The Weekly Edition

"There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened and maintained..."

--Winston Churchill

Living Lovely with Family, Heidi's new blog series over at Mt. Hope Chronicles, is up and running again with it's second installment... the Weekly Edition.  What are some things we do as a family on a weekly basis (or perhaps 2-3 times/month) that are special and meaningful to us??  That's what Heidi wants to know :)

In our family, we attend church together every week.  As members of a very large church, we have lots of church service options-- we used to attend regularly on Sunday mornings; that's just what Chris and I were used to doing as children and newlyweds.  Nowadays, however, Saturday night services abound, and thankfully, our church provides one... and we like it a lot!  The format is the same as that on Sunday morning so we're not missing out on anything by going then, and it really is a nice way to cap off our Saturday. What started as a convenience (working around travel soccer schedules) has turned into a regular part of our routine, even though we no longer have travel soccer on our regular docket :)

  

Let's see, a few other weekly activities... of course there's Costco night!  A large pizza (a large yummy pizza!) that feeds the entire family for $9.95... it's a no-brainer!  Plus we get to shop together and the boys get to rummage through the movie and video game bins with daddy-- it's a boy's paradise!  It's also a dinner out for us all with no kitchen clean-up for me... a win/win all the way around :)  [Of course, if we don't make it to Costco for dinner with daddy, the kiddos and I head over during the late morning to get our shopping done and fill our bellies with free samples!]

On weekends, there's always work to be done around the house... little repairs, extra projects, and of course, yard work in summer.  All three boys have practically run the wheels off their little bubble-blowing lawnmower in years past as they've helped dad "mow the grass."  The guys try to catch a little football action, too, both on tv (when it's in season) and at the park across the street.  Sometimes it's baseball.  Sometimes soccer.  And sometimes it's just a wrestling match in the front yard.  In nice weather, we also attempt to get outdoors for a family walk-- sometimes around the neighborhood and sometimes on one of the many trails in our neck of the woods. 

Weekly, we also spend lots of time at the boys' sporting events. Between soccer and swimming, most of our Saturdays (and many of our Sundays) have been spent around the field or at the pool (though I think soccer has been crossed off our list in favor of swimming).  During the summer, the boys' team competes every Saturday.  During the school year, their year-round team competes once or twice-- and sometimes even 3 times-- a month (and those meets run all weekend long!).  We have a lot of fun cheering the boys on from the sidelines, and we also enjoy the time we spend just "hanging out" in between events. 

And of course in the summer months the kids and I spend every day at the pool... there's just no other way to enjoy the outdoors here in summer!  Several nights a week we'll make it a late day so that dad can come swim after work, and once a week (generally), we'll trade in our Costco trip for a pizza dinner at the pool.  That's always a lot of fun!  

All in all, I think the best thing about our "weekly" activity list is that, just like our daily one, we're all together... and that's a wonderful blessing!

Where will our country find leaders with integrity, courage, strength-- all the family values-- in ten, twenty, or thirty years?  The answer is that you are teaching them, loving them, and raising them right now."

--Barbara Bush