How to play with your kids...

I just started this book last night, and I think it may very well be my favorite parenting book of all-time. It's entitled "Piggyback Rides and Slippery Slides: How to Have Fun Raising First Rate Children" by Lynnae W. Allred. This book has honestly been an answer to many of my prayers recently, and I can hardly wait for my kids to wake up so I can try some of this stuff on them.

Some of my favorite things I have read so far include:

• How one of her favorite memories with her grandmother was when she took time away from all the many chores she had on their farm, and set up a little table in the living room for an impromptu tea party. Decades later, she still remembered even tiny details.
• Bedtime is playtime - goes against everything I thought I knew, but WOW!!!
• Playing games at dinner will bring your family closer...I am giddy to try these out tonight
• "One of the first rules for turning work into play is to relax about the outcome and enjoy the journey more"

There are SO so so many ideas in here of games, activities, traditions...you name it. I don't feel like I can share all of them because she wrote the book and not me, but if nothing else, get it from the library!!! Seriously, it's that good :)

PVC Pipe Swords

Another winning idea actually came from my neighbors. They made these awesome swords for their family reunion, and we got to borrow them. They kept the boys in the family occupied for hours!

For each sword, you will need:

• pvc pipe (I think it's 3/4 inch...small enough to fit in the hole of a swim noodle)
• swim noodle (each swim noodle makes at least two swords)
• pvc pipe end cap to keep the tip of the pipe from being too sharp
• electrical tape (we had red, white, and black).
• glue to secure pipe to noodle
  

1. Cut the pvc pipe to the size you want...we had 3 sizes...adult, kid, and little kid ;)
2. Cut the swim noodles to be about 1 food smaller than the pipe you have to make sure you have a pvc pipe handle (at least two fist lengths) and place the noodle around the pipe. Glue the pipe to the noodle.
   
3. Wrap the noodle with LOTS of electrical tape. Make sure you secure it to the pipe...none of the noodle should be showing when you are finished. Take extra care to make sure the tip of the sword is covered in an extra layer or two.
4. Place the end cap on the handle of the sword. Glue if necessary.

Raffle!!!

One of my favorite traditions that we have done at my dad's family reunion and that we started this year in the Skelton reunion was the raffle. Each person that wanted to participate had to bring at least one item to donate. We gave each person 10 tickets, and then the mayhem began ;) The more people the better for this one.

Some of the favorite items up for grabs in years gone by have been:

• Every year my grandma hand makes a quilt that is the last item up for grabs. The one she did this year had squares my grandpa had actually made. It was VERY special!
• Giant tub of cheese puffs
• Grandma's jar of pennies
• A can of reddi-whip
• Squirt guns
• Unwanted movies
• Unwanted books
• A stuffed pheasant
• Dollar store toys
• Anything else you can think to bring!