Carving Out Family Time

 

I’ve been telling our friends and family that it’s been a busy couple of weeks.  But it wasn’t until I tried to schedule plans with two different friends, and couldn’t hardly find any open hours, that I realized just how busy we were.  It was ridiculous.  For people that preach about how important time alone as a family is, we seemed even more ridiculous.  So Saturday we declared it a FAMILY DAY. 

 

I’ll be honest, we had a rough time communicating together in the morning and figuring out what would make everyone happy, since we’ve been so used to doing things on our own for the past however long.   It was rough, but we filled our bellies with breakfast, talked it over, and worked out our plans for the day, TOGETHER.

 

We cleaned the house as a family, visited The Amish Pantry, Breadeaux Pizza, and Fort Custer Maze!

Price Breakdown:

Cleaning- FREE. 

{Cleaning motivation:  We filled a bag of things to donate within 30 minutes.  The less items in your home, the less your air has to run this time of year to cool those items.  In the winter, the less your heat will have to run.  It’s like you’re paying yourself!).

The Amish Pantry- Average cost for a family of 5, with adults getting rolls and kids getting donuts, is about $12. 

{Tip:  You can get a 4 pack of rolls for $5.  The bigger flavored rolls are $3.50, and worth every penny, but if you’re feeding a big family on a budget, go for the 4 pack, or a couple 4 packs!)

Breadeaux Pizza: 1 large pizza, 1 large order of breadsticks, and 5 cookies.  $22

Fort Custer Maze: $6 for adults, $4 for kids, 3 and under Free.  We had a gift certificate we bought from the newspaper, so this was $12 for us. 

Total: $46.  Now I know we could’ve found free things to do around home, but we just really needed to get away.  $46 for a full day out, was so worth it. 

We capped off the day with a stop at Shopko for shoes, and Target for some birthday gifts. 

{Mama Bear Tip: Never head out for the day on an empty stomach.  Eat something, anything, and feed your husband too, because he’s just as likely to get H-Angry, but his may kick in a little later than yours {you know, after he’s had time to complain about your hangriness, but before he realizes he feels the same way.  Wait for it, it’ll hit him too}  I’m sure you keep snacks with you for the kids already.  That’s wise!). 

Oh you guys, It was a good day together, such a good day.  This is exactly what we needed. 

We did have to sacrifice dog sitting (my kids love this), attending a birthday party, watching friends in a race, and a few other little things, to make this happen.  I know it was the right move though.  God first, Family second, then everything else.  We’ve got to keep our priorities straight.

I’ll do separate posts about each of the places we went when I get time. Maybe next week, maybe not, we’ll see!