Family Fun

With technology taking over our lives I find that our family spends a LOT of time on the computer, playing video games, and watching TV. Although I don't find any of these activities to be terrible, I do try to spend deliberate time each day with the kids (some days are better than others). The great thing about having a good set of kids - 4 children rather close in age - is that they play well together. So when  Jake and I are busy, we can always send them off to play (minus technology) and they do a pretty good job entertaining themselves. Here are a few things we've done in the past two months...

We had one good snowfall this winter and the kids were so excited. They made snow angels in the cul-de-sac because we couldn't be sure of where all the dog poop was hiding in the yard. Hehe. Unfortunately, the snow was very dry and powdery, so we couldn't form snowballs or make snowmen. Maybe next time. 

Just a few days after our snowfall it warmed up and the kids went outside for a picnic lunch. From freezing to jacket-free weather in 5 days. It was very weird.

That same afternoon after finishing up our schoolwork we went back outside to make a chalk town for cars.

Building towns for cars is currently a very hot activity in this house. Lately it has been colder again, so the children have been using Magna-Tiles and Kapla blocks indoors to make various buildings, roads, ramps, and houses for their cars and trucks. Sometimes the girls will build "crash houses" that the boys can ram into with their Monster Trucks to destroy. They know how to make their brothers happy. One day in the middle of their town building Bella and I decided to build a giant tower with the blocks... it's hard to see in this photo (on the right) but this was our tower shortly before it crashed.

Of course, once our tower fell, Jake had to rise to the occasion and show off his superior tower building prowess. He used every block we own.

Despite the cold, though, we have been going on many hikes this winter. Whenever we visit Jake's parents there is always a hike to be taken... either through their woods or down a nearby road to the railroad tracks. Jake is hard-core... he'll take the kids out even in 30 degree weather. These were taken on some such hikes through Gramma and Grandad's woods...

As much as I love to go hiking with the family, I prefer it to be at least 50 degrees. Last weekend we took the kids to a nearby state park and it was perfect hiking weather. We went 3 1/2 miles and the kids ran a good bit of it! 

We even found a grapevine to swing from. We got a video clip of each child, but only one photo...

We were hoping to head back to the state park today but it was 40 degrees and windy, so I talked Jake out of it. Now he's on the couch with the kids watching a movie while I'm on the computer. It's all about balance...