Three Things : Weekdays + Creative Family Giveaway

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.

One thing we've done this week is to plant our garden! My children loved helping dig the dirt, using their own shovels and then helped us plant the vegetables and flowers. This is such a great way to spend time together talking, working, and teaching values. Hurray for spring and summer!

Hi Ali...
I had to chuckle to myself as I thought about a favorite thing to do with my family and just recently...this past weekend, I had everyone pitch in to clean house. We turned on the Direct TV to the Top 20 playlist and me, my DH and my 4 year old boy/girl twins dusted, vacummed and put away laundry, toys, and anything that was out of place. The fun part was taking breaks and having the twins put on mini concerts and my hubby even joined in with a dance routine. Music is one thing that really ties my family together and when we put it together with housechores, it did not seem like work..it was time well spent
Thank you for letting me share

we just started this last year in my family as "the baby" is now an adult. We took a vacation to the mountains. Sounds so simple but it was awesome! we fished, we played cards, we talked, we hiked. before we even left we were making plans for this year - and in about a month we'll be heading out again!

We do lots together, we play games board or card, we all craft together even my son, and we all photography together...we each have our own camera and my son wants to be a photographer like me when he grows up.
We hope to do more camping, and family outtings, and playing ball together since my son is now in his first tball league.
Thanks,
Tara

I love to travel as a family. Right now it is just my husband and I and we are relishing new experiences together. It's a great way to stay connected and build memories.