Family Night

I have very fond memories of Friday nights from my childhood. My family (for many, many years) had a weekly "family night". We all stayed home and ate pizza, watched movies or played card/board games together. At one point in time, we spent Friday nights eating popcorn and listening to my dad read aloud the Little House on the Prairie book series. These were such fun evenings. Unfortunately, they grew less and less frequent as we got older and wanted to spend the weekend nights out with friends.

Ken and I have started the "Friday Night Family Night" tradition with our own little munchkins. Usually we just head over to the library on Friday afternoon and pick out a movie and then have a "picnic" while we watch movies and eat pizza. Occasionally, we try to mix it up a little and go somewhere for family night. During the warm summer months, we rode our bikes to our downtown and walked around window shopping and eating ice cream. Now that it is colder, we are having to mix it up a little. Recently we played putt putt and got hot chocolate together. On a side note, Harry always gets a least one "hole in one" every time we play. Seriously.

Our family time feels rare, with Ken traveling a lot for work. These times together are precious. I hate to think that one day our kids might be too cool to hang out with us. Maybe then we'll become those annoying parents who chaperone every event their kids go to. :) In all seriousness, we hope these Friday nights are helping to build the foundation for communication and mutually satisfying relationships with our children. That's is our prayer.