Three Things : Weekdays + Creative Family Giveaway

Our favorite activity as a family is Saturday mornings--with the spring here-we will go treasure hunting (at garage sales) and hit the local farmers market. We call them our little adventures. We all look forward to this time.

Read-aloud time at night when we all snuggle up together for some good books.
:)

I think I've just found our family favorite this weekend. We went out for a picknick in the fields for the first time with the four of us. Brought delicious food. Certainly planning to do that more often. Maybe even plan a little more ahead (more delicious food to prepare ;)). Totally loved the sense of freedom being outside, fresh air, all together, just great.

On the weekends we enjoy cuddling in bed with the boys early in the morning. We tickle, sing songs, recite the aphabet... just chillin' and enjoying each other's company.

My boys are 20 months apart--ages 4.5 and almost 3--so, we have to be creative...and even more creative, the hotter it gets, in FL! Our most favorite times spent together, at this age and stage, are times spent at the beach with just the 4 of us.....we discovered last weekend, that when we add "others"--family OR friends (hey, we hit the beach 3 times on Mother's Day weekend....and did it different each time!), it's just "not as fun" as when the 4 of us are on our own schedule and we can walk, or swim, or bury each other, or hunt for shells or "surf" (boogie boarding, to the 4.5 yr. old), etc. My husband and I melt, when the boys say "This is the best day EVER" on the way home---sun kissed cheeks, salt drying on their faces....and sand in their cracks! That, IS, the best day ever!

We love to travel together, but something more common that we love to do as a family is go to the library. We have our routine and have E pick out a few books & then we usually peruse the cd & video collection. We all love it!

Our favorite thing to do as a family is to eat dinner together. This is an important time when we get to catch up on things that happened at school that day. We also will play a game together after dinner such as UNO, Hi Ho Cherry O or another one of our 50 board games that we own. Family time is very important to us.

We like to go fishing. Only Dad really fishes... I bring a book to read and snap photos and the boys look for cool things along the shore or play with Dad's lures if we're in the boat. It's usually very relaxing and just nice to be together.

We have a outdoor fire place, (bought at Menards for $150) A little firewood, some marshmellows and a package of hot dogs, all adds up up a heck of a good time at our house.

it's really simple, but our favorite thing to do together as a family that brings us closer together is eating!

thanks for your inspiring ideas! our favorite things to do as a family that keeps us close is wrestling together-fun and it gets my little guys energy out:)

Playing outside together - badminton, track ball. games that let the kids come and go.

Here in AZ we swim a lot. My kids love the water and it's a fun family play time.

Eating meals together is a staple in our family - our oldest two boys have a say in one meal a week - usually their favorite healthy meal. But the one "event" that has been fun for our kids to plan is one day a month, they "plan" a family event - includes an activity of their choice and a "healthy" meal of their choice - or a recipe for a meal that they'd like to be a part of making (and anything else that they can think of - music selection in the van, etc...). We mark it on the calendar and it is their "sacred" day. Only one rule, just to change it up - no day within the year can be the same!! :) Have a great day and thanks for your everyday inspiration...

I've had my eye on that book for a while! As a family we love a good Saturday evening at home with Daddy grilling and everyone playing outside. Gotta cherish these moments when the kids still want to be at home with us on Saturday night! :)

My favourite thing to do with my three boys is to play road hockey. We all have sticks and it's usually dad against the three boys and me (and dad usually still wins) but it's fun exercise and great together time.

Right now with my DH deployed my favorite thing to do with my 16 month old is just look at pictures of his daddy, so he can stay fresh in his mind.

We love to go on walks together or anything outside.

Snuggling on a Sunday morning - with no place to go and only our family to say this relaxing time with!

One of our fave things to do as a family is go on a "mystery cruise" which is everyone loading in the car and hea ding somewhere where our 3 1/2 yo son (and our 6 mo old son isn't quite up to speed on this yet) doesn't know where we are going. It could be a playground (new or old), for ice cream, a nearby airport to see planes or helicopters, a walk over a bridge, etc but the bottom line is that he doesn't know where we are going and the surprise (and now he's old enough to guess based on landmarks) is so much fun. :) It usually isn't somewhere "monumental" although it can be. Heidi