Outings
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Family “Fun” Day… At Ikea?
We recently had a shift here. For years now, The Captain has worked Saturdays. The kids have long been used to him not being home, so doing things “as a family” were typically squeezed into a few hours on Sunday- if at all. He’s no longer working on Saturdays, so we’re trying to figure out what that looks like as a family. What do… “normal” families do on your typical rainy Saturday afternoon? They go to Ikea, apparently- because everyone was there. EVERYONE. We had decided to pick up some new plates & cups now that the kids are older (We’re all high-society now; no more drinking out of coffee…
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Car Control- Keeping Kids Occupied When Out & About
Juggling the schedules of six kids requires a LOT of time in the car, schlepping them to and from various activities. Without a babysitter, I’m often required to take the entire crew along with me on various drop-off runs, or to watch games/practices/events. Now back in the early days, I’d scramble to keep the little folks occupied on the fly, which occasionally resulted in a trainwreck of whining, fast-food overload, & moments when you thought you could keep your kids happily occupied while waiting in the car… but not so much. This is what happens when you’ve been parked for 20 minutes & forget that you dropped an eyeliner pencil in the…
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Staying On Target
“Quality time”- I know that I talked about family time in my last post, so you’re probably thinking, “AGAIN with the quality time??”. Confession: One of my concerns in having a big family was that none of my kids would feel like they were lost in the shuffle. I would never want any of them to feel like I didn’t invest time alone with him or her, and to tell Dr. Drew how their mom didn’t care. (Why Dr. Drew? Because GOALS, people. If my kids end up emotionally crippled adults, I’m aiming for the best in televised counseling. GOALS.) But life has a way of keeping you busy, &…
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A Walk To Remember
If you’re a parent, chances are that “family time” is one of things that you’re either actively planning, or occasionally feeling guilty about not planning. I’m not talking about the day-to-day routine, but the times that you deliberately plan an outing or event in order to guarantee that you have indeed conducted some quality “family time”. And chances are, if you’ve had some recent “family time”, there is at least one point in time in which you think to yourself, “This is why we don’t have family time!” I’ve shared a few of our more noteworthy group adventures here, most recently our “Family Movie Night”, aka “Kid Trauma Movie Night”.…
