Katz Family Fort Night would not be complete without Lexi, our 8 month old shih tzu. When we made up our stories, almost all involved a small dog. Dave, Daphne, Shana, Rachel and Lexi all huddled inside the fort made with 20+ year old blankets. Our keeping room is transformed (no past tense because the fort is still standing!) - it may even stay a fortnight! Thank you, Kidstuf, for making us all kids again!
We loved our family night. We have been doing them for a while but it was nice to have all the directions laid out for you for a change. We incorporated Star Wars into our Family Night. For dinner we had subs(Space Subs), asteroids (cheese balls), Alien Juice ( 7up with lime sherbert). My youngest daughter was Queen Lucy(Narnia)..I know..I know. The other daughter was Padme’. I was Jar Jar Binks and my husband was Obi-wan. We talked alot about how we have had frustrations and how we can handle them better. What I was most shocked about was that my family thought I talked on the phone too much! I do talk alot but they felt ignored. So I made a deal with them. I will not be on the phone when I pick the kids up from school or there after until bedtime and when my husbands comes home I won’t be on the phone. It was fantastic. We can’t wait for this Friday! Thanks a million!
The Hill Family consists of Mommy, Daddy, and Maggie (age almost 7). Maggie had been out of town with Grandma and Gramps, and her Mommy and Daddy were missing her VERY much, so they planned the Hill Family Fort Night for the evening of her return. Maggie was very excited about this as she had been stricken to realize that she would be out of town the night it was being loaded to the Web.
We began by watching Mr. Takeout on the T.V. (Yes, geeky Daddy makes his computer go onto the T.V.) We all laughed at Mr. Takeout and Grizzle Dizzle. Then we handed Maggie the printout, and she was off. We had done all the prep work during the day, and she was very proud of us for taking care of that stuff.
Maggie and Daddy plotted and planned and came up with a plan to hang sheets from the ceiling fan. (Great idea to use sheets instead of blankets – thanks for that tip.) They made this tent like thing that reached from the bottom of the ceiling fan to the kitchen chairs that Maggie and Mommy pulled into the living room. Maggie was also in charge of getting all clips off the fridge to use for securing the sheets to the chairs. They spread a blanket out on the floor and pulled in lots of pillows. We were ready!
We all raced to put on PJs and met back in the fort. At this point, we switched it up a little. One of Maggie’s favorite things is a “Living Room Party”, which consists of eating dinner on the floor in the living room. So, we incorporated this into our plan. We enjoyed dinner in the fort while talking about what we were going to do next.
Maggie was VERY excited about the storytelling portion but said, “Why can’t we do it together?” We thought that was a fine plan so we changed it up. Everyone pulled five items out of the bag, and we told our story around the circle. Each person added a few sentences using one of their props. Anyone who knows the Hills will know that the story took place in where? Yes, that’s right Disney World, the happiest place on earth.
The most revealing part for us was the “I-Scream” portion of the evening. Mommy and Daddy went first to model what to do for Maggie. We weren’t sure if her six-year-old brain could totally grasp what we were supposed to do. And, she doesn’t have any siblings so anything she said would be about her parents. It’s a fine line between being obedient and respectful (which she is) and voicing a frustration. Maggie let Mommy know that she gets frustrated when Mommy yells at her. After verifying that “yelling” meant Mommy talking in a firm voice, we talked this through. We decided that we would add to our nightly prayers asking for help for Maggie to be better able to make wise choices so Mommy wouldn’t have to discipline as much. We will also take more time to pray after a discipline situation. These were Maggie’s solutions to the problem. It was a GREAT conversation.
Maggie was then extremely excited to write notes to us and hide them for us to find. Mommy and Daddy have both found one of hers so far, and they are precious. We switched this up a little too. Since there are only three in the family, each person wrote three notes for each other person in the family. We are all looking forward to finding these over the next few days.
Many thanks to all who put time and effort into creating the Fort Night plan. We can’t wait for the next one.
