Family Theme Night Blog

My plan for our royal wedding family fun night was all set.  It was the picture perfect plan, and everything started as anticipated.  We enjoyed our afternoon British "tea" (scones served on fancy dishes), and we had fun learning some British phrases.  My children were content and playing peacefully after their treats, and I was living every mother's dream of a happy family.

And then I started dinner.  I was in the middle of preparing our English-inspired shepherd's pie when I heard a frantic call imploring me to come to the bathroom.  I quickly turned off the burner and rushed upstairs to discover a toilet that was rapidly overflowing!  (My seven year old did not realize that one should not continue to flush a toilet when the water does not go down.)  My husband was not home yet, so I attempted to unplug the toilet (in a very unskilled manner).  I finally solved the initial problem, but then this germ-freak had the unpleasant task of cleaning up the mess.  As I scrubbed down everything with bleach, I heard a call from outside the bathroom door:  "when are we going to have some more family fun?"

It was not exactly my plan for our family night!  As I got back to preparing dinner, I noticed the water dripping through the newly painted ceiling, forming puddles on the chairs for our royal dinner.  Does this type of thing ever happen in Buckingham Palace?  Would I be able to salvage this family fun night?

As it turned out, we were still able to enjoy some quality family time, just not according to my plan.  My husband walked in the door just as the ceiling stopped dripping and the last of the mess was cleaned up.  (Did I forget to mention that hubby also had to work a bit late unexpectedly?)  I was dressed in cleaning clothes and exuded the scent of bleach (instead of a calming English lavendar scent), but that didn't seem to matter to my boys.  I still managed to pull out some fancy dishes, and amazingly I didn't burn the dinner.  We enjoyed dinner conversation that revolved around Britain and the royal wedding.  We attempted to use manners and proper etiquette (and when my five year old forgot and licked the plate, my seven year old reminded him by saying "be a gentleman!")  And yes, we were still able to have fun.

After dinner we watched some of the royal wedding footage, and we played "naughts and crosses" (tic-tac-toe).  The boys marched like the royal guards, and loved having a contest to see how long they could be still (just like a real guard at Buckingham Palace).  We ended the evening by reading some British poems and a bedtime story by Beatrix Potter.

Tonight is the perfect time for a royal wedding themed family night for my sweet lads!  My boys came home to an afterschool snack of scones served on fancy dishes (reminiscent of an English tea).  Now that they are no longer feeling peckish, they are playing happily so that I can blog!  This entire evening we will be learning some Brit speak (they nearly fell off their chairs when I told them what a napkin/nappy is in England!).

We plan to enjoy a lovely British inspired meal (we're having shepherd's pie); I'm feeling relaxed about dinner because I know if I burn it we can always pick up some "fish and chips" and keep with the English theme!  Dinner music, fancy dishes, manners and etiquette—all of these things will set the tone.  I'm already looking forward to using our royal names (as suggested by Rachel)!

Like many people, I recorded the royal wedding. We will play back some of the highlights; my boys will consider the cars and the guards in uniform to be the best parts!  If I had girls, I would go with the whole princess theme.  Alas, my boys are not very interested in princesses-but they may enjoy pretending to be palace guards (I'm thinking a contest to see who can stay still the longest!).

My kids are finally old enough to enjoy games.  I think tonight would be the perfect time to learn the rules of chess!  If that proves to be too challenging, we can consider a game of naughts and crosses (tic-tac-toe).  And if they have excess energy?  Some marching in formation may be in order!

We will end our evening with a themed bedtime story, though at this point I don't know which we will choose (see my last blog for a list).  Thinking about our fun evening is already making me feel knackered.  Time to sign off—cheerio!

Everyone is buzzing with the news of the upcoming marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton.  I have my DVR set to record the nuptials (perhaps I will even be crazy enough to get up at 4:00 a.m. to watch the coverage?), and to be honest I'm getting excited about it too!  I guess I'm a bit of a romantic.  However, I can't say that my crazy boys share my enthusiasm.  My kindergartener told me "they talked about the wedding at school and I put my fingers over my ears!"  (He is not fond of talk about love or kissing, athough he told me not to tell his beloved soon-to-be married cousin that he said anything bad about weddings.)

Anyway, I have my work cut out for me to get my clan on board for a royal wedding family fun night.  They do love the idea of castles (and knights), so perhaps I can go with that angle.  I do want them to be aware of history in the making:  it is a big event when a prince gets married!

Friday will be here very soon, so I am planning the menu.  The official royal wedding menu has not been announced, so I will need to improvise.  Afterschool snacks will definitely need to be in the style of a British afternoon tea.  The royal dinner menu will need to include food that is popular in England.  It may not be fancy, but perhaps I could serve some British pub food.  There are lots of possibilities:  shepherd's pie, fish and chips, bangers and mash, pasties, or Sunday roast (complete with Yorkshire pudding on the side).  I think my kids might actually eat some of those choices!

As I think of the meal, I have some other ideas.  Dinner will need to include some lessons on etiquette (wonder what my boys will think of that?).  Some nice dinner music will also be in order (with a recording of the Westminster Boys Choir?).  Oh, we can have a great time!  Now I only need to convince my family . . .