Serious Fun and Games

Out of serious frustration of not enough family time, we kind of fell off the radar and buckled down to reconnect. We have been spending almost every evening together, playing games, watching movies, reading, just something together, we just kind of just quit going, going, going. We were gone almost every night and it was all good things, but it was also too many things! No more, since Rob has worked on first shift, for, I guess it's been two years now, he gets off at around 3:30, and we have made it an absolute, family dinner time at 5pm. We do this, so that we get that face time with the kids every single evening. I really love this, it feels early sometimes, but if there is something going on, it's usually at 6 or later, so we've already eaten and we're good to go. Kind of reminiscent of "Leave It To Beaver", I guess, but it really works in our house.Since we have been spending so much more time together as a family, we have really seen some significant changes in each of the kids, their attitudes and general behavior is different-good different. I don't know why it surprises me, the more time I invest in my family, the more important they feel, the more cherished, I think. I know that I feel that way when someone invests time in me!The games we play? Family favorites are UNO, and the other night we played BINGO, let me tell you what a hoot that was! It's funny to me that I never could see how much kids learn from playing games too! Rob was our "caller" and he declared that the prize would be a big wet juicy kiss from him! The kids all screamed and laughed, I offered the kiss if they would rather, but then I won the first BINGO! I claimed my kiss! Ethan was the second to BINGO, and he very sweetly asked if he could have the kiss from me, I, of course granted his request! Such a sweetheart! We played with Cheerios instead of the standard markers which was a lot of fun in itself, Keith declared that he would reward himself with a Cheerio any time he did not have the number called, the other kids followed suit. Funny, how they kept running out of "markers" before they had a BINGO!
In my family, when I was a kid, and even now, when we get together we play together. Cards, board games, pool, catch even, whatever, just to spend time with each other. I have always loved this, but I didn't see it as something so important till I became a mom. This is a great lesson I learned very young, and one I'm happy to teach my kids.