Our Five Ring Circus: Full House, Full Heart

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Full House, Full Heart

As our kids grow, it's becoming increasingly evident that we are rapidly outgrowing our home.

We're reaching the point where we need to seriously consider upgrading, but living in tight quarters DOES have benefits.  I truly believe it helped make us a tight-knit family that enjoys spending together!

With 6 people in the family, life can be chaotic.  There are so many schedules and commitments to juggle.  Making time for family can easily get tossed aside, but we work so hard to make it a priority. From our family dinners 4-5 nights a week to our weekly #FamilyMovieNight tradition, we stick together!

Every Monday evening, we gather in the living room, and we eat dinner together while we watch a movie.  Monday is usually the ONLY free night of the week, plus it's a great cure for a bad case of the Mondays, so it works out really well! Everybody in the family looks forward to it! 

Grant and I started our Family Movie Night tradition almost two years ago.  Originally, it was to have the kids watch all of our favorite movies from our childhood, but it morphed into so much more!  We were able to introduce our kids to our childhood favorites, but eventually, we started to take turns choosing the movie. There is never a battle over which movie to which, because each week, a different family member gets the chance to choose the movie.  Our method is flawless!

Of course, we occasionally took breaks from that method to make our way through series of movies, such as Harry Potter and Back to the Future. We tend to focus on holiday-themed movies throughout the year, too. We always have to amp up our Family Movie Nights around Christmas because there is just so much to watch!

Family Movie Night is a big deal for our kids! Every Monday, they race to finish their homework after school.  Grant arranges his schedule so he doesn't have to stay late at work.  As soon as he gets home, we grab our food, and head into the living room.(Let's be honest here...Grant and I also immediately change into our pajamas. Sometimes the kids join us, but sometimes not. Comfort is key in my book!)

Our rules for Family Movie Night are simple:

1. Spend the first half eating dinner.  Bonus points for making an incredibly large mess around the table.

020
 008

2. Invite the pets. Because they REALLY want to participate in Family Movie Night.

037

3. Snuggle up on the couch as close as you possibly can get. Blankets are necessary.

042

4. ALWAYS conclude with a dance party during the credits.

061

5. Repeat the same routine next week.

The most important rule of all?  Have fun and make memories!

I hope that one day, when my children are grown, they will look back on this tradition fondly.  Hopefully they will have some amazing memories of all the time we spent together.  Perhaps they will even carry on this tradition with their OWN families! 

Our crazy, chaotic, overcrowded house often reminds me of something from my childhood: Full House. TGIF, baby! (Sadly, a TV term our kids will never know.) I spent HOURS watching that show, and it truly is timeless. Dylan, Lexie, and Lily watch the reruns now!

They were so excited when I gave them the scoop: Fuller House is premiering on Netflix on February 26th!  Have mercy!


While we impatiently await (my family banned me from my exclusive sneak peek) the start of Fuller House, we're also celebrating the news of the upcoming Gilmore Girls revival by watching the entire series again for the FIFTH time.  What can I say?  We're a bit obsessed with the Gilmore Girls.  (Oy with the poodles already! Copper Boom!) Netflix, have I mentioned HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU lately? You officially made my year.




In other Netflix news, a new Netflix drama called Mindhunter will be filming right here in Pittsburgh!  I love anything related to the FBI, so I'm eager to watch this! I'm not quite sure I ever mentioned it on my blog, but when I was high school I really wanted to work for the FBI. I was seriously pursuing it. Then I got married and had an abundance of  kids, and now I'm just a conflict negotiator 24/7.

During my breaks from resolving conflict, I like to watch Netflix with my husband.  (None of this Netflix and Chill nonsense.)


We are making our way through Gilmore Girls again (and Frasier), but we're also attempting to finish Making a Murderer.  I had to take a brief break from it because I was getting a bit worked up. It just makes me angry! We needed to take a break and find something new. We decided to start watching Sherlock tonight, and I AM HOOKED!  Each episode is long (like a movie), so there are only 3 episodes per season, but I can't wait to watch them all. Watch it. Trust me on this.


I can't forget the kids! The term Netflix is to them what TGIF was to us. And maybe, just maybe, we will be able to take a break from My Little Pony and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood for a while.

There's a new Netflix original for kids, called Beat Bugs, coming this August.  From Netflix: "The Beat Bugs are five charming, funny and adventurous best friends who have a knack for getting themselves into mischief and mayhem. The animated show will feature some of the most well-known Beatles songs woven into the narrative of each episode, with Eddie Vedder, P!nk, James Bay, Sia and more recording their rendition of an iconic song."  My Beatles-loving husband approves!



While you await the start of Fuller House, check out some of these Netflix titles to watch with your family:


Ferris tv sdp 1280x720
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
 
Dragons tv sdp 1280x720
Dragons: Race to the Edge, Season 2
 
Once Upon a Time tv sdp 1280x720
Once Upon a Time
Nanny McPhee tv sdp 1280x720
Nanny McPhee
 
King Julien tv sdp 1280x720
All Hail King Julien
 
Home tv sdp 1280x720
Home
***

New on Netflix for Kids, Tweens, Teens and Families

70271773 tv sdp 1280x720
Turbo FAST: Season 3 (2/5)
 
80046348 tv sdp 1280x720
Care Bears & Cousins: Season 2 (2/5)
 
80051137 sdp 567x319
Fuller House (2/26)

On that note, I need to get to bed.  I need to be fully rested to face the toddler tornado, the sassy preschooler (Oh, I'm just smiling at my butt!), the sensitive third-grader, and the hormonal tween.  (I'm most afraid of the last one.) Thank goodness for Netflix.  AKA my temporary escape from reality!

Who am I kidding? We all know I love this mom gig!  Full house?  Full heart!

Are you planning on watching Fuller House on Netflix?  AND...Are you as excited about the upcoming Gilmore Girls revival as I am? Inquiring minds want to know!
LET'S CONNECT!
TWITTER // FACEBOOK // INSTAGRAM // BLOGLOVIN // GOOGLE+ // PINTEREST 
  










*Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Netflix, but all opinions are my own. I only endorse companies I believe in. I am a member of the Netflix #StreamTeam and I receive service and additional products as compensation.

8 comments:

  1. I can't wait for Fuller House! So excited!

    ReplyDelete
  2. We love family movie night! I think the idea of doing it on Mondays is awesome! We don't do it as regularly as you do (we totally should!) but one thing we do have in common is the dance party during closing credits!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's just a given that they will dance during the credits! You should have family movie night more often. It's one of our favorite family traditions!

      Delete
  3. Dance party during the credits, GENIUS! Why have I never thought of that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sometimes it morphs into lightsaber battles, too. Because why not add more chaos to our home?!?

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. Thanks! It's one of our favorite things, because we can just spend time together and ignore the chaos of our everyday life!

      Delete

I love hearing from you! Let's chat!!!