner together every night; so many families today that I talk to are so busy they don't; but we do and it is the best time...no creativity here just great family time to share our days, read a book (once I'm done eating, since I do the reading - like the Chronicles of Narnia), and laugh - we do alot of that.

It is a toss up right now. My little girls are addicted to making chalk drawings on our driveway, and we have spent many evenings outside drawing and playing with their bikes. Sounds so ordinary, but I just love it. I also love when we go to a local park to feed the ducks. They (the girls) are so cute and get so excited as the ducks eat up the bread that we brought for them.