{Favorite Family Times}

being silly @ Milham Park this spring

I thought I'd share a few of our favorite family times since moving to Portage. We've had to make some small adjustments to some of our favorites but it's worked out well and we still enjoy each moment of each hour spent together.

TUBA!

So Saturdays are our family days. They follow our family movie and pizza nights still. That's a tradition I don't think we will ever change!!! We love pizza and movies. ha! As the weather got nicer we found a few local parks that have become a favorite for all you kids. Milham Park, so we can see the geese and play on the big slides and wander around free and Celery Flats. The Flats have ponds, and lots and lots of FROGS!! We've bought nets and brought buckets and go frog hunting! (and always release them once we've watched, examined, picked up, and played with each one.) It started out as a field trip for school during our Frog unit, but has turned into a wonderful adventure we do as a family, bringing laughter and smiles and usually some muddy boots. It holds dear memories now. And I love surprising you all with a trip to frog hunt. We even make an evening out of it and pack a picnic dinner and eat it by the playground and fountain. You are all looking forward to sharing this fun adventure with Edwin now!!

this is the life!

Another family favorite is our evening bonfires we do outback, usually on a Friday or Saturday night. I think you guys like it most because it usually involves chocolate, crackers and marshmallows. It's always relaxing though and you boys love to help daddy start the fire. Some nights we invite friends over, other nights it's just us enjoying the smoke, flames, and playing a good game of "Would You Rather". That's an all time favorite game that you all LOVE playing. Usually it involves asking yucky questions about sticky boots, or smelly animals, but it's always entertaining and we love hearing your answers. There's just something heart warming about gathering around the smell of a bonfire; for a hour things are alright. The world is peaceful and our family is together, laughing, eating, and growing. I think it's one of my favorite traditions yet! I think I may petition for winter bonfires as well. Can't stop a good thing because of cold, specially when we live in Michigan!!!

I've already mentioned a few of the other routine family times... Friday pizza night with a movie. We started, trying hard to watch a new movie each week, but due to library fines and your guys' favorites, it's not always new. Still fun though! Another is Taco Tuesdays. This was more often a school year favorite, but y'all got tired of tacos each week, so we backed down for the summer. We occasionally still have them and try to have them on Tuesdays, but I think this fall we'll go back to at least every other week.

Oh how we love you silly kids!!

Here's a few new traditions we are starting up this fall and dad and I, both, are really looking forward to them! We are going to start date nights with y'all!! So once a month I will take one of you out one night and then once a month dad will take one of you out. Special one on one time. And then we will also designated one Saturday each month to a fun family activity, which one of you will be able to choose as well! I'm so excited. We started a list of things we want to do with each of you, and I'm totally looking forward to it.

Of course, Dad and I will still keep our date nights once a month this fall. That's a night we all look forward to a lot. You guys get a special night at Poppy & Nanny's to stay up, break rules, and eat yummies while mom and dad eat a hot meal together and have some uninterrupted time to chat. It's a wonderful blessing and I am so grateful for those evenings. Some nights it's hard to leave you guys and sometimes you guys hate leaving, but once we come back together the next morning, we have fun stories to share and we all come back a bit refreshed and relaxed. 

Grateful for our date nights!

So this is more a daily routine but it's a favorite for each of you. Bedtime. We get washed, get snuggled in PJ's, and all meet up on the couch. There we sit and share with one another two things... 1. What our favorite part of the day was or at least one of our favorite things, sometimes you guys love the whole day! and 2. something you are grateful for. Dad and I have to share too. It's fun and always a joy to hear you each share!! Then we pray and sing our song. Jesus loves me - but with a twist, inserting each of our names in the song and our silly nicknames. You guys think that's something great and usually giggle something silly, unless you're too tired. But we end the night with the song and then we tuck you each into your beds. From there Dad reads each of you your favorite book before calling it a day. Currently, Norma's favorite is her two Ollie books, Theo's is Goodnight Little Owl and Milo's changes each night. I think Milo likes to keep Daddy guessing. :)