M4M-wee6 & FHE

If last week's M4M post was unconventional, this one is REALLY unconventional!!! However, it made me and our whole family feel closer and look forward to one day each week with great anticipation. Last week, I think on Tuesday, I read a blog post by Amanda about something she does with her family called Family Home Evening. It is such a great family enriching idea (and I was amazed that a lot of her community are doing this on a weekly basis on the same day - kind of together - wow just really amazing!).

I decided right then and there as I sat at the computer that this was for our family. Now our family is already pretty close, we have dinner almost every night together, we have a weekly movie night (friends are welcome, but we really try to have everyone here at the house), and the kids and myself and dh try to go to every game, recital, presentation, etc for each kid - to keep us all enmeshed in eachother's lives. My husband and I decided very early on in this child rearing endeaver that we wanted all of our kids to know eachother really, really well. The way to do that was to spend time, lots of it, together.

Anyway, back to the present. Last Tuesday I decided would be the night we would start Family Home Evening or FHE. It wound up being a VERY long day, the kids were tired, my dh did not have a very good day at work and I was kind of on edge, but I decided to push on. My thoughts were: if not now, when??? So we pushed ahead.

After dinner I had all the kids clear the table and come back and sit down. I explained what we were going to do and where the idea had come from. Everyone was excited. We started out with a fun song that all of them knew (B-I-N-G-O), moved on to the game Jenga, had dessert, and ended with another song "Rags". The night was a huge success. We kept it to 30 minutes being mindful that our oldest had homework and studying and the little ones needed to get to bed to get their rest. Everyone wanted more!!! We put everyone's name in a bowl (excluding mine because I had just organized this one) and pulled out the next person to organize an FHE. DD#2 (10yrs) will be organizing the next one. She is so excited she has been coming up with tons of ideas. We already went shopping for the dessert which she will make (with my assistance) and she came up with the songs - she is struggling with the activity. The activity has to be good for all family members and the whole evening should only be about 30 minutes or so.

Because it is the end of the school year, next week is packed with activities, concerts, performances and the like - FHE will be on Friday. All of us are soooo looking forward to that day, even the 6yo who keeps looking at the calendar that hangs on the wall and counts down several times a day - "Oh, it's still 4 more days mom." was the quote today.

I also can't wait!!! The evening was so much fun. We laughed and joked and just generally were silly with eachother. This was something our family needed, especially at this busy time of the school year when life just becomes a wee bit stressful.

This post is supposed to be about me and something I have done for myself, but my mind is so much clearer now. 10 weeks ago I started the flylady program to help with the chaos in my home. I have set routines that I follow each and every day-keeping our home clean and organized no longer feels overwhelming. 6 weeks ago I started jogging 2 days a week, then I joined M4M, and 2 weeks ago (I am starting my 3rd week) I started 5 Factor Fitness - these things have helped with the chaos in my mind and body. By doing these things on a daily basis, I have built in my M4M everyday. Not just a moment once a week, but everyday and it feels fantastic. It has let my mind focus on other things and when I read Amanda's post I wanted to give our family a "Moment for Us".