About 18 months ago, Jason and I decided to be more intentional about having a night set aside with our kids that was fun, focused and faith building.  Family Nights are not new, nor are Themed Family Nights, but we wanted to take it a step farther and add in a devotional that would help us teach our kids, in a very REAL, hands-on way, about following Christ.  So, out of our desire to be strategic and intentional our Stew Family Nights were birthed. If you have read my blog, you have read about our family nights.  We have had good ones, we have had bad ones, but the point is…we have had them and our children LOVE them.  Over the course of the time we have been having our family nights, I have had several moms tell me that they had started having them and were taking our ideas and making them their own. I was shocked and excited. Excited because I know that the time invested in your kids is always worth it.  Yes, they take time, energy, planning and can be stressful, but I really believe we are giving our kids an experience that helps them see the Truth of God’s Word that is relevant to their young lives.

For about 6 months, we have kicked around started a website that would help other families in having themed family nights.  A few months ago, Family Muscle was birthed.

You may think the name is quirky, and it is, but we want it to be a resource to help build strong families, in a fun, focused way (no, we are not the Y.)   We have set it up where your night is already planned out. You can download a PDF with details of the decor, food, an activity, a craft and a devotional.  We have also given a time and cost estimate. We are adding family nights regularly and hope to have a place where families can share their own family nights.  I am really excited about this and hope that it is a useful resource for parents!

So, I have a favor! If you would help us get the word out about Family Muscle, that would be AWESOME!

You can follow Family Muscle on Facebook and Twitter, to get notifications when new family nights are available and also links to articles about parenting, family nights…. Or, if you have a blog, I would love for you to link to Family Muscle!

You can also comment on our blog posts with links about any family nights you have had with your family. Comment here or on FamilyMuscle.com and let us know what you are looking for, how we can help and the ideas that you have. We are not trying to have all the answers, just jump out there a little and create a place for all of us to help each other build stronger families. Things are just getting going so we are planning a lot of upgrades the days ahead. So, let us hear from you.

Thanks for your support! Let me know if you have a family night or have any ideas for a fun night!

To celebrate a new school year, we decided to have a Back To School Family Night.  I can’t believe I have a 3rd grader, a 2nd grader and a Pre-Ker.  Seriously? Where are the years going?

I had a lot of fun with this family night. It was pretty simple, but there is beauty is simplicity because it allows us to just have fun together.

I had been looking for props for decor while back to school shopping and hit up the Dollar Spot at Target. I was able to get some nameplates, flash cards and abc bingo. I also got a couple of buckets to use for their lunch.  Brown bags would have worked just as well, but this made it cuter!

We started out by making Edible Crayons. Word to the wise….invest in colored candy melts. Adding food coloring and mixing caused the candy coating to harden really fast. Also, do one one color at a time so your candy coating doesn’t harden on you before you are done.

These were yummy and really simple. I loved the crayon wrappers! We made up a pencil box filled with these for Parker and Emery’s teachers. We also added a SLAM, which is basically a healthier 5 hour energy! We thought they might need it and we are not above a little sucking up to the  new teachers by the new kids!

For decor, I just used….you guessed it….school supplies! The girls decorated the table and Bradley set out everyone’s name cards.

For lunch, we filled their lunch buckets and put a cute little card on it. I found some great free printables for school at this site.

During dinner, we went over our goals for the next year, some in the class, some at home. We discussed our morning chores and I had printed out morning chore cards for them to have to refer to

as we are getting ready in the mornings. We start earlier, so we need all the help we can get to arrive at school on time! Hopefully, this will cut down on any stress we might encounter.

For our devotional, Jason read Hebrews 3:17 and Titus 3:1, which state:

Hebrews 13:17

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

and

Titus 3:1 NIV

Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good,

We talked about how we have prayed for their teachers and are confident that God has placed them with the person they are supposed to be with this year. We talked about obedience and why we choose obedience. We also talked about why God places authorities over us and we want them to bring joy to their teachers by their obedience.  A big saying we have at our house is “Obedience brings blessings and disobedience brings consequences.” It was good to remind our kids that obedience is not just to act correctly but is about having a heart that wants to please God because He deserves it!

We rounded out the night with a few, old school, playground games.

A little four square…

Please observe the tie-dye explosion, which were presents from my parentals…

Please notice that all but one of my children are ahead of me…I didn’t make it to 4..

Bradley, the four year old, did make it to #4.

Parker with her mad skilz

Emery, the kid who makes everything look girly, dancy and fancy.

We also played a little GOTCHA, with the parents scoring our kids…we don’t show mercy!

We had a good night before school, Back to School Night!

We had a great family night recently that was all about BOWLING!!

Bowling? Why? Basically, because I got several things on clearance at target that were all about bowling! That is the great thing about themed family nights- they can be created around just about anything!

It took a little planning and honestly, the dinner was a little bit of a stretch, but we still had a great time together.

For starters,

This was our appetizers of black olives and cut up mozzarella sticks.

Here is our fancy centerpiece…this is the bowling set I got at Target.

They are super cute!

For Dinner, we had Bowling Ball Sliders, or as Pioneer Woman calls them, Meatball Sliders.

They are yummy! I actually made the meatballs from scratch, but to save time, you could just buy a bag.

We also had Strike It Potatoes or as Pioneer Woman calls them, Au Gratin Potatoes.

See I told you the menu was a little bit of a stretch, but it was a good meal, that we enjoyed.

After our meal, Jason led our devotional. He read from Matthew 7:13-14,

¹³“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

He talked about how long and narrow the alley is that the bowling alley goes down. He then talked about choices and how many choose the wide (worldly, unwise) path and few choose the narrow (life-giving) path. We talked about what that means for them as kids and as a family. We talked about how obedience brings blessings, but disobedience brings consequences.

We capped it off with this simple of all desserts….marshmallows and whoppers.

We finally put our bowling alley/art gallery to good use. The kids loved this. I must admit, it was a little hard getting those pins down! I am much better at Wii Bowling.

Next, we moved outside for a little slip n slide…bowling style. This was another deal I found at Target…seriously it was less than $4.

Bradley rarely got to the end because he would dive….and somehow land on his hinney. He got sooo frustrated. He got the hang of it after a little while!

Parker was BY FAR the best slip n slider! She could go far in life if there was a professional slip n slider circuit.

Emery did pretty well, herself, but was all about hamming it up with her Dad.

The slip n slide was a great  hit….and a great photo op.

Life…is….good.

On Earth Day a couple of weeks ago, we had a family night focused on God’s amazing creation.

LuLu was here and she saw first hand the good, the bad, and ugly parts of family night.

In planning our family night, I found a lot of resources to use for a craft, but recipes were a little harder, so I decided to center
them around 4 areas of Creation: the Land, the Sea, the Sky and Fire.

For decor, I filled some contaners with marshmellows and blue construction paper for sky, blue dyed water for sea, grass for land and candles for fire….fancy, huh?

First up, the kids collected trash from our yard, or sticks or what not…talked about keeping creation tidy and clean

Ms. Emery getting it done..

Parker filling up her bag….

Bradley’s bag was full of sticks..which is helpful for when Jason mows!

The Clean Up Crew

For our menu, I chose things from the land, the sea, the sky. I made Spicy BBQ Shrimp, broccoli, salad, baked potatoes and Sky rolls, aka wheat rolls.

Bradley is allergic to shrimp and yellow dye, so the kids ate natural fish sticks….and yes, Parker ate two of them!

For dessert, we had Springy Flower Pots…

They were yummy, but a lot o dessert, so the kids ate very little of it..

this is mid family night, do you see the joy i am experiencing? There is always a moment when I question my sanity during a themed family night…always.

This is the kids watching the LIFE series on Discovery. It is fascinating. They were cutting out tiny triangles to make magazine bead bracelets…..this never happened.

We ran out of time, I didn’t give them enough supervision and it was just a bad moment. Seee, sanity questioned.

We did manage to get my pots for the front porch planted or transplanted from the hanging baskets. Emery was the trooper and helped out her Daddy.

Jason led our devotional out of Psalm 104.  We talked about how the Earth declares the Glory of God and how in

His wisdom He created EVERYTHING. We had a great discussion of how God provides for us through the things of this Earth and reveals

His creativity. We also touched on how in all the beauty of His Creation, we are His crowing jewel.  We talked about the love God has for us and how our purpose is to reflect Him to all those around us.

We ended on a great note.  So, I will too

Psalm 104

¹ Praise the LORD, O my soul.
O LORD my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

² He wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent

³ and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.

⁴ He makes winds his messengers, ^[a]
flames of fire his servants.

⁵ He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.

⁶ You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.

⁷ But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;

⁸ they flowed over the mountains,
they went down into the valleys,
to the place you assigned for them.

⁹ You set a boundary they cannot cross;
never again will they cover the earth.

¹⁰ He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.

¹¹ They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

¹² The birds of the air nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.

¹³ He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work.

¹⁴ He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for man to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:

¹⁵ wine that gladdens the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine,
and bread that sustains his heart.

¹⁶ The trees of the LORD are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

¹⁷ There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the pine trees.

¹⁸ The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the coneys. ^[b]

¹⁹ The moon marks off the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.

²⁰ You bring darkness, it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.

²¹ The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.

²² The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and lie down in their dens.

²³ Then man goes out to his work,
to his labor until evening.

²⁴ How many are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

²⁵ There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.

²⁶ There the ships go to and fro,
and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

²⁷ These all look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.

²⁸ When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.

²⁹ When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.

³⁰ When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.

³¹ May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD rejoice in his works-

³² he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

³³ I will sing to the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the LORD.

³⁵ But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.
Praise the LORD. ^[c]

As we get ready for an Easter weekend, I thought I would share some ideas we did from our Easter family night last year….the day of the Tornadoes!

You can read about Resurrection Buns and Writing on your Easter Eggs here.

I also plan on doing Empty Tomb Cookies this year.  Here is the Recipe and Scripture references for those….

Begin this recipe on Saturday, the day before Easter.

1 cup whole pecans
1 teaspoon vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
zipper baggie wooden spoon or a wooden meat hammer
duct tape or packing tape
Bible

Preheat oven to 300*F.

Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon or hammer to break them into small pieces.

Explain that after Jesus was arrested he was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3.

Jason surprised me with a new look for my blog.  We are still working through some details and it will continue to be tweaked! The blogs he reads are vastly different than the mommy blogs I read, so we are working out some design aesthetics!

Speaking of blogging, it is obvious that I am not posting that often.  It just seems to be the first to go. February was very busy for me, especially with Jason gone to Africa. I am hoping to get a little better, if anyone still reads this thing!

We had another Stew Family Night! I knew I wanted to use a Fondue Pot for a family night, so I pretty much built the theme around it!

We started with a pizza bar, with personal pizza crusts, cheese, pepperoni, sausage, black olives, bacon, pineapple and mushrooms.  I also had marinara sauce or pesto to choose from, but of course, I was the only one who chose the pesto!

Next, for our DIY night was a little clay project! I found examples here and here of using polymer clay to make necklaces. I knew my girls would be all over this craft!  Bradley goes with with the flow, so he enjoyed it too. This was a lot of fun. We will be doing this again.  I will say that I goofed in the cooking aspect of this craft and they pretty much were all burnt!  Oops! These things happen!

After we set the clay to bake, we ate our yummy pizzas and set out our fondue pot for a chocolate extravaganza.  I used chocolate chips and a cup of heavy cream, which I made myself because I forgot it! For our dipping pleasure, we had strawberries, grapes, pineapple, brownies, rice crispy treats and sugar cookies.  They all loved it, it was a little messy and we passed a few chocolaty kisses around! They laughed and laughed and really had a blast with dessert!

Lastly, Jason spoke out of Jeremiah 18:1-6.

Jeremiah 18

At the Potter’s House

¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD : ² “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.  ⁵ Then the word of the LORD came to me: ⁶ “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”

We talked about how we are in God’s hands and that he shapes us through His Word to become the creation He desires. Jason also emphasized that you can be clay that is hard or soft- either you can let God shape your life or you can struggle against Him.  I love how these devotionals usually bring out questions or issues they are concerned about.  We have had a lot of talks about being a Christ Follower with both girls and how anyone can say they follow Jesus.  Our actions prove to whom we are devoted! In the end, the potter creates what He desires, to fulfill a purpose, to be beautiful.

Here is a snapshot of our night…..

What a crazy week we had last week. We helped out some friends and kept their kiddos a few days, kept my niece over the weekend and the kids were out of school! Not to mention that Emery got strep throat. Needless to say, we had a packed week and weekend. On Friday, we took the kids and Lauren, my niece to lunch and bowl. This was one of the best things we have done in a while as a family. The kids did great! Bradley actually was beating Jason and I through the 7th frame. I kid you not! I think that says a lot about Jason and my skills as well as Bradley’s!

Friday night Jason and I went to Romance and Roses, which is an annual night out for married couples. I LOVE that our church is actively involved in strengthening marriages.  I can’t say enough about what a blessing it is to be on a staff that values our marriage and seeks to protect the relationship that Jason and I have with each other.

So, come Sunday night, it was all about celebrating as a family!  I will be honest, I am not a big fan of  V-day.  But, it does make for an easy family night!

Parker helped me get ready by cutting out a lot of hearts…she also set the table for us!

This is an easy night to decorate for…just throw out some red and call it done! I used red hots, red candles, heart plates

and white serving pieces.  I also picked up some fancy glasses at the Dollar Store. Such a big spender, I am!

For dinner, we had heart shaped pizzas from Papa Murphy’s and breadsticks.

Here are the fancy glasses with cherry 7-up added. Yes, we had several spills….

For dessert, we had Red Velvet Cake Balls

…they have the face only a mother could love,

but were yummy….I am laying off the cake balls for a while….they do too much damage to the ol waistline.

maybe they were a little messy….

We also had chocolate covered strawberries…white chocolate and dark chocolate.

Emery had been battling strep throat, but her meds kicked in and she was able to

join us at dinner.  She is such a trooper..

Next, we all wrote out things we loved about each other.

I helped Bradley a little…

He liked that Emery plays with him, Parker helps get him breakfast,

dad plays wii with him and how his mommy loves him.

This was really cool to hear what the girls wrote.  It is also fascinating to see how they listed

things about their daddy that they loved and just said I am the best mom or that I love them……not sure what all

the psychology of it means, but it is interesting none the less.

The look on their faces when reading their notes and hearing what others said about them is priceless…. (even with a low grade fever)

Jason had also written out scripture on love on some of the hearts. So, we read them, talked about them and how we can live it out….simple devo.

Next, we played a little game of pick up stix, conversation heart style.

We used some sticks and tried to see how many we could pick up in 30 seconds.

This

was harder

than you

might think (check out the tongue for concentration)

Then we tried to use our hearts to make sentences….yeah, not so much!

Afterwards we dumped out the hearts and let the kids build away.  Emery make a city with hers…

and Parker just kept stacking hers…

I hung our hearts in the window to help remind us about loving each other

and about loving Jesus….

Another one in the books…..

Here is our Valentine’s Family Night from last year…in case you needed any ideas!

We had our third family night this week and it was good.  It had been a really taxing day for me, and I was not looking forward to all I needed to do once we got home from school, but we did it!

We decided to have a Valentine’s Day celebration.  This was an easy one, because there are tons of websites, blogs and magazine articles related to crafty ideas focused on the Day O’ Love.  Heaven knows, I am not a Creative Guru, and our motto is “Originality is Obscurity of the Source.” (Rick Jenkins)

I decided to make a fancy dinner, decorate with red and watch our wedding video.  Our children have never actually seen it, and honestly, it had a been a while for me, as well.  Parker’s verse at school this week was 1 John 4:12, “No one has never seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.”  So, we talked about it at the table some.

How pretty are these strawberries??

How pretty are these strawberries?

Check out that technique of dipping the strawberry into the chocolate!

This is so simple to do, but looks super fancy!

Our table, before I added the chargers, dishes and food.

Our pink drinks, to add to the look of love.

Our fancy dinner consisted of baked spaghetti, garlic toast,

strawberry applesauce and our drink!Again, be in awe of how good these look, especially in a footed pedestal server.

I also through in some Ritz/Peanut Butter crackers, dipped in chocolate!Eating her dessert!

Bradley went for the crackers.Loving the strawberry after declaring she would not like it.

Also, take note of the future orthodontic work that will be needed!!

During dinner, the girls told us what they love about each person in our family and a way they could show that person love this week.  Emery said she loved my hugs and kisses, which is funny because it such a game to see if she will let us kiss her!  They also loved that Bradley is wild, yet that is what they also get tired of after he tries to tackle them (out of his love for them) all afternoon!

Here are a few things I learned after watching our video:

1. 1997 Video Technology- NOT SO GOOD.
2. My music, while progressive at the time, or so I thought, included an organ.  Why?
3. My bridesmaids were hot!
4. I still get chills watching it.  Such an amazing day.  I have no doubt that I got a much better man than I deserved.
5. I would wear my dress again, which is no easy thing to say 12 years later!
6. It is a little confusing to an almost 3 year old to watch his parents get married. He kept asking “Where I are?”  Try explaining you were not born yet to an almost three year old!
7. Favorite Line- Parker says, “I didn’t know LuLu had those kind of clothes!”

All in all, it was a good family night!  What have you done with your family this week?

On Thursday night, we had another Stew Family Night with a snow theme.  I had been planning this one for a while,  just looking up what we could do and let me tell you…there are endless possibilities with building a night centered on SNOW!

For decorations, I painted some branches white and hung some snowflakes from them and switched out all the red in my kitchen with blue and white.

You can see that we all wore white shirts to celebrate our snow night!

On Wednesday, I started making these cake pops with  my handy assistant, Emery Kate.  She loves to help out in the kitchen.

This was my first attempt at these, and let’s just say….it was pretty obvious!

We started out dipping the snow pops in the chocolate and it pretty much went downhill from there…

I had major chocolate melting issues for some reasons and wasted about 3 bags of white chocolate.

So, I ditched  the idea of making them look like a snowman and settled for snow pops!

Or Snow Balls!

Either way, they were amazing to eat!

Working with the kids was interesting as well…can you tell who did which ones???

This is the reality of doing family nights. Sometimes our efforts in creating a fun, happy night end in disappointment at times. Things don’t always go as planned or hoped.

This was one night, that at the beginning, I was ready for bedtime! Just the way it is sometimes!

For dinner, we had Potato Soup or melted snowman soup!

After dinner, Jason talked to the kids from Psalm 51:6-7

⁶ Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

We talked about sin and the holiness and purity of God. We also talked about the cross and how Jesus

watches us clean, like snow.  Such an amazing picture of salvation that the kids could understand…at least somewhat!

Next, we did a little craft. My kids love to paint and do crafts, which is fun, stressful, and messy!

I bought some votive candles and we went to work creating our own snowmen candle holders.

Their personality traits are

so evident when we do things like this.  Parker, the perfectionist, can get caught up in getting just right.  Emery wants to do it a little differently than

what we have suggested.  Bradley just jumps in and has fun doing it!

Bradley managed to cut his hair twice with the scissors…I told you it was one of those nights…

Bradley creating his masterpiece…

Emery putting some finishing touches on…

Bradley’s completed craft…the face only a mother could love!

We were going to play a game and “build a snowman” by wrapping them in toilet paper and scarves, but

it got really late, so we headed to bed.

And the next morning it started to snow……

We have been very lax in our formal, themed family nights, but we are kicking the New Year off right!

I am excited to get back in the groove and have some ideas that I am kicking around to see how they will play out!

Here are some of my future family night ideas:

• Do It Yourself Night: I want to have a night and cook around a fondue pot. I haven’t worked out all the details yet..
• Arts and Crafts Night: Jason and I have big plans for our big hallway.  On one side, we plan to hang original Stew kids artwork. So,we are going to paint some canvases on this night.
• SNOW, SNOW, SNOW Night: All things snow and snowmen are on the agenda for this night
• Love is______Night: This is for V-day.

But, tonight, we started it back with Kid’s Choice Night.  I let the kids choose one item for dinner and one activity for us to do as a family.

Emery chose Pigs in A Blanket from her new cookbook Paula Deen’s My First Cookbook. Observe her creations and mine! With her half wet hair!

Parker chose Ice Cream and Bradley chose french fries…it was kid’s choice!!

During dinner, we talked about choices. We looked at all the choices we make during the day, why we make those choices, and what our decisions are based on.

Jason read Luke 4:1-13, which describes Jesus’ temptation by Satan. We talked about temptation, wise and good choices, bad choices and how Jesus

used Scripture to resist.  We also talked a lot about how our choices are based on God’s Word and His Truth.  We talk about how it can be

hard, difficult, not what those around us do, but that our choices reflect who we serve.  This turned into a great conversation.

We also want them to understand that they have a choice in how they respond and how to stop from reacting to a situation and think through how they need to respond.

GREAT LESSON FOR ALL OF US!!!

Next, we went on to the fun part of our night! Bradley chose to play Hot Wheels on the Wii.

It is a little above Bradley’s skill level, so we switched to Mario Kart.

He beat me twice in Mario Kart. I am Wii challenged and totally got scored by my 3 year old.

Parker chose the game Beat the Parents.  This is a trivia type game where the kids answer questions for kids and

parents answer questions for parents.

Our questions…not so easy.

For example, True or False: Polar Bears live in Antartica.

We chose True….WRONG!

List the colors of the Rainbow in order….We missed that with the first word out of our mouth.

The kids…so easy…for the most part!

Which is the pronoun in this sentence: She rode to the market.

Seriously??

The weirdest one was this for the kids: For what purpose did women wear a bustle:

To make their bu**s look bigger.

Seriously??

This should give you a good idea of who won!

and we didn’t even let them win, sadly.

Lastly, Emery chose to play High School Musical 3 Dance Wii game, which we had not played yet.

Surprisingly, this was a lot of fun!

We will be playing this one again!

All in all, it was a great night.  We had a fun, relaxing evening, that didn’t take much pre-planning, but I think will have huge

payoffs for the future!

So, what about you? Any family night ideas to share?