What is Friday Fun?

Friday Fun is an idea I totally stole from my friend, Beth.  We've done movie night on Fridays for as long as I can remember.  When I was a single mom and feeling guilty that I didn't have much time to spend with my kids, I came across the idea on Beth's Facebook page.  She calls it Sunday Funday.  The idea is that you pick a movie to watch with your kids and plan a meal and activities around the movie.

The first few weeks we did Friday Fun were the hardest.  Now that I am used to doing it weekly it takes maybe 30 minutes out of my week to plan and prepare.  I have a template saved on my computer to make the "plan" which goes on the fridge on Friday afternoon.  I try to do one or two activities, ideally a craft and an active game, but it doesn't always go exactly that way.  Some weeks we'll just do one more elaborate activity, and some weeks we are short on time and cut out the activities all together.  Food is the big surprise in our house.  Its amazing what kids are willing to try when it has a fun name.  I try to do at least a main course, a side dish, a drink and a dessert for each movie.  Usually its just regular food that we would eat any time with new "fancy" names.  My kids love it!

Why Am I Doing This?

The past few months have been a struggle for me.  I feel guilty admitting that, but its true.  I finally have my dream life, and I feel like I'm not doing anything.  Let me back up a bit.  Last year I was a single mom.  I worked full time; 40 hours a week.  I also went to school full time, taking 12-14 credit hours a semester, even in the Summer.  On top of all that, I was raising 2 kids on my own.  Life was crazy to put it simply.  I would never chose to go back to that life, but the good thing about it was that I didn't really have time to analyze what I was doing and why.

Since then I got married.  We moved to a small town in Idaho, where there is not really much of anything to do.  I quit my job when we moved, and am taking a break from school.  Both of my kids are in school now. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being a stay-at-home mom.  I love being able to actually spend time with my kids.  I love that my house is clean.  I love being able to have lunch with my husband almost every day, just the two of us.  I love that things like doctor appointments don't involve trying to work around 50 different schedules.  The only problem is that I feel like I'm not accomplishing anything.

After much consideration I decided that I need to focus more on what I am doing right.  I think my biggest problem is that there is no real gauge that tells you that you are doing a good job of being a wife and mom.  At work I used to get regular performance reviews.  At school I got grades.  No one tells you, "Hey great job cleaning that bathroom," or "Way to go, you fed your kids 3 square meals today!"

So, I have 3 main things I hope to accomplish here:
1. Give my self a sense of accomplishment by actually writing down fun things I did with my kids.
2. Keep a record for my kids of their childhood.
3. Maybe give other moms some ideas of things they can do with their kids.