unplugged sundays

As a special request for my Auntie (who said the pizza photo was making her hungry all the time) I thought I'd share this post I wrote for the Unplugged Sunday blog back in December.

Unplugging on Sundays gives us space.  Space to breathe, to be together, to exhale.  I feel like life is so hectic and switching off slows it down.  Sometimes we get out for a hike (us kiwis call it a bush walk) or some fishing but often we just stay home.

I love being at home with my honey and my boys.  Reading books, cooking and playing games usually take priority.  Getting together over a board game we chat and hang out.  It's a really great way for the kids to learn how to be good winners and losers.

My mother tells the story of us playing"unhappy families" when I was a girl as our games of "happy families"  would inevitably end in tears.  There have been plenty of melt downs at our place but these days the kids are a lot better at losing.  

Some excellent family games:

• Carcassonne
• Hey That's My Fish
• Uno
• Labyrinth
• Scrabble Jnr

The kids have an hour of quiet time in their rooms after lunch.  Mummy and Daddy brew a pot of coffee and have our own game time.  We love to play together and switching off lets us make time for that.  It's so easy to get sucked into the Internet and for relationships take second place.  Our favourite two player games:

• Dominion
• Race For The Galaxy
• Mancala
• San Juan
• Backgammon

Unplugged days at our place often involve something crafty.  The boys (5 and 7) both have enjoyed learning to sew this year.  Trial and error has taught us that stitching into a heavy fabric like felt is easiest for a beginner.

I sometimes tinker about on my sewing machine but more often than not, I'll potter about and help the kids with whatever they're into.  During the week I often have the computer on and I know that they don't get really good quality attention.  I often feel a little guilty about that (I'm sure I'm not alone there).

Cooking from scratch and trying new recipes is a something I like to do too.  Recently we tried making pasta and although a little time consuming it was really quite fun.  When we're switched off there seems to be more hours in the day.

I think we used 5 large free range eggs and 500g of flour, mixed them to a dough, kneaded it by hand and then popped it in the fridge for a wee rest.  The rolling out part was a two person job (one big, one little) and was a little bit magical.

What are your favourite family games and recipes?  Maybe you'll have a new one that we can try.