we started having "family night" about 7 years ago.
a speaker at my MOPS group said it was good to be intentional about your family time.
so we chose fridays.
and we have stuck to it…99% of the time.
we say Friday Night Family Night.
(lauren is no longer on board with this idea….shocker…we try to be flexible)
craig usually brings home pizza or we go out to eat somewhere together.
we watch movies, go to ball games, play games, the park, have a campfire….whatever we feel like.
this week we went bowling.
craig's office had a few teams fundraising for Big Brother Big Sisters
so the bowling was free!
annie could bowl 15 times straight and it was all good.
since the bowling was free…we bought lots of tokens for the arcade.
that's why our kids like to go bowling anyway.
sean raked in the most tickets at 242.
it was definitely money well spent….
and then a stop for ice cream on our way home.
mmmmmmm.
Jessica Butler - I found your blog through a series of links and wanted to tell you how much I enjoy it. I LOVE your pictures. Thank you so much for sharing!
Jessica
Kellie h - what fun! Great shots
I am loving your blog…the peanut butter donut has got me hooked in =)
Jeanne - Your night looks like so much fun. I love family night. We have been wanting to go bowling with the kids, but I am afraid the two year old will kill us with the ball:-)
katie fuller - your post made me smile tonight, well most of them do but this one was special. my MOPS this last friday was eye opening to me about a lack of intentional fun time in our home. we pretty much dont see daddy from monday to friday except groggy hugs in the morning. SO thankful for the job however! so on the weekends we try to cram in everything. we also have a large family (Benjamin 5, Autumn 3, Bekah 1, and bouncy baby 4 due this fall) so i think its easy to get caught up in just survival. we NEED to get out and go bowling!!! thanks for such a sweet blog! there are days i pour over it gleaning wisdom from you
blessings
katie in TX
Amy Warden - We haven’t taken the girls bowling for about two years!! Probably because the last time we went, we showed up right before closing and got to bowl one and a half games for about $40. So not worth it! FREE, on the other hand… would be awesome! Great pics as always!
Amanda - Looks like so much fun! Makes me want to keep having babies to have a large family.
Are the flower pins and headbands still available?
Thank you for your wonderful blog.
Amanda
Alyssa - We do a Family Night on Fridays too. We tend to go to a restuarant called “Friendlys” and the kids meals come with sundaes. We use rent a family movie to watch and make popcorn. It is great fun and the girls look forward to it every week.
Bowling looks fun. Glad your family gets to send time together. I am not looking forward to the time when the girls make their own plans for friday nights.
PS….I got my pillow…LOVE IT. Now I am trying to find a home for it. I am trying it in different room.
traci - what a great idea. looks like you had a great time. i chuckled when i saw all the tickets for prizes. i remember those days. they would get so excited for those wonderful goodies. love the flower in talby’s hair.
My First Kitchen - Family nights can’t be beat. And I love that shot of with the tickets. I used to “buy” those bouncy balls and then lose them before we even left the arcade. Good times…
Laurel - We do Family Night on Mondays and our kids don’t let us forget it. Makes me sad to think of a time when they’ll be too old and not really be into it.
Looks like you had fun!
sandy toe - OH my goodness…I had to chuckle…my son loves those teeth too!
sandy toe
Mary Elizabeth - where can I find/buy one of those frayed flower hair clips/ pin? i saw someone else with one on their sweater at the jewels for cora night. i love them!!!
CherryTreeLane - You are doing good by your children to have these nights. They are important, special and will not be forgotten. WELL INTO their adulthood, they will remember Friday Nights. And I bet you….they will have Friday Night Family Nights with their own kids.
Alice - is the one of cora’s flowers in her hair?
danyele - super fun…we love bowling. i also saw a messy flower headband…yeah! we have one too!
Staci - We need to be better about having a FFN. Our boys are (just turned today!) 4 and almost 7…so they are at ages that we can go out or play games at home and not kill anyone 🙁 I love the picture of Talby running her fingers through her hair 🙂 So cute! But when are your kids NOT cute?!! Super family you are!
wendy - We’re a Monday night family as well. I do like Friday nights though since we’re usually all home. It’s usually pizza, movies, and popcorn. We’ll have to try bowling one of these days though. Looks like fun!
katherine - ooops… you’re, not your!
katherine - Love your pictures!! You capture every day moments so beautifully. If I ever find myself out in your direction I’m hoping I can sucker you into taking pics of my kids. 🙂
I also love the family night idea. Your creating some great memories for your kids. Kuddos!
julie - Remember the days before the Ticket Eater? When you actually had to count out the tickets?
Love family night. You are making memories that will stay with your kiddos forever.
(Cute headband too =)
sara's art house - This is funny- I was just thinking this thought- “we need to start up family nights again- and I think Friday nights would be good”
It is just a sign that it is a great idea- right?
Great pictures!
kasey - all right. I need to be better about family night.
xo
Starnes Fam - Looks like a lot of fun and yay for free! When did bowling get so expensive, anyway?
Love the headband…..good for you!
Beth - We do family night too, ours is Sunday night and we take turns deciding what we do for the family activity and sometimes supper. We encourage things that don’t cost money, like hikes around the lake or bike riding. Sometimes it’s fun to spend money too — one thing we’ve had fun with is drawing names and then going to walmart and finding something for that person for $1 (might be harder now that things have gotten more expensive). Always fun to see what you’ve gotten! Usually we have pancakes on for supper but sometimes the person of the week gets to pick something different. It’s gotten harder since we have two in high school but I think setting the foundation while they’re young is such a good thing.
Julia - Fridays are sacred around here – all my kids (even the three year old) love watching Monk and Psych….um…maybe that explains why, when my daughter saw a bug yesterday and she said “Is it DEAD?”
MGF - Oh I miss my MOPS group so much. The church decided to go in a different direction. It gave me so much encouragment to make a positive difference in my families life. It always up lifted me to strive to be the best mom I could be.
Alexis - What a good idea, we have an 11 month old so we still have some time to think and plan what would be best for us. Oh, and by the way:LOVE THE YELLOW HAIR CLIP! I love it and I’m going to see if I can make something similar. Thanks for all the good ideas 🙂
Laura Phelps - our family night is Friday night, too. We started with my husband and the girls making homemade pizza together, then we would play a game. As our days get busier, it has slowly turned into frozen pizzas, and a movie.
Every Friday my kids fight over what movie to watch, and with out fail, someone ends up running upstairs crying.
I am thinking about sending my kids to your place this Friday. Could you handle four more?
carissa... brown eyed fox - friday is our fam night too :)…
pizza is always on the menu!
we really like bowling too… and how everyone can play!
too cute pics meg!
Kim - What special time. I wish more folks did stuff like that. I don’t have kids but hubby and I have special date nights. Or date weekends.
Your family is so beautiful by the way!
Lazy Mom Leslie - Hey Megan, Our kids love bowling too! Thanks for your sweet comment. I have been reading you for what seems like forever! I left you a comment ages ago explaining why you had a window in your closet. That was before Lazy Moms, so you won’t remember my name from then, but I’m a long time reader! Hope you have a great week.
Deputy's Wife - We have a Friday family night too. I am glad we started it a year ago. It’s a lot of fun!
jesse Peak - I love the pic of your daughter and the tickets, too cute! We are going to have a pajama party this weekend! The kids can’t wait!
Shannan - My first thought was: How did FNL fit in to Friday family nights? Terrible, I know. I’m assuming you have a dvr. 🙂
(Btw, I just said goodbye to Six/Street last week. Sniff sniff!)
Your night looked like so much fun! And I love that headband. 🙂
Carrie - We use to make Sunday family day I think we need to start doing it again its hard with teens though. Love your blog by the way just found it.
Courtney - Family Night is a must! We do it on Monday though, then we get our date night too 🙂 And I’m sure in the future our kids will want to date 🙂
Kristen Lundstrom - So you have no idea who I am but I am friends with Anne, Jess’ sister and read your blog from their blogs. I have a random question. Do you still have the same camera that you have a picture of on the side? I love your pictures and was wondering about buying a new one. Yours seems to take very clear pictures. So if you could email me the info on your camera I would greatly appreciate it. kristen_lundstrom@yahoo.com http://www.joelandkristenlundstrom.blogspot.com
sarah - I love family night.
Our family night growing up was going out to eat and grocery shopping on either a friday or saturday night (whichever worked best).
I’d like to do something more like you guys do, bowling or games or something… and I think I’ll be sad when they get to the point Lauren’s at, and they don’t want to do it anymore.
Brooke - definitely a great tradition…we have family movie nights…we rent a movie and fill the living room with junk and blankets and pillows and cuddle up…amazing photos as always!
Trish - Sounds like a lot of fun. I haven’t been bowling in a long time! I love your daughters headband. From Julie?
chas - looks like a wonderful time!
Friday was Fun Friday for us too….we went bowling, went to Build-a-Bear, went out to eat for lunch AND dinner, and did a little shopping…holy moly…we were so wore out by bedtime but it was a day to remember.
bless your darling family!
chasity