Family Movie Night

A few weeks back, Brad warned me that he would be having a huge work week, filled with trainings and meetings and he would be working 12-14 hour days.  I was a little nervous, since we usually only see Brad at night for a couple of hours, in which we quickly eat dinner as a family, coerce the children to help us clean up afterwards and then coerce them to go to bed. 

It all feels very businesslike and as part of the responsible party, I feel very stressed out and exhausted by the time the kids are finally in bed. 

I was a little concerned, being as I already was feeling stressed out in general, and Brad was concerned as well, knowing the kids would miss him desperately. He wanted to make sure we spent time together as a family that weekend and had meaningful time together.

I felt very blessed that week- things went surprisingly well.  The children missed Brad, of course, since they had to go to bed before he came home, but I felt that we were being blessed to make it through the week successfully.

Friday night when Brad came home, he suggested that we go out to Pizza Pie Cafe as a family.  The kids were elated, since we rarely go out to eat as a family.  It was especially cool that they were super grateful.  We had a fun night out as a family, with all the normal things happening, like someone ending up crying on the way home because their balloon animal came apart.

But still, it was fun, and it warmed my heart that the kids were acting so grateful.  I'd felt they had been especially ungrateful as of late, and we had been working on helping them to be more grateful by each of us saying one thing we were grateful for, before they went to bed.  Even though we are not consistent about it, I was grateful it was making a difference for them.

The next day, I got to spend some quality time with Brad. BYU was doing "Phantom of the Opera" and I had been so excited to see it.  When I was in high school, the musical was quite big and I remember my sisters dressing up in formal dresses to go see the production in L.A. with their boyfriends.  I couldn't wait until it was my turn!  So, twenty years later, it was finally my turn!

I didn't really expect a lot since it was a college production, but I assumed since singing is a huge part of Mormon culture that the singing would be amazing.

I was honestly blown away.  The singing was phenomenal, the costumes were beautiful, and the acting was incredible.  It was absolutely a perfect production.  I loved it.

Since we went to a matinee, Brad thought it would be fun to spend our evening with the children, so we picked up some pizzas and finally made Brad's fun idea for a movie concessions stand come to life.

After we ate, we told the children we had a surprise for them.  We asked them to go upstairs get in their pajamas and clean their room while we readied the surprise.  Brad is such a fun dad and has the best ideas for being playful with the kids.  We made a sign saying, "Strongin Family Store" and got some play money out and set up the candy with little price signs. 

We made "mock" theater seating, by moving our dining table against the wall, putting some couch cushions on top and putting chairs in front.  It was so cute.

We popped popcorn and then invited the children down.  They were in awe.  It was so fun to see their reaction.  We divvied out money, and then let them spend it on treats and popcorn.  Then we sat down and watched "Phineas & Ferb" together.  It was so much fun!

It was the perfect ending to a tough week.  It was the first time in weeks we'd done something fun together as a family since someone had been sick just about every day for the first three weeks of January.  So grateful for those sweet moments after a week filled with work.