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?

The kids have been begging to have a safari night for a long time.  Our goal has been to have family nights, weekly, but this summer they have more been monthly!  Earlier in the summer, we saw that the Rainforest Cafe has kids night on Wednesdays, so Jason suggested we take them there for Safari night.  Rainforest, safari… close enough!

He finally had a Wednesday night where we could go and so we headed out.  We did not tell them where they were going and they are soooo not patient to find those kinds of things out!

I dressed the kids in signature khaki and white and that was their only hint….. not enough of one because they still did not have a clue.  When we pullled in and they saw the sign, they finally figured it out!

These were my contribution to the safari night- zebra print yellow box flip flops.  I LOVE yellow box flops!

Emery also had her giraffe print flops on!

And the adventure begins….

This place really knows how to set the scene….. Butterflies…

Hippos……

The cutest little stools…..

Our one game for the evening was a scavenger hunt.  I wrote down a list for the girls to find.  Things like how many monkeys do you see, and find something

yellow…. The girls loved it and it was a great way to spend our waiting time.  I drew pictures for Bradley and he FLEW through it.

Jason and Bradley explored after finishing his scavenger hunt.

Our seats were AMAZING!  We had a curved booth and the kids just stood up in it and watched the whole time.  Every 30 minutes they have a “storm” and it gets dark and “thunders.”

Most of the animals were animated and moved.  It was cool.  After the 3rd storm, Bradley got a little panicked, which was interesting.  This was  a good trial run for our visit to Disney World!

Emery and her Daddy…. they look a little alike!

This picture of B and I makes me laugh. He is constantly trying to give me a zerbert (raspberry) or lick me instead of giving me sweet kisses.

We had a great time!  The food was actually pretty good and the kids did great. This was a great beginning to our school year and great family night!

If you live close, this is a great family night!

Last week we had a family night while our sweet guest, Callie Grace stayed with us.  I went Luah becuase it is EASY and CHEAP to find decorations, the food is easy and yummy and it is Summer!

I went to the Dollar Tree and got some cute little accessories for the kids.  I got them Leis, a palm tree hangy thing, some plates, 2 lanterns and a decorative banner.  I spent around $10.  At home, I used some raffia, some plants and some candles. The girls also went and dressed in their sundresses!

Here are the results:

Bradley helped me set up while the girls were at camp.  Nothing says Luah like TONKA trucks….

The best palm tree $1 can buy!!

Some flowers growing on the deck.

For dinner, we had chicken, pineapple and steak skewers, which I had marinated in pineapple juice, soy sauce and a teryiaki marinade for the steak

.

This is an easy and fast way to grill! I also had rice, of course!

I also laid out a ton of fruit, marshmallow treats and marshmallows for the kids to make fruit skewers, which they LOVED!  While they were building

their skewer, Jason talked to them about the camp TAKE HOME that they had been taught all day about what happens when you feel left out or excluded. It was really good.
We focused in on how God always has a plan for us and that even in disappointments, He teaches us and we can still Glorify His Name!!!

For fun, we had pina colodas (non-alkie) or “pineapple smoothies.”  I had a recipe for a smoothie, but it was faster and less expensive to get

some bacardi mixer and blend it up!

This is the kids at dinner!

For activities, we had a full line up!

These are the flowers made of felt that the girls  made for their hair.  Can I just say that felt NEVER sticks with normal glue.

I also got some wooden signs for the kids to paint while at the Dollar Tree.  They were luah, tropical themed…

I never let that kid paint with a shirt on, EVER.

Then we all tried to do the HULA, which was fun. We put on Hawaiian music and strutted our stuff.

Even Knox participated in our family night. He looks so insulted!

And, lastly, we had a LIMBO contest!!!

We were all pretty bad….

The faces are priceless….

I HIGHLY recommend Luah Night for a family night.  It was fun, laid back, yummy and fairly easy to plan.  It did take some prep work for the food and decor, but

IT WAS WORTH IT!  I know that we are building memories with our kids and teaching them that time with family MATTERS….

How have you spent a summer night with your family?

Last Monday, we had a little family day and hit the road.  Jason and I had a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT for the kids.  We were super excited to share some fun with them!

We themed it out somewhat, so see if you can guess what our surprise was!

So, we hit the road and didn’t let the kids in on where we were going…

Can you guess where we stopped? The DISNEY STORE, aka DISNEYWORLD.  My kids have always called the Disney Store, Disney World and we did not feel the need to tell them otherwise!  They are just now catching on!  We gave each of them some cash to spend.

Parker, the lover of stuffed animals, chose a Pluto stuffed dog.  Surprise, surprise.  She does know that if a new one comes in the house, an old one goes out!  She still went with ol Pluto though.

Bradley chose a Lightening McQueen car.  It is cool, you can change its wheels, but of course we have already lost a the screw that keeps it on!

Emery has been suffering from a little bit of the gimmes lately, so she could not figured out what she wanted.  She ended up with a TInkerbell pencil set and case.  Afterwards, we went to the food court and got some lunch.  After eating, we gave them each an envelope and told them it had hint to what our surprise was for them.  They opended them and Parker knew very quickly that…… WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!!!! Yeah.  We are braving DW this fall.   The girls were very excited, Bradley, didn’t really  have a clue!

What is the big surprise??

I am excited/dreading this vacation. As exhausting as it will be, I can’t wait to experience DW with the kids.

We did our first family night in a while!  Life just gets crazy in the Spring, as I am sure you all know!  We decided to go for it on an off night.  It was very spur of the moment, but I had planned on doing a Carnival night!  Carnival style menu- Corn Dogs, French Fries, and Apples- Nothing nutritios, but if fit the theme!

We ate outside since that is what you do at a carnival and it was a sunny evening, which we have not had many of lately!

And then of course there was the little thing of SMOKE INHALATION that I was protecting them from! I was making funnel cakes and

I have no clue how to heat up oil evidently!  My status as a southern girl just went down, I am sure! Seriously, my throat was burning with all the smoke!

My first attempt when my oil was toooo hot!These so took me back to Senior Year football season.  We made funnel cakes when I was running for Homecoming Queen.

Greedy little hands!Bradley and I sharing a bite!Yummy!Super Yum!The kids wanted Jason and I to share!  We played some Carnival Games after we ate and while the funnel cakes were burning, cooking!

This is our CornHole game, which is addictive.  It is just a bean bag toss, but super fun!  Look at that concentration!!

I can still take them!

Bradley and I were on a team and we dominated!

After we finished our game, we went inside and played some Wii Carnival!  A great way to take kids to the carnival without actually having to go to the Carnival/Fair!

We had a fun night.  I highly encourage family nights.  It can be elaborate or simple, the important thing is to take time to invest in your family. We didn’t have a devotion tonight, but we still talked about simple things like being a good sport, having a great attitude and putting others first.  The girls are begging for a safari night next, so we will see!

Today was a crazy day.

Basically, we had several tornadoes touch down all around us, especially in North Murfreesboro.  We are fine, but the tornadoes touched down where many of our friends live and very close to the girls’ school. I have no idea if it sustained any damage.  It hit several residential areas and the newly developed outdoor mall.  It is all very surreal.  Please pray for the families that have been affected, our church as we rally to help, our school and for all the people in our area who are without power and homes.

I had planned to go this afternoon and shop for family night.  But, because there were huge tornadoes nearby, that got postponed.  This is a very busy weekend for most of us, and very much so for our family with 5 Easter services.  Being married to a guy who is on a church staff makes most holidays take on a different flavor.  Most of the cool things we would do on Sunday morning, we were planning on doing tonight, so Jason is with us!  Parker has been struggling this week with the Cross and the death of Christ.  Being that she is 7, very analytical and wants to know all the answers, she is having a hard time understanding why Jesus had to die and how could he take the punishment of our sin, without Himself sinning.  Heavy stuff trying to explain that Jesus is our Propitiation (1 John 4:10, 1 John 2:2).  I sound smart using those big fancy words don’t I?  It has been interesting to explain it to her and see her try to grasp it.  I will think we are having a great, deep discussion and then her next statement is about if she can go watch Phineas and Ferb!

Needless to say, it our night got started a little later than I would have liked, but  hey, we rolled with it.

While I was gone, Jason decorated the table.  Some of our bunnies suffered during the move, but it worked!

Next, the kids set out to help me get dinner ready!

We made Resurrection Buns!  Love this and it is super fun and easy!  You take a can of Grands type biscuits, roll them out- this represents the tomb. Next you mix, cinnamon, sugar and melted butter together and spread on the biscuit. We talked about the spices that were used on Jesus. Next, you put a marshmallow in the middle.  This represents Jesus.  You wrap the biscuit up, sealing the dough, just like the tomb was sealed.  Place it crease side down, spread with more spices and bake.  When you bite into it, the Tomb is Empty!!! Great, easy object lesson for the kids. We made a big deal about it and they loved it!

Since these are meant for breakfast, we made breakfast for dinner.  Easy, smeasy.

Next, we dyed our Easter eggs, but before we put them in the dye, we used crayons to write out attributes of Jesus.  The girls liked this and it was fun to hear how they described Jesus.

I loved these two- Eternal and Holy

I love seeing it even more in their sweet little handwriting!

The one where they are all looking!

I wish you could see them up close!  Jesus is written with a backwards J! So cute!

After we were done with our eggs, we sat down and talked about Jesus in the Garden and The Cross.   Even in the craziness and destruction that we experienced or saw today, nothing compares to His death.  It is hard to explain to your kids why Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us, a broken, rebellious people.  Many days, I wonder myself.  But, my wondering does not change the fact that He did die for us.  He took our punishment.  He died a cruel death because of MY sin.

I pray I never take His cross lightly or forget the sacrifice He made.

I pray you feel the weight of your sin today…….and worship the Risen Lord this weekend.

Tonight we had our second family night! We celebrated all thing opposite or backwards!

We also set up our table under the table! I learned a few things while eating on my floor. One
is that I love that I eat in chairs and I confirmed that the cheap Ikea rug needs to GO!

We ate dessert first and I let them pick it out at the grocery store today, which is
why we have frosted cookies. I also turned them upside down.

We had hotdogs or cheese and a bun for Parker!
The hotdog was on the outside of the bun!

For our devotional, Jason read from Mark 9:35, which states
35And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
We talked about what that looks like at school, at home,
with our friends and how we
are to serve others!

Next, we played upside down Limbo!
The kids first jumped over the stick and them we started from
the lowest point and got higher!
You will notice that Bradley is without pants now because
of course, he had an accident.
He is also in a pull up because Mommy
needs a break.

Emery’s turn.. with a dance flair to it!

Bradley didn’t quite get the devo of putting others
first…

Emery again, with her face cut off, but an amazing dance move..

Parker going big..

Bradley again..

We had fun again and the kids are really enjoying it, which is what it is about!
I would encourage you to have a Family Night, as well! I know that these are the days we will miss, so I am going to make them memorable!

You can find great family night ideas here…

Well we did it!

We had our first official Stew Family Night tonight!

Emery wanted to play Uno, so we went with a colors theme!

I decided to have pancakes with fruit for dinner and mixed it up a little by having green pancakes!
We had strawberries, scrambled eggs, blueberries and oranges. We also had bacon and sausage but that was just to eat not because it went with our colors theme!

During dinner we each told our favorite color:

Jason-blue
Bradley-red
Kelly-red
Parker- red (really pink, purple and blue but she chose an Uno card color)
Emery-blue

We focused on HONESTY for our virtue and Jason used Psalm 24:3-4 and Matthew 15:18-20. It was appropriate because our girls have a tendency to try and CHEAT at cards. We had to call one of them out a couple of times tonight for trying to sneak in a Draw 4! They may be 5 and 7 but it is on like Donkey Kong when we play a game!

It was a fun night! I am exhausted but so worth the effort. I was praying as I was preparing that God was use these nights to draw them each to Him, to create memories, to teach them about life and to point them a deeper walk with Jesus. One Uno game at a time…

Here is some pics of our night!

Here is our table- Nothing fancy but the kids pitched in and loved it!
Any ideas on painting my kitchen and breakfast area? Should I go with the same color?

We had green pancakes! Parker was at first leary until she realized it tastes the same!

We dressed in Uno colors and somehow the kids all ended up in red!

Love her dimples so much!

We interrupt this family night for an accident! Just when you think you are
almost there, he goes and has an accident! Don’t get me started
on going #2 in the potty- he is seriously afraid to go!

The girls got Hannah Montana Uno cards for Christmas (no we don’t
watch HM, but I thought this was picture worthy!)

Bradley did great! He sat and played the entire time!

Good times…

Read about some cool family nights here..