Family Theme Night Blog

I have a confession to make. I have a new addiction. A Pinterest addiction.

Have you discovered this newest web sensation? This online pinboard is just filled with wonderful and exciting ideas, and I have fallen victim to its appeal. Yes, I've spent a lot of time on Pinterest—time that I should be spending cleaning my house or folding that over-flowing laundry basket. My blog has been neglected, and my husband just shakes his head as I show him my newest find.

Yet, like most love affairs, the honeymoon stage lasts only a short time. The last few weeks, Pinterest and I just couldn't get enough of each other. My new love consumed way too many of my thoughts, and I was constantly checking back for new pins. But I think I'm finally exiting that new-love excitement phase. I'm returning to reality. I'm ready to rescue my house and my blog from their states of neglect.

Back to reality. Yes, Pinterest, I have work to do. But perhaps we can still meet sometime for a secret rendezvous . . .

The Daytona 500 marks the beginning of another NASCAR* racing season. Excitement abounds in our household as the racing fans gear up for the big race tomorrow! I already caught my husband holed up in the den watching the Nationwide race today. I'm preparing myself for the roar of the engines tomorrow.

Do you have any young racecar fans in your home? Try out some of these fun ideas as you celebrate the start of racing season.

1. Racing-Themed Food

During the month of January, we will be featuring some family fun nights with a Disney* theme!  Our family happens to be counting down the days until we head to Disney World, but you don't need to be heading off for a Disney vacation to enjoy some of these fun family night ideas.

I happen to love Winnie the Pooh and all of the Pooh characters.  So, when I recently booked a Disney trip, I made sure to make reservations at the Crystal Palace (the Disney restaurant featuring Pooh characters).  To help my kids share my enthusiasm for Pooh, we had a Winnie the Pooh family fun night!

Honey Tasting:

Pooh loves honey, so we started our fun night with some honey tasting!

We're counting down to Christmas here at Family Theme Nights! For regular updates, please "like" our Facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/familythemenights

Yesterday we got our Christmas tree. I had an idyllic dream of cutting down our tree with big snow flakes slowly drifting down, and everyone filled with holiday cheer. In reality, we were all pretty tired from our Thanksgiving travels. Instead of holiday cheer, crankiness seemed to fill the air. We managed to get our tree, and not all was lost. These Christmas tree pizzas saved the day!

The kids LOVED decorating Christmas tree pizzas, and they were really easy to make. I rolled out my pizza dough the regular way, and instead of cutting the pizza into slices after baking, I cut the slices before topping the pizza (the wedge shapes make the top part of the trees). I cut a couple of strips from the dough wedges to get extra dough to make the tree trunks.

"Memory-Making Meals Monday" is a regular blog post feature that includes meal ideas for fun-filled family dinners and/or kid-friendly snacks.

It was a rainy weekend, but that didn't stop us from having some family fun!  If you are looking at the title of this blog post, you are probably wondering "what do s'mores have to do with Lewis and Clark?"  I know, it's a stretch.  However, with some imagination and some background information, you will soon understand.

Our family fun nights usually have some type of theme.  This week we went with an explorers theme, learning about Lewis and Clark.  We did a frontier style dinner:  cornbread, beans, chicken, fruit.  We talked about how in the wilderness the explorers ate what they could catch or hunt.  We also talked about how they would roast meat over an open fire.

After dinner, we headed outside for one of the last campfires of the season.  It was time to roast our own rabbits.  But not regular rabbits.  Marshmallow bunnies, the last of our stash from the Easter season.

"Memory-Making Meals Monday" is a regular blog post feature that includes meal ideas for fun-filled family dinners and/or kid-friendly snacks.

My Monday post is usually some fabulously fun meal or snack idea (or at least something I think is fabulous and fun).  I usually have an idea that is worth a picture, but not this week.  Our family fun night this past week was different.  It was a boys and Dad night (actually, a fun boys-only weekend!).

I thought of skipping today's post with a disclaimer (no post today because ___________).  Yet, I think the meals our boys enjoyed this weekend were definitely the memory-making kind—just not "mom-style!"  Time spent together can mean a lot more than the food itself.  I know my boys had a wonderful time because my six year old asked:  "next time you go away, can you leave for a month?"

So, what did Dad serve up?

• meatball subs (okay, mom left those in the slow-cooker before leaving for the women's retreat, but it was still a hit)
• "treat" cereal (sugar laden cereal that mom never buys); this special treat was such a big deal that my 3rd grader told his teacher about it!
• no leftovers on leftover night—Dad cooked up some fish sticks when the kids said they didn't really like leftovers (mom usually says "eat what's on the table")
• ice cream at the museum—when I returned home, this treat was one of the first things I heard about!

Are these the kind of meal ideas you would like to replicate?  Probably not.  Although considering the memories that went with the meals, perhaps they should be copied . . .

To celebrate the beginning of football season, we are enjoying "football family fun."  This weekend I came up with two football themed recipes, one that pleased my husband and one that pleased my kids.  I hope these easy recipes will get you in the football mood too!

Football Shaped Nacho Dip:

I made a layered nacho dip, but made it in the shape of a football with black olive laces!

I love easy, and I love fun—so when I was in a creative mood, I came up with this idea for a super easy castle made out of sandwiches!  I served it on the first day of school (but it would also be perfect for a "castle family fun night").

I made two kinds of sandwiches for this castle.  The "grown-up" sandwiches were in the middle (deli-style turkey, avocado, tomato and bacon), and the turrets were the kid sandwiches (peanut butter is a favorite in our household).  For the crust-less turrets, I used a special sandwich maker from Pampered Chef, but a round cookie cutter or glass would also work to make circle-shaped sandwiches.  I put one short wooden skewer through each turret, and topped each turret with a cucumber slice and a grape tomato.  For the main part of the "castle,"  I put four short skewers through the stack of sandwiches and added a grape tomato to the top of each skewer for the "battlements."  I added some baby carrots around the castle for the "moat."  I served our sandwiches with soup, and it ended up being a very easy dinner to prepare.

Since this sandwich castle would be perfectly paired with some castle-type books and activities, I'll be posting more castle ideas this week!

"Memory-Making Meals Monday" is a regular blog post feature that includes meal ideas for fun-filled family dinners and/or kid-friendly snacks.

This summer as we traveled the country, we had the opportunity to visit the Iowa State Fair.  What a spectacle!  The sights, the food, the rides—my boys loved it all. This year, the talk of the fair was the new "delicacy."  Deep fried BUTTER on a stick.  (Yes, you did read that correctly!)  It seemed that almost anything can be prepared on a stick.

When we returned home, I thought it would be fun to have a family dinner to remember the fair.  But can a state fair themed meal be healthy?  Obviously, deep fried butter would not be on the menu.  Here is what I came up with:

Chicken on a Stick

The Friday faith-filled family fun blog is a series of weekly posts with fun activities based around Bible stories. Today's activities go with the story of Queen Esther.

We recently had a family fun night with a Queen Esther theme! For this fun theme, we had some young friends join us for the "royal banquet." In fact, some of the younger set even helped set up the royal banquet table:

If you look carefully, some of the flatware is not set up quite right, but the young royals experienced so much joy setting the table that I didn't have the heart to interrupt them.

The Friday faith-filled family fun blog is a series of weekly posts with fun activities based around Bible stories. Today flips that concept around—Bible stories to go with an activity, your backyard barbecue!

The latter part of summer can get so busy with backyard barbecues and other outdoor activities.  Are you finding it hard to squeeze in that special family devotional or Bible lesson with all of the busy summertime activities?  Try weaving in one of these Bible stories as you enjoy your next barbecue, and make some memories your kids will treasure forever.

Fishers of men:

Grill up some fish or salmon, and talk about how Jesus told his disciples (in Matthew 4:19) to follow Him and He would make them fishers of men.  It could be the perfect opportunity to talk about what it means to be "fishers of men."  (Of course, if you are going on a real fishing trip, this is the perfect story to discuss on the way.)

Family dinner can be a special time.  Here's an easy idea to add some spark to your dinner table, especially if you have a racing fan in your midst.  (We happen to be in the racing mood because of a family trip to Indianapolis, but this cute race flag is perfect for anytime.)

I spooned vanilla yogurt onto a platter in a flag shape, then I added blackberries for the pole and the black checks, and sliced bananas for the white checks.  (Blueberries can be substituted for the blackberries.)  Very easy!

Are you taking a virtual trip to Indiana?  In addition to this fruit plate, serve corn on the cob (if available) and whole-grain bread—reminding your family that corn and grain are grown in Indiana!

The Friday faith-filled family fun blog is a series of weekly posts with fun activities based around Bible stories. Today's activities go with the story of Joseph in Egypt.

Our family loves having "family fun nights," and some of those fun nights happen to be Bible fun nights. This summer I used the same concept, but we invited some friends over for a fun-filled Bible study. I know, "fun-filled" and "Bible study" don't usually go in the same sentence—but maybe they should! My boys are having a blast with their friends, and they are learning about the Bible at the same time.

For this fun Bible study, we learned about Joseph, particularly the part of the story when Joseph interpreted the Pharoah's dreams, and the Pharoah put Joseph in a place of power and responsibility. I found out what the boys already knew about the story of Joseph, we read Genesis 41, took a fun quiz and talked about the passage. Mind you, these are young boys (ages five to barely eight), but they were actually engaged in the story! But to keep them engaged, we added some fun elements to the evening.

Pyramid building:

It has been a soccer-playing kind of summer! I love to make special treats for my kids, and this summer I came up with these super easy recipes for my little soccer fans.

An edible (and healthy) soccer ball:

I scooped some of my favorite organic yogurt in a custard cup, and then added some strategically placed fresh blueberries. Voila! A healthy soccer ball treat. (The only other thing that was needed was a pinch of imagination!)