Foot~tastic Family Night.

A night dedicated to feet. Even though I skipped the pedicures to avoid intense humiliation on the part of my eleven year old son, it turned out to be a fun night. The night began with a yummy dinner. Foot long sandwiches made to order and some fruit by the foot for dessert.

And of course, we all had to stand on our own two feet to eat it...the whole time.

After dinner Taylor presented a failry dramatic interpretation of the Foot Book...

 

We wrapped up the night with multiple rounds and variations of foot volleyball.

A simple piece of yarn or string tied between two anythings and you have a net. A balloon becomes the ball. Rules are FEET ONLY and BOTTOMS OFF THE GROUND WHILE BALL IS IN PLAY.

Lest you think our family nights are calm, carefree, and all shiny happy people...

I leave you with the following picture.

That's how it goes sometimes...

Have a fantastic weekend with your families!

xo.

Emergency Family Night.

What happens when one of your best friends ends up in the hospital to undergo immediate and emergency surgery, just a couple hours before family night is supposed to happen?

Well the answer is simple...you gather your kids and explain the situation.

Get the 10.99 pizza coupon from the drawer and a movie for the rest of the family to enjoy at home.

Immediately depart for the hospital...trying to get there before they wheel her into surgery.

Family Nights aren't 100 percent of the time about only blood relatives...sometimes you just gotta roll.



Yes, I did consider having the family at home play a game, but thought that might be a BIT over the top. Despite the fact that Nicole would have greatly appreciated the humor in it.



Nicole is at home minus one gall bladder and appendix, but on the mend. My kids learned a valuable lesson about the importance of people first....and I am glad I got to make it to see her and give her a big 'ol smooch... cuz she is one of a kind.

Family nights will resume next week. Enjoy your weekend.

XO.

Family Nights Do's and Don'ts.

Since I began posting about our family nights, I have had so many questions about the logistics of how we pull this off. I thought I would jot down a few thoughts on some of the things I have learned so far...


DO:

1. Decide your dates in advance. Then put them on the calendar. WHATEVER number of family nights that is reasonable and doable for your family. Once a month, once a week? Doesn't matter. Just decide and commit.

2. Plan your themes at one time. Sit down and plan your upcoming family night themes. I usually do mine for 3 months at a time. Make a list. Shop (if necessary) in advance. I have a cupboard in my home that's ready for upcoming family nights. It's full of bargains I find while I'm out, supplies I have purchased, after holiday sales, left overs from parties, etc.

3. Utilize the web for inspiration. www.familyfun.com is my number one resource for all family night ideas. Other resources are blog's, birthday party idea sites, and GOOGLE. Try even picking an object....like feathers. Build a family night around it. Search it's history, find a recipe, a craft project, clothing item.....It's out there!

4. Have a place to collect your future family night ideas. Create a binder, a folder on your computer, or a journal in your purse.

5. Get out of the box. Do the unexpected. Don't do a Valentine's theme family night in Feb. Do it in September and use the after Valentines Day sale items you purchased from the previous year. It's more fun. Do am "I Miss Christmas Party" in the summer....the weird is more memorable.

6. Tell your family, friends, and Facebook when your family nights are...the anticipation and accountability is a good thing!

7. Keep it Simple. This is the whole reason for pre planning. The last thing anyone needs is to have something else on their to do list. Don't let it cause more stress. Back off if it is! Stress is not the point.

DON'T:

1. Be discouraged when things don't go as planned. MANY a family night in my house has a minimum of one fight, one meltdown, or a bucket of tears. It's o.k. DO NOT STOP!

2. Spend tons of money. It's not necessary. Frugal Family Nights are just as much fun.

3. Tell your kids in advance what the theme is going to be...keep 'em guessing. This way you can also make last minute adjustments if necessary. I don't usually even tell my kids what's coming up, once the night is revealed. Sometimes projects or games take longer then planned and then you can delete something off of your agenda without any disappointed people.

4. Don't be so hard on yourself. Do not say "I'm not creative" or "I'm too busy". The resources are out there. USE THEM. You can even get together with a friend and commit to 6...Each of you plan 3 and share. Spend a little time to get organized and remember The TIME your family spends together is the best part.

5. Don't be surprised at the potential addiction that you might experience. The memories will be amazing....I guarantee it.

The B Night Family Night.

Deviation from the originally scheduled family night tonight. Those usually end up being the best and tonight was no exception. With the parade of storms this past week, we had been inside way too much and I definitely was feeling stir crazy. At about 3 pm today, the "B" night was planned. I usually try and keep family nights at home and cheap. However, we had gift cards from Christmas and I needed to get out :)... so "rules" are always made to be broken, right?

B night How to's:

Take your stir crazy family to BAJA FRESH. Speak each word starting with the letter B, but don't say niche, itch, or stitch...

Head over to BORDERS and read BOOKS while sitting on your BUTTS...

Finally, complete the evening with a trip to BASKIN ROBBINS...

A night well spent...

Enjoy your family time this week...

Happy Weekend.

Chicken and Worms Family Night.

These items make up our chicken and worms family night. Chick fil a chicken & fries, accompanied by sour gummy worms and 100 chickens and a worm puzzle.

I was walking around Target (shocking, I know) the other night and low and behold...there was this puzzle. I have always found the 100 dogs and a cat thing so funny. Now there was a 100 chickens and a worm, and in puzzle form. It jumped in my basket immediately. For 6.99 and a couple bucks for gummy worms, this week's family night was created.

There is a batman chicken, zebra chicken, two headed chicken, and of course a worm. It's awesome AND huge. 750 pieces. No way we would finish it tonight, but it will sit in the dining room and hopefully over the next couple of weeks, we can get it done. I actually love making puzzles.

We had our dinner and then munched on gummy worms while getting started on it...

We got the outside DONE...

We took a break to play worm, worm, chicken...similiar to duck, duck, goose. Well o.k. exactly the same except you say worm, worm, chicken. I have to give a shout out to my Gina, for this game. She suggested it while we were on the phone today. It was so super fun.

And you probably guessed it by now...we wrapped up the night with the chicken dance...

It's amazing what a little puzzle can inspire....

Hope you have fun times with your families this week.

Blackout Night.

The first Family Night of twenty-ten was a smashing success. The kids were wound up all day long in anticipation of returning to our absolutely favorite family tradition.

I sent the kids upstairs while I prepared, which involved going on a candle and flashlight hunt. I gathered up what I could, turned off all electricity, prayed to the Lord that the candles would stay vertical.

We informed the kids of the travesty that occurred...we will have to man up and do family night in the dark. Instantly there was lots of pointing out the running clocks on the stove, the backyard light (oops), and humm of the refrigerator. Emma, quite proudly, turned the kitchen light on just to be sure. Once everyones curiosity was satisfied that we were in fact, lying (for the sake of fun) about it, we moved on to dinner.

We grabbed what we could from the pantry and the refrigerator (quickly so as not to lose the cold). It consisted of lunch meats, cheese, sandwiches, tortillas warmed by candlelight, and fruit. The only casualty during dinner was a Hansen's soda. Not bad, overall.

These were the rest of the activities:

crowning Shawn the champion in Candy Land

flashlight tag

shadow puppets

reading stories, and

being thankful that our fireplace, still works when the power is out.

it was great, it was easy, and it cost nothing. The only thing we were missing was an actual storm.

Can't wait 'til next week.

Cameron Night.

I plan to have a family night celebrating each person in our family. So far, we have had Cameron night. I had a meal that was all of Cameron's favorites...Pineapple, Chevy's chips, and Chevy's tortillas made into quesadillas. My boy is all things science. I scoured Family Fun and found a test tube cake, buggie wonder mold, edible eyeballs (almost turned out), and some fun science experiments with food coloring and dish soap. I made a poster and hung it up to celebrate is great qualities (stole that idea from my friend Nicole who does this for her kid's on their birthdays). We dissected the mold and have some new additions to our family...you've gotta love little boys and their toys....Love you Cam, xoxo.

Octopus Night.

We ate octopus dogs on an ocean of mac and cheese under some fancy blue streamers. After dinner, we spent a long time creating a family of octopus-es out of rice, odds and ends, and some mittens from the Dollar Tree. Emma and Shawn worked together. Meet our Octopi friends....there are earrings involved! Fantastically Fun craft idea from Family Fun Magazine.

Snow Night.

As one would expect with snow it was cold in our house, due to the air conditioning running pre-family night in Jan. We did lots during this family night....dress up in scarves and hats (Struckmeier family fashion moment), build igloo's with sugar cubes, winter bingo, and the grand finale of a snowball fight with socks. The family night ended with a game of see who could sort and fold their socks the fastest. Yippee.