Finding Family Time During A Busy Season

If you follow me on Instagram, you know how busy our family has been the last year. Even without medical school, my job, and sick kids, things have been crazy. Moving across the country on a time crunch with three little kids is no joke. My husband graduates from medical school and starts his residency three weeks later. We have to be very organized and intentional.

Something we've been slowly learning over the years is how to find family time during our busy lives.

There is ALWAYS something going on. Whether it's my husband's crazy schedule, or the kids sports, or keeping my business alive, there is always something. And when there is always something, you always have an excuse. I think we've said "we're too tired" a million times since having kids, opting to stay home and relax on days off. It's a very valid excuse if you're a parent. Honestly, we haven't slept in for years. Ha!

However, we found that we had to stop with the excuses if we wanted family time.

1. Be intentional. Take an evening away from Netflix and sit at the kitchen table with your spouse (and a glass of wine) and PLAN family days. Look at your schedules for the month and write down family days. If you don't have days, write down blocks of hours that work instead.
2. Family days do NOT have to be expensive or grand. Don't think that "family time" has to mean spending a ton of money on a grand trip to Hawaii...though that sounds wonderful. In a perfect world, I would love to travel with my kids every few months. But 1) traveling with my kids sounds awful and 2) we don't have the money.
3. Think of cheap things in your city. Look up local beerfests that have places for the kids to play, or find discount tickets to a sports game or museum. Think farmers' markets and splash pads or picnic and park afternoons, something together as a family that everyone will enjoy. We have swim lessons for the kids on Saturdays at our local community pool that we've made into a whole morning. We wear our matching swimsuits from Kortni Jeane (which made it that much more fun) and show up to lessons a little early to swim together and play in the kiddie pool. It's cheap and definitely something we all look forward to each weekend.
4. Groupon: We try to find good deals that we would buy whether they were discounted or not. Look up hotels or events in your city that look fun for the whole family. Do a 24-hour overnight or get mini-golfing at a discount.
5. Lastly, be flexible. Kids get sick, plans change, weather shifts, and life happens. You might schedule something the ONE day you all had free only to find out that your husband gets called into work. It happens and you just have to try again :)

It's crucial to focus on your family and get those date nights in with your spouse, take your kids on dates, and do fun things as a family.

Every family member needs that. Especially moms. I think that as a mom in the grind of school and cooking and drop offs and play dates and work, I really crave that family time. It's so important for me to get out of my normal realm and for us to do something fun as a family.

I hope you get some much needed family time scheduled on your calendars!

xoxo

Nicole