Crocodile Family Night October 3, 2009

Caden picked the theme for this family night.  He said he wanted to do crocodiles, so we went for it!

In the afternoon, we prepared our desserts for the night, crocodile rice krispie treats! We put green food coloring the marshmallows and we put corn flakes in the with the rice crispies to make the crocodile more bumpy.

 

Afterwards, the boys went outside to swim and be crocodiles in the lagoon.

 

I told them how crocodiles keep their whole body underwater and stick their eyeballs above the water to watch for food and enemies.

 

For dinner, we ate crocodile food. I know this is a stretch, but we had frozen shrimp in the freezer and I thought that crocodiles on the bayou probably eat crawfish, which are kinda like a shrimp’s brother, right???  And we ate trees from the swamp!

 

Our beverage was swamp sippers.  We froze gummy worms in green ice cubes and put them in the murky colored lemonade!

 

After dinner we did a dinosaur floor puzzle together, which is like a crocodiles brother, right?  So much fun!

Baseball Family Night September 29, 2009

I’m not sure what inspired this since we’re not really sporty people. I mean, Geric surfs and watched the occasional football game, but part of the reason I married him is because I knew we wouldn’t be spending hours in front of the television watching something that involves a ball. But since it is baseball season (right?) we decided to have Baseball Family Night!

During the day, the boys and I made these visors to wear at dinner. (They totally reminded me of ACE softball… Mindi and Stef, remember the visors were the conversation piece that led to our beautiful friendship! )

For dinner we had hotdogs and cracker jacks (and asparagus) because that’s good old fashioned baseball food. The boys were very unimpressed with the piece of paper that was the prize in the cracker jacks bag!

After dinner we played baseball in the living room. (We did this during the fires and it was too smoky to play outside.)

For dessert we made cool-a-coo’s, which, to me, are the biggest reason one should go to a baseball game, live and in person. Yummy!

Ladybug Family Night September 26, 2009

We had an overnight visitor a few weeks ago, Cousin Kristyn!  So we decided to celebrate by having a family night!  My Gramma had sent the boys a ladybug tent, so I hid it until family night and used it as my inspiration.  After naptime, Caden came out and had fun reading in there.

When Kristyn got here we went out in the backyard and painted rocks to look like ladybugs.

For dinner we had turkey burgers, zucchini, and ladybug mashed potatoes!

After dinner, we decorated ladybug cookies to eat on our ladybug plates.

Then, the cousins snuggled in the tent to watch “A Bug’s Life” which proves that ladybugs are actually very manly insects.

Backwards Night May 2, 2009

I left Geric in charge of Family Night a few weeks ago and he came up with Backwards Night as our theme.  It turned out to be a super fun night!!!

Before dinner we took baths and put on our jammies.  Because we usually do that after dinner.

 

We ate breakfast for dinner, which is actually a really good idea because the boys ate it up!

 

After dinner we did a backwards obstacle course.  I set it up in the play room and we all took turns going through it backwards.  I’m pretty sure Caden won… he always does!

 

Then we pretended like Family Night was over and we turned on a show for the boys to watch before they go to bed.  BUT… half way through the show I turned off the TV, which totally freaked out Caden because, “HEY!  I was watching dat!!” But then I told him that it’s backwards night, so instead of going to bed, we’re going to go out… to the MOVIES!!!!  Here’s him taking a few minutes to process the good news.

 

So we loaded up the boys and went to the drive in that’s a few minutes from our house to watch Monsters vs. Aliens.  

 

First of all, that was a funny movie.  You should see it with your kids because it’s enjoyable.  Secondly, you should take your kids to the drive in. It’s way fun!  You don’t have to worry about sitting still or making too much noise and both my boys sat through most of the movie (Caden sat through it all) which is saying A LOT!

So, Backwards Night was a success!  Geric is going to be in charge more often!

Springin’ into Family Night April 21, 2009

I know, you have been inundated with Family Nights.  But I wasn’t on the internet for three weeks and we do them once a week, so after this one I still have a couple more for you.  If you’re sick of reading about them, don’t read, but since this is like scrapbooking for me, I have to record our memories!

A couple of weeks ago our theme was Spring!

We bought these flowers at the grocery store that morning. Aren’t they sooooo pretty. I learned later that if you want tulips to stand up straight and not look all floppy and dead out of the side of you vase, you stick a pin in the stem up at the top by the flower. Good tip. Too late for me though. I just trimmed the stems really short.

In the morning the boys and I painted spring masks. I found these at Joann’s in the 99 cent bin. They loved painting them.



The finished products!

During the day we hung out in the backyard because the weather was so pretty.


Jacob even mowed the lawn.

For dinner we had a flower pizza, spring salad, and a spring chicken! Haha!


Of course we wore our masks to dinner.

After dinner we did one more craft (because we’re crafty like that) and we painted birdhouses to hang outside. We even put some birdseed in them, but no birds have been eating out of them. What’s up with that?

And for dessert, we had strawberry shortcakes! Mmmmmmm, yummy!

Happy spring… even though it feels like we skipped spring and jumped right into summer!

Rewind: St. Patty’s Day April 16, 2009

We had an impromptu family night for St. Patrick’s Day.  It was impromptu because I was just planning on eating a green dinner, but it turned into something more… so, so much more!  :)

For breakfast the boys ate some yummy green pancakes.

Then we put on some green and headed out for a playdate with our long lost friends Ezra and Nicci. (Geneva was at school and Judah was sleeping.)

After we got home the boys took a nap and then we made green shortbread cookies that we turned into ice cream sandwiches with mint ice cream that we ate for dessert.

For dinner we ate pesto and salad. I know, I know corned beef and cabbage is the typical Irish meal, but seriously? That sounds disgusting.

After dinner we went on a rainbow hunt. This was so much fun. We walked around our neighborhood and we had to find something that was each color of the rainbow. I told Caden that at the end, we may just find some gold. Here’s how it went:

Red:

Orange:

Yellow:

Green:

Blue:

Perhaps I should have wiped away the eye boogie?

Purple:

Then, when we got back home there was gold waiting at our front door!!!

So, St. Patrick’s Day turned out to be super fun! Who knew?

“Never Before” Family Night April 10, 2009

We did this family night a few weeks ago.  The theme (obviously) was “never before,” as in things we had never done before.  I came up with it because I really wanted to try cooking tilapia for dinner since some of my friends said it was an easy fish to cook after I told them the story of how I turned salmon into some mushy cat food concoction.  Since I had never cooked it before, and we had never eaten it before, I decided the night would be filled with things we had never done before.  Cool, right?  Some things quickly turned into never before, and never again.

For example, our craft for the day was tie dying t-shirts.  Thats a horrible craft project.  Don’t do it.  It’s not very interesting so I ended up doing most of it myself and it was sooooo messy.

My hand stayed like that for a few days. Nice. Although if it ever happens to you, lemon juice and baking soda get a lot of it off.

So for dinner we all wore out matching t-shirts. That’s cute. We might do that again, like when we go to Disneyland or something.

Then for dinner we ate the tilapia I cooked. One word, barf. Geric said it was the worst dinner I’ve ever made, and I agreed. I guess we’re just not fishy people. Never again.

After dinner we made some homemade kettle corn, like in a pot on the stove, just like in the olden days! Now that was some tasty stuff!!!

Then we relaxed and turned on a movie the boys had never seen before… Peter Pan! (Plus it had Never Never Land in it!)

Jacob enjoyed it with us while we ate kettlecorn…

But Caden said he was scared and hung out in the hall most of the time.

After a half an hour, he got over it and watched it with us. Now he even tells me that he’s Captain Hook and Captain Hook doesn’t get time outs or spanks! Oh, really??? I’m pretty sure even Captain Hook had a mommy.

Auntie B Family Night March 10, 2009

I’m going out of order in events here (I have a couple of previous events that I haven’t posted) and normally, I would never do that because it just makes me uncomfortable, but last night was so much fun that I was really excited to post the pictures.

So, last night was monday night, which means that it was family night.  Since my Sis celebrated her 27th birthday last Wednesday, I thought our theme could be her, Auntie B.  So we invited Auntie B, Maw, and Pop to join us in the festivities.  (We invited Uncle Jon too, but he had to work late.) 

In the morning, we worked on a happy birthday sign to hang by the dinner table.  I have these cool dot pens and Caden loves them.  He made a B for Auntie B.  And I didn’t even show him how to do it!  Gotta love Seasame Street. 

After naptime we decorated monkey cupcakes for dessert, because Auntie B loves monkeys.

When Auntie B arrived, we took a picture by her sign and with her favorite nephews and then we got changed into out Auntie B Night outfits. 

Jacob wore his bulldog sweatshirt, because Auntie B loves bulldogs, especially Harley.

And Caden wore his soccer outfit, because Auntie B is a rockin’ soccer player.  They even played a little soccer before Maw and Pop got here.

Here’s the whole group.  My mom and dad wore scrubs because Auntie B loves being a nurse, and Geric and I dressed up like we were going on vacation, because she LOVES vacationing.

While dinner was cooking we hung out outside and played some soccer and the monkeys played on the swing set.

For dinner we had chicken pot pie (from Costco… one of Auntie B’s favorites) and some veggies.  While we were eating we listened to some Brittney Spears… also one of Auntie B’s favorites. 

After dinner we played a game.  Since Auntie B loves to shop, I brought out two shopping bags filled with clothes for us to try on.  We raced to put on all the clothes as fast as we could.  It really was so much fun!

I won. 

After the game, we ate our cupcakes.  Jacob LOVED his! 

This was definitely the best family night so far.  It was so much fun having everyone here.  (We missed Auntie Kristin and Uncle Rob.)   We’re totally going to to have to do it again!

Dinosaur Family Night March 1, 2009

Last Monday night our theme for family night was dinosaurs.  I stole a couple of ideas from Heather, but I had a few of my own, too. 

During the day the boys wore their dinosaur t-shirts while we ran errands.   And while we were out, I found dinosaur coloring books for 75 cents each, so we bought a couple of those.  Caden colored.  Jacob snacked on crayons.

When Geric got home we got dressed up like cavemen and a cavewoman.  Geric wouldn’t get in the picture and Caden refused to take off his dino t-shirt, so here’s me and Jacob.  Don’t I look nice?  I was lookin’ so good I was sure some caveman was bound to come along and club me over the head and drag me back to his cave!

For dinner we ate dinnosaur eggs and for the leaf eaters we had some leaves.

While the boys were napping during the day, I made these dinosuar feet out of pasta boxes and craft foam.  It’s amazing what can be done with a glue gun!  So after dinner they put their dinosaur feet on and had a race.

(There’s Ger in his caveman attire… shhhhhhh, don’t tell him!)

After the races Geric read “Can I Have a Tyrannosaurus Rex Dad?” to Caden while Jacob helped me get dessert ready.

Then we had dessert.  Homemade chocolate lava cakes.  Mmmmmmmmm!

If you’re not doing this with your family yet, what are you waiting for???  It’s not hard.  You can totally steal my ideas.  (They aren’t all mine!)  And it’s so much fun!  Think of all the memories you’d be making!

Family Night: Rainy Day Schedule February 23, 2009

(I got a card reader for only $8!  Thanks for the suggestion Beckie!  And thanks for the offer, Jane, but we have a Sony something or other.)

Last Monday I was inspired by the rain, so our theme for family night was “Rainy Day Schedule.”  If you are or ever were a teacher your stomach probably ties itself in knots at the mere mention of those words, but we actually had a really good time.

During the day, I got the boys all decked out in some winter wear and we headed outside to play in the rain.  (Stef, it totally reminded me of the day we tested out our winter gear in the field!)  Unfortunately, it was pouring like cats and dogs during naptime, but when they woke up, blue skies were smiling at us.  But they had fun jumping in a giant puddle on our driveway.  Jacob actually laid in it and started lapping up the water like he was a dog.  Crazy kid!

(Please ignore the Christmas lights…. we’ve been busy, okay?)

My dad thinks Jacob looks like a terrorist in his new jacket and hat.  I can’t disagree.  Look at that last picture!

When we came in they were pretty chilly, so they took a bubble bath.  Once again, they both tried to eat the bubbles.  I don’t understand why they refuse to eat regular food, like vegetables, but they both scarf up puddle water, bath bubbles, and dirt.  Weird.

For dinner we had homemade soup and english muffins.  See?  They wouldn’t eat this!  Maybe they were full from all the puddles and bubbles.

Then we built a fort in our playroom and laid inside to watch a movie.  It was cozy.  I told Caden he could have hot chocolate, so I put some in a sippy cup!

So much fun!  I think we’re always going to go outside when it rains.  It was a blast!  And who cares if they get wet and cold?  That’s what warm baths are for, right? 

For a preview of this week’s family night, check out Heather’s blog!