Three Things : Weekdays + Creative Family Giveaway

Since we are a new family, Cason is only 2 mos old, many outings are too 'big'. Church has proved to be the best place for us.. The saying 'It takes a village to raise a child' proves itself each time we walk in the door. Not only is everyone concerned about the baby but they make sure my husband and I are doing well and adjusting to our new life. What a true blessing!!

I'm a huge fan of both your blog and Amanda Soule's, and I would absolutely love to have her book. Thank you for the giveaway, Ali!
Launa

My family loves to eat so pretty much every occassion calls for a barbeque at my parents' backyard. My mom's brother & sister live in the same neighborhood with their families plus some very close family friends are nearby so there's always a birthday/anniversary/event to be celebrated. It's a great time to catch up while filling up on yummy food!

We like to hike together, adding the impromptu photo session as the moment allows. :)

We love to cook meals together and read together.
What a great way to get some more family ideas!

Our family (me, DH Dave and DD Lexie) loves being outdoors - it really doesn't matter what we're doing - playing on the playset, kicking around the soccer ball, going for a walk, even cleaning the garage! As long as all 3 of us are together, we always have fun!

I love your blog and I would love the chance to win Amanda's book. We love playing "I spy with my little eye" with our son and we love reading books together. We also love doing crafts together. He especially likes to decorate t-shirts lately. It's a great way to spend quality time together. Thanks!

Our family favorites have changed as the kids grew. Although our family has changed significantly in the last several years (our 15 year old daughter was killed in a car accident, youngest daughter is headed to DC for an internship this summer, son diagnosed with ADD and successfully treated) one thing has never changed: we tell each other "I love you" many times a day. Even when my daughter is away at college she will e-mail or call just to tell us she loves us. Even when our son is having a meltdown and I'm at the very end of my rope I'll stop and tell him I love him. It's the last thing we say to each other whenever we part and the last thing we say at bedtime. You can never say it enough!

every night
at supper
we do a roundtable, take your turn
at telling
the worst part of your day
and the best...
it is a great way to get a
sneak peek into what is going on in
their lives and their heads...
at eight and almost-13
that is sometimes hard to do...
:0)

my husband and i have always tried to teach our kids to be different and explore unusual things - the best gift we can give them is the confidence to explore the greater world around them...we enjoy sailing together - it's something different that many people do not get to experience, yet such an amazing way to be at the hands of mother nature and the winds she provides!

Hi Ali,
When I went back to work full-time, I felt a disconnect occuring in my family. So I came up with a little concept. Every Friday my family gets together for F3 (Family Fun Friday). My 8 year old plans and cooks dinner (last week it was scrambled eggs, buffalo wing pretzels, gummie bears and hot chocolate)...he loves doing this. Then we eat it together (with smiles on our faces). Then we play a game (we take turns choosing), we talk about our cause (Surfrider Foundation)...and choose upcoming activities related to that (i.e., beach cleanups, etc). Then we have the Honesty Circle...this takes about 5 minutes and this is where you can express ANYTHING without being corrected, judged, and you are free from getting in trouble (cuz you might be coming clean about something). We go over tickets earned for good deeds and we post them inside a sillouette of each child and the things we need to "learn from" get written on the outside of the sillouette. This is a self concept thing that help them see that the not so good stuff are really lessons to learn from and the stuff that goes inside the sillouette, are all about them. This is just a little sampling. There is a whole other laundry list of activities that I am adding little by little. Cool stuff! Like learning to think positively. We have a litte agenda every week and the 8 year old is in charge of running the F3 session. He gains lots of pride in this. The little one will do this when he can read (now he really wants to learn to read). I am so going to buy the book you've posted about. Thanks for reading and letting others read about this family activity of ours.

We love dinner together, reading out loud or visiting a playgound--even though we're all grown.

Sorry, I didn't properly read the instructions. In our family, we have Conversation Time right before sleep. My husband and I take turns dreaming and scheming with each of our two children, and then we switch. Sometimes we sing, sometimes we tell each other stories, sometimes we don't say much. It's always during Conversaton Time that I find out what really happened during their day, what they really feel about our upcoming move, what's really on their minds. It's pure gold. Thank you for asking.

Playing cards. Yup, just a deck of cards and a gathering of people. Blissfully simple, and absolutely heavenly.

Our favorite thing to do together as a family is to go on a walk. We take our dog with us and just walk around the neighborhood, say hi to the other people walking and check out the flowers, trees, clouds and catch up with each other's day.

The one thing that brings us closer every night is when we sit down all 4 of us (includes hubby) and we let each child pick out a book and we read bed time stories. They usually smell all good from baths and are a little sleepy from the day, it's perfect.
Wow I would love to sit down and peruse a book like this, especially with summer approaching and two toddlers. Thanks for a great blog and giveaways.

Our favorite thing is Family Home Evening--we do this every Monday night. It's consistent, it's time spent together, and it's fun. Sometimes we go out for ice cream, sometimes we clean the yard together and talk about taking care of the earth, sometimes we have little lessons about our values and God, etc. Always we sing songs and have treats and just hang out.

Our favorite pastime as a family is to head out to the lake, hang out at the beach together, play in the water and connect without any of our daily distractions.
Dawn in Saskatoon

we love to take walks holding hands, playing bubbles outside and singing crazy songs that we usually are making up as we go along :)

The one thing that we do to bring our family closer together is playing board games. We has two boys 8 and 9 and they love to play games. I think it brings us closer because we all laugh and joke together while playing.
This books looks super interesting. Sounds like a really great read!
Thanks for the much needed inspiration you give, Ali. I'm sure I'm not just speaking for myself here either. You really do provide tons of inspiration to many, many people. Thanks!

My favorite family time activities vary by season. In the winter months I love to go off-roading in the Bronco or on the quads (this often accompanies a camping trip to the desert.) The riding is fun, but the time we spend talking when we stop for breaks is great. During the hot, desert summer I enjoy going to the river, either on the boat or just hanging out at a beach. Again, it's a relaxing time where we can just be a family without many other worries or conerns.

We love to read a book aloud together at night before bedtime, and all enjoyed the Little House on the Prarie series immensely this past year!

One of our favourite things to do as a family ( besides SNUGGLES!) is to play UNO - our four kids ages almost 6, 8, 9 and 11 all can play, and we have so many laughs just playing together.

The five of us pile into our bed and watch a movie and eat popcorn. Of course lots of love, snuggling, and wrestling takes place as well, but it's our time to take a break from reality!

Right now it is just my husband and I but one thing we do to make sure that we like to do to stay close is to have what we call cuddle bug moments. They can happen at any time. We just cuddle and talk about whatever comes to mind. Sometimes we just cuddle and just enjoy being near each other.