Three Things : Weekdays + Creative Family Giveaway

One fun thing we do together as a family is "count your blessings." Usually this is done during dinner around the table, but often other places. It's just a time to go around and each of us says what we are thankful for that day. No copying each other! A great reminder that no matter the kind of day, good things are there. Many blessings.
--Donna

My litlle family ( me & two sons ) like reading together just before getting to sleep.
Even my sons are 14 and 11 years old , they seem to like it very much.

One of my favorite family activities is to go outside after supper and play ball in the yard - with 2 young boys, it's nice to use up some of their energy and it gets them ready for bed. Lots of laughs are exchanged!!

One of my favorite family activities is to go outside after supper and play ball in the yard - with 2 young boys, it's nice to use up some of their energy and it gets them ready for bed. Lots of laughs are exchanged!!

With three 3 and under we have lots of together time. The best is reading stories at the end of the day. Especially when my 3 yr old "reads" and my 5 month old joins in by trying to eat the pages! It is a great way to end the day.
Fiona

Our favorite family activity is cooking together. Our girls, especially our oldest loves everything about cooking, from reading the recipe, to mixing the ingredients, to enjoying the final product. They always seem to co-operate more when cooking together than at any other time. My husband has become the official taster and is always very complimentary of their efforts. They love that!!

Our fave family activity... well if you call it that is reading. Our kiddos are 3 and 1 so we haven't really progressed to book~books but each bedtime we all squish together on our small couch and read to each other. It just 'seals' the day and we have that 30 mins or so of peace and tranquility.
We are passing on the love of books to our kids and the importance of stories. Whether they be made-up or our own :)

We love to do lots of things. We love playing the Wii together. It is a blast for all of us. We also love to go camping. Camping gets us away from work and other activities that we have everyday. We can go into the woods and just have family time. We love to sit by the fire and just talk and just enjoy ourselves. In the everyday, we eat breakfast together. It is a great time just to talk and spend time together in the mornings before we all start our hectic days.

Something my family lovingly calls "bed wrestle" this usually starts w/ my husband groaning like Frankenstein. My kids here him groaning and he chases them to the "big bed" for wrestling, flopping and hiding under the sheets

Thanks for such great inspiration!

Thanks Ali! Our favorite thing to do as a family is to eat dinner each night. We go around the table and talk about 1 great thing that happened that day.

I love all of your work Ali -- thanks for sharing.
One of my favorite things we do as a family is play the High/Low game at dinner. Everyone has to say their low (if they have one) from the day first, and then we go around and tell our highs (as many as you want, but at least one) for the day. It's an excellent opportunity to get everyone talking!
TriciaH

Hi Ali!
Cute book. I think that mom making us organize our own rooms or the Barbie closet (even though we HATED it then) made us the super organized creators that we are today. I'd love to read more of the ideas in the book.
Love you!
jessica

Hi Ali! Thanks for the give-away chance and for sharing your blog. I love reading it! ... My favorite thing to do together as a family is go for hikes at state parks. No cell phones, no TV, no video games - just good, old-fashioned family time...with a good bit of nature mixed in!

Hi Ali! With 5 children (4yrs-14) we don't have any specific things we do as a family. Every so often we take the kids somewhere that is a suprise. They don't know where until we get there (Build-A-Bear, paint your own pottery, etc.) We do board games sometimes. Last year we had season passes to a water park, so we spent a lot of time there. This year we have a boat and moved to the lake. Now that it's warm we spend a lot of time on the boat and in the water together.

Cool give away. Please count me in. Thanks. :)

My favorite new thing to do as a family is our weekly taco night. I am trying to be better about making a 'family' meal for the three of us. My son is turning five and he is a pretty picky eater. I came up with our weekly taco nights and we all sit down and have fun making our tacos with all the toppings. It's something I look forward to all week and so does my son.

We love to go for drives. Not so fun now that gas prices are crazy. Just sitting in the car, sharing thoughts, stories, feelings while we drive to the destination of the day. Favorite destinations would have to be the mountains or else the zoo.

While it would be great to win this book, I want to thank you for putting this question out there because we all get to read other's responses. Great for ideas.
We have Friday pizza/movie night. While a lot of the time we pick a pizza up, sometimes we get our hands dirty and make one. We can use some fun ingredients and my 5 year old son loves to help!
Occasionally, after I bring my boys home from daycare we have what I like to call "Afterschool Dance Party". We put some music on and just boogie!
And finally, my older son really enjoys art. Coloring, painting, stickers, scrapbooking....So when I'm scrapbooking, he loves to get out his Art Box and do something with me. That makes me so happy.
Thanks Ali.

We find it really important to end the day together at dinner. Not only is the time sitting down special, but all the prep together is a great time for bonding while creating!
We also spend a lot of time in the summer camping. A great way to step away from the rush of daily living.

I don't know if I have a favorite activity. I cherish anytime that the three of us are together! Just the three of us enjoying each others company.

I love riding on the Parkway and looking at the mountains. Sometimes we will take a picnic lunch and eat on the side of the road! I so love it and it is very peaceful!

We love to go to the beach on Lake Erie right after dinner, but before dusk. The tide is low then and the boys can brum trucks through the water. The warmer weather is upon us, so we will be able to start going again and we can't wait. It is our favorite time together and look forward to it all spring.

Hi Ali,
One thing that we like to do as a family that we all enjoy is to do a nature treasure hunt. We love to be outdoors & go on nature hikes together. Sometimes I will make up a list that each of us will get a copy of to take on our hike with us. It may have things listed on it (usually accompanied by a small drawing that I add in) of such items as ....a yellow leaf, a stone with a stripe, a butterfly, a twig shaped like the letter Y, a birds nest...etc, etc. Then we try to see who can find everything on their list first. Or if its just my son & I hiking together we may work on the list together just for fun. My kids like it for the fun & challenge...but I also like it because it makes us more aware of out surroundings while we are enjoying out walk.

We eat dinner together most nights and always ask each other the question, "What was your favorite thing that happened today?" Some very interesting things are learned around our table!