Three Things : Weekdays + Creative Family Giveaway

Ali, our favourite family times include reading children's classics together aloud. At the moment we are reading Prince Caspian. A close second is playing Mario and Sonic at the Olympics on the Wii, lots of laughter.
Thanks
Ange

The thing that we like to do as a family is to garden. I love to watch my children as their plants start to grow. The excitement is contagious as their smiles are as big as possibly can be.

Like so many other Moms out there, my favorite family activity is dinner time. It is at the dinner table that I watch my little ones grow and mature,it gives me so much pleasure and fullfillment.
I am sure that when I am old I will sit on the porch and remember all the things we talked about while eating dinner. All the things we shared about our day, all that we learned about each other and from each other...these are the things I will remember.The laughter will ring in my ears despite my faded hearing.

We love taking long walks together.

Our favorite thing to do as a family together is eat ice cream. If we could, we would do this every night. My little boy enjoys helping mommy scoop out the ice cream, then passing out the cups to everyone...just as much as he enjoys eating it. Ok, maybe he enjoys eating it just a little more... ;)

Sunday morning blueberry pancakes....our w/e favorite way to spend the morning.
Tx for the chance. Great website!

sleeping in and being silly....
those are the best times!

Simple, but effective...we make sure to eat dinner together as a family every night. Sometimes we watch tv during dinner, but mostly we talk. My kids like to play the question game. Rules: First person asks a question (cannot be yes or no, must be open-ended) and everyone answers. There are no wrong answers and you must be respectful and listen when someone else is talking. Then it goes around the table and everyone gets a chance to be the "asker". Fun to see what's important to each of my children. :)

I Love her blog! and i've flipped through it and it looks like a great book.
We like to shop at Trader Joe's, PC Market, and our local food coop-Grower's Market. At the coop we will often: eat and shop, help out at the register and Grace our 6.5 yr old daughter will even weigh, tally and cash out customers. It really feels like a family owned thing.
i'd like to also turn you onto a local Eugene author and a friend of mine, Ginger Carlson and her new book Child of Wonder: Nurturing Creative and Naturally Curious Children. You can check out her website http://gingercarlson.com/Welcome.html My daughter is on the cover. You can never have too many ideas.

We do lots of fun activities with the kids, but nothing beats reading together. When you're all cuddled up together, enjoying a story and the great artwork in children's books, you can't help but feel close.

Hey Ali...
My favorite thing to do as a family (as unconventional as mine is...) is to pray. I have a few reasons for this... a) it can be done ANYWHERE! b) it's FREE!, and c) it brings us together while we give thanks.
:)Anne

We ride razors and wave boards together...all four of us.

Hi Ali,
My family spends tons of time in the car going to the store, school, soccer and baseball games, etc. We love to sing together in the car, the sillier the better, until we are laughing more than singing. Fun times

Hi Ali,
We do plenty of things with our kids (2 girls aged 4 and 5). Some of our favorite things are going to the zoo and going for a walk on the beach.

our fav thing to do as a family is to have a meal together. Weekly nice homecooked meal together w the whole family including grandma, mom and dad, my sisters and nieces, brother in law & my hubby... 4 generations sitting @ the table catching up. So much laughter so much going on. awesome!

My favorite thing to do as a family is staying at home and watching movies. These are the best times for me, I will pop some popcorn and we have our own "movies" here at home.

With three girls in the house now, (16 yrs, 10yrs & 5months) It's all about hair products. We like to sit around and brush, style, and play with each others hair. It's relaxing and we have great 'remember when' times...I love it!!

Hi Ali,
I have just started scrapbooking about 2 months ago, and came across your name and blog. Was impressed by your creativity.
For us, together we loved to read to our daughter, Jasmine(5 years old), we take turns to read and the other one will be doin the role and noises. And it has been always fun for our daughter. Now, she is able to read a little which make this moment more precious!!

Hey Ali!
I have a 2 year old son who is also named Simon! He loves anything to do with art. Our little family of three can often be found after bath time laying on the livingroom floor coloring together. He likes to tell us what colors to use. lol
Simon also loves to scrap with me. He comes up to me and says, "Mommy cwap?" lol. I know it doesn't sound good but he is really asking if he can use my punches. Give that boy some ugly paper, a punch and a glue stick and he is happy for hours!

going for walks. the best thing. ever.

Just spending time together, eating dinner or being in the garden. we have a lot of fun together.
Thanks for the inspiration,
Rachel

Without a doubt it is our daily rituals that bring us so close together. My fave: bedtime ritual, the same each night. My husband gets Max (who is 2+) ready for bed and i wait for the: MOOOOM, COME LOOOK. And i already grin because i know what i'm going to see. Every night... Cuz he never wants to hide anywhere else then behind the curtains, together with his daddy... His daddy is two meters tall, so this is what i walk into every night (imagine also loud giggles behind the curtain) (it's the topphoto):
http://scrappersparadise.typepad.com/scrappersparadise/2008/05/together-and-little-file-of-solved-cases.html#comments

Oh, that book looks really lovely :)
We have a 3 1/2 year old boy who loves running outside, so we just have so much fun in the week-endswhen we can spend all day either in the garden or going for a hike.
And also, he loves drawing and cooking with us and we include him in a lot of tasks we do at home and in the garden and he is so happy to participate :)
Have a lovely day :) ToneF

That book looks amazing
My husband and I have a 10 month old boy and although his only still little, every night before he goes to bed, we all read a story together. I feel it's important to instill family time right from the start.

Our favorite thing to do lately is play Wii bowling or golf. My son and husband are so competitive it becomes very commical to watch. I guess the best thing about it is that my daughter and I get a free show.