Fun Family Day Inspirations

Anyone else feeling the Summer rut? As in you can’t wait until school starts? I didn’t understand when mothers would say on their FB status, “Counting down the days until the first day of school!” until just a few weeks ago. I was like, “I am done! I am sick of kids whining, complaining and fighting all day long! When is school starting again?” Then I realized it was already August(doesn’t it seem like the 4th of July was just last week? I am still shocked how fast the month July went by?), and I only had a couple more weeks of spending time with my kids all day long and I got sad and guilty. Sad that I won’t see their cute faces and be with them the whole day even though they sometimes drive me bonkers, and guilty that I feel like I didn’t do enough of fun stuff. That I wasn’t a fun enough mom, we weren’t productive enough, I didn’t practice math and reading with them enough, I didn’t do all the fun stuff I had planned like going to the movies a ton(we only went twice), or the aquarium but it seemed like we spent A LOT of time just at home. Where does time really go guys? It really flies by when you have kids, it’s so frightening. So then I start feeling guilty and feel like a failure and then I have to snap myself out of it and say to myself, well, aren’t they kids happy? Aren’t they well fed and well taken care of? Aren’t they safe and healthy? Then I’ve done a great job. Because feeling guilty and keep dwelling on the guilt doesn’t get me anywhere except to a pity-party! So instead of dwelling on my guilt, I snap out of it and then do something about it, like throwing a simple and fun family day!

Do your kids love playing games with you? My kids are ages 2, 6, and 7 years old and thank goodness they’re still at that age where they love it when Jay or I play with them. They still think we know pretty much everything and that we’re the coolest. And when I do ridiculous things like invite their friends over for a tea party and I tell their friends in a British accent that they must only speak in a British accent which is the only rule they must abide by at the tea party, they’re not embarrassed in the slightest. It makes me want to cry when I think about how soon enough my girls will start being embarrassed by me and will think their friends are way cooler than I am. I try to remind myself of this whenever I feel like they won’t leave me alone and I am just craving some alone time. That I better enjoy this moment where they want to spend every second with me and they even follow me to the bathroom because they want to be with me always. It is such a precious time and I shouldn’t take it for granted. Gosh, I am getting teary-eyed as I am typing this! When my girls were ages 3 and 4, I made them promise me that they would stop growing but they are not keeping their promises, they’re little liars!

For our Family Field Day, I am thinking simple, simple, and simple. Doesn’t that seem to be my motto lately? Since raising 3 kids for me is chaotic, crazy and overwhelming(but equally as fun, sweet and fulfilling), I am all about easy access and simplifying my life. So the games I came up with consist of things that you most likely have in your home already and even the treat is very simple to make, using only two main ingredients.

Games:

• Cones & hula hoop: Space two cones out and have the person try to make it to the cone using a hula hoop.
•  See who can build the biggest tower! Use anything you have in your home such as building blocks, cans, or even sand (who can build the tallest sand castle?).

Do you already have all these in your home? For me, I only had to go purchase the honey dew; I had everything else in my home already. And who doesn’t like taking less trips to the grocery store with kids in tow? 😉 Do you have any fun, simple games that you love to play with your kids?

For more JELL-O Gelatin inspiration, stop by Krystal’s blog at Krystal’s Kitsch!

Thanks to JELL-O brand for allowing me to partner with them to create this fun inspiration board! Already planning to try this at home with your little ones? I’d love to hear how it goes in the comments below. For more inspiration visit: http://jello.com.