Fun Ideas for Thanksgiving Break!

As parents of a very, very active 5 year old girl, we thought long ahead of what we plan to do over Thanksgiving break to keep her busy. Most of you may know that Kevin and I adopted a more frugal lifestyle after both losing our jobs within a month of each other at the height of covid. Little did we know that the struggle of not having jobs would lead us to a happier, less materialistic and more spirtual way of living. 

Before we jump into what we came up with for activities.... I would like to say that we are often told, "you guys are so lucky to be able to do these things with Brooklyn, it is harder to be so active when you work full time". And YES, we agree. We both worked full time for Brooklyn's first 2 years of life, however, I believe we make time for what we want. FOR US, being active as a family is a priority. But, if you find that your schedule does not give time to do these things, please consider finding a family member or close friend who can take turns doing things with the kids over this break. Keep the kids stimulated, engaged and moving. 

This list is also good for anyone without kids that want something low cost to do. 

Here is our list:

1.  Hiking, Park, & Rec Centers- We are forunate enough to live in an area in California that is neither too hot or cold year around. So we have the option of hiking and parks all year. Our parks in Salinas are great and a few of them still have recreation centers open to the kids where they get to play board games, do arts, crafts, activies and meet new kids. My girlfriend Monica and I take the girls to the park across the street at least once a week. Before playing at the park they always stop into the rec center first to see what arts and crafts are out that day. The people running the rec center are so sweet and amazing with the kids. 

2. Painting, Arts, and Crafts- Like my mother, I learned quickly that arts and crafts makes our family happy. So I started a storage bin of random items that I pick up on sale here and there. We have everything in this bin from stencils and paint to paper shreds and feathers. In this bin, I also keep a king size sheet that I lay out in the middle of our living room floor during arts and crafts. This bin keeps Brooklyn busy for at least 1.5 to 2 hours everytime we pull it out... so busy that our bins of her art are stacking up quickly. 

3. Youtube Dance lessons- Did you know that there are some very kind hearted dance and karate teachers who offer free lessons on youtube? No, I didn't know this either until I started looking into dance school prices and thought, let me look on youtube for now. You can find so much on youtube to keep yourself or the kids active. I even saw free singing lessons!

4. Cooking and baking- Since we eat at home 98% of the time, I'm always on pintrest looking for kid friendly recipes to make with Brooklyn. She really enjoys cooking and baking. I have to be careful though because she goes from pleasantly mixing things to mad scientist in the kitchen quick, and then won't eat what she has made. So, I make sure I know what we are cooking, have all the ingredients ready and watch her closely. This is also a great way to teach kids how to cook and to get them to try new foods. Cooking with me is how we got Brooklyn to start eating more vegis. She wanted to eat the corn out of the can one day and boom just like that she liked corn again. 

5. Purge and Donate- This one is tricky because I love to purge and donate, Kevin doesn't like keeping things around that aren't being loved or used, and Brooklyn hates getting rid of anything. We do small quarterly purge and donations to keep the house tidy but also to teach Brooklyn that materials things come and go, you take care of the sentimental items you own, and you share your goodies with those who may need them more. The purge doesn't have to be massive. Even just a few unused items will do the trick for all purposes needed. 

I hope this gave you some good ideas on what you can do over this break! Enjoy your time with your family. We will be praciting gratitude and working on getting ourselves on a better schedule this week. I always thought a schedule was so formal and unnecessary but lately we have seen how much more balanced everything in our lifes are when a schedule is in place. 

Sending lots of love and peace,

The Normans