We made a list the other day. . . .

THINGS THAT ARE COOLER THAN TV.

 I have a love/hate relationship with tv.  SOooooo many good shows on.  I mean, Modern Family anyone?  BUT.  And that's a BIG but.  Those shows can become so important to us that we spend more time catching up on three hours of The Voice instead of spending time with our family.  This last week, the hubs and I made a deal.  We wouldn't turn on the tv after the kids go to bed.  That's usually the routine.  We don't always watch much during the day, but once the kids go down, mommy and daddy catch up on all of the recorded shows.  Sure, we're spending time 'together' but is it the best way we could spend our 'togetherness'?  Probably not.  Sometimes I want to get rid of the tv all together, and maybe one day we will, but for now my shows are winning out.  ANYWAY, we LOVED our week together.  I really truly feel like our marriage was strengthened by this little change and I hope to keep it up.

A few things on our list:

•  making a movie
•  going on a hike
•  painting faces
•  going to the library and learning something new
•  making playdough
•  doing an act of service
• making goo (which we did here).  

The other day, daddy had a football game on tv and nothing bores me like football.  Just the sound of it in the living room annoys me.  As I sat there, feeling myself slowly melting into the couch, I couldn't take it any more.  I said, "THIS IS BORING!  DOES ANYONE WANT TO DO SOMETHING ELSE?" and Griff said excitedly, "WHAT'S COOLER THAN TV LIST!!"

So out the list came and we decided to write a story and draw a picture.  They had so much fun with it that we were busy writing and drawing for about an hour.  We ended up writing TWO stories.  The first was a ghost story and their pictures are shown below.

The second was a comedy, about a couple of surfers who had some adventures in their day, including getting attacked by a cat and finding a buried treasure with a bum inside that tooted a million dollar bill.  Forgive me, but I do have boys.  I'm not posting those pictures for obvious reasons.

My point is, when you're not satisfied about the way your family time is being spent, take action.   It's kind of the mom's job, you know?  Bring out the board games, art supplies, or go on a nature walk.  I'm so glad I did something because it ended up being a really great way to spend the night with my fam.  Waaaaay better than watching tv.  The boys LOVED it and I'm sure they'll continue to ask to do things on the list until we need to write a new one.  I'm pretty sure kids love ANYTHING that mom and dad really get involved in.  That should be a clear sign to us that all they really want is time with US.