Unplugged

It's the beginning of a new school year.  For me, even more than January 1st, this is a time when I start examining habits and looking for ways to make positive changes.  (I apologize in advance for the blog posts that will surely follow on these topics!)

One thing that's been on my mind this summer is the amount of TV we've been watching...the kids have been watching every day, pretty much, and that's unusual around here.  Ahem.  We'd *like* for that to be the exception, not the rule, but it's become the rule this summer.  And don't get me started on how much time James and I spend plugged in, with our phones in our hands, texting, checking facebook, e-mailing, just looking at stuff.  I'm all for technology, but not when we get lazy like this and let it get in the way of actually doing things, spending time with each other, etc.

So last Sunday, we unplugged.  All of us, all day.  It was great!  After the initial "I want to watch sumping!" Noble got it and was happy to play or hang out with us.  This week we did the same thing...and after asking once when he woke up, that was it.  We spent a little time playing a game after dinner, when normally we would have watched TV--and lately, the dining room table has been covered with my work and PTO stuff, so a lot of meals have been in front of the TV.  Yikes!

Kayci just made it all worthwhile...on the way back from the grocery store, she remarked how much she enjoyed yesterday.  You could tell she was kind of thinking it through as she was talking, because she'd say something, stop and think, say something...anyway, the end of the story is that she likes our unplugged days because we get more family time together.  It's kind of sad that there's THAT big of a difference, but there totally is.

So that's the first habit we're working on:  unplugging.