Family

NEW! Bring “The Ambrose Deception” to Life with a Scavenger Hunt in Raleigh, NC!

December 17, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

Earlier this month, our book clubs read Emily Ecton’s The Ambrose Deception and we staged a real-life scavenger hunt all over the center of Durham. I tried to recreate the fun from the book by starting our hunt at a coffee shop that also offers doughnuts and other fare, and the kids were paired with drivers, smartphones, and unique clues that would take them to landmarks of all kinds around the city.

Want to know more? Read my full post about our adventure here.

The Ambrose Deception is a really fun book that takes the main characters on an adventure around their home city of Chicago as they solve puzzles, clues, and learn about friendship and teamwork. It’s a great story – find out more here.

The day went so well that we wanted to do it again, and so I made another set of clues for another city: nearby Raleigh, our capitol city. The downtown area of Raleigh is full of unique museums, restaurants, history, and landmarks, all fun places to explore.

This version is set up for four teams, with four clues each. When they solve all four original clues, the Clue Master sends one last clue: the clue to the final location, and the first team there wins.

This product contains everything you need to run a successful scavenger hunt on your own: simply print the forms, get your teams together, and pick a date! There are even certificates you can print for the winners.

*This does require that you are physically in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina.

Running a real-life scavenger hunt is a great way to explore and check out places that may be new to you in your own city or a nearby one. It’s fun to do with book clubs, parties, family groups, or just a group of friends. While both The Ambrose Deception: Durham, NC Edition and The Ambrose Deception: Raleigh, NC Edition are modeled after this book, it isn’t necessary to have read it in order to participate. In fact, it’s much like an escape room, only instead of performing all of your tasks in one place, you get to venture outside for this!

If you’re not anywhere near Durham or Raleigh, North Carolina, or you teach in a classroom that won’t allow you to head outside and explore, don’t fret! Soon there will be a fully digital version of this scavenger hunt that you can do anywhere! Stay tuned ….

You can read more about The Ambrose Deception: Raleigh, NC Edition here. I’d love to hear about your experience if you decide to participate!

If you think this scavenger hunt sounds like fun, Pin this graphic to share it with your friends!

How are you making the most of your literature reading this week? Comment below and let me know!

“The Stray” Review & Giveaway

October 10, 2017 by Amy Leave a Comment

The Stray is the new story of a dog who saves a family – in more ways than one. Based on a true story, The Stray is both serious drama and adventure story.

The whole family will relate to The Stray. The driving force for much of the story is the oldest son of the family, who is an elementary-aged boy, but his parents’ opposing perspectives on family life are driven home, as well. Themes of family, love, friendship, and forgiveness run through every scene of this movie.

That’s the very best aspect of this movie: the overall theme of the importance of family. It’s refreshing to see a movie on the big screen that emphasizes this. You’ll leave inspired to spend more quality time with your family.

The Stray makes this point uniquely, and the story is fascinating. I don’t want to spoil the plot, so I’ll be very vague, but parts of the movie were hard to watch. The family was suffering, and I hate to see that. Events alternately improve and worsen until the resolution, at which point every member of my family had tears streaming down their faces – even one who had never cried at a movie before.

That sadness was necessary, though, to highlight the ultimate sacrifice and joy brought about by that resolution. Without it, the highs couldn’t have been so great, and they really were great. They brought the message home and made you appreciate them much more than you ever could have otherwise.

There were funny parts in the story, and we enjoyed those immensely. They helped to lighten the mood when it got heavy, and it was done well.

There is a climactic scene that is intense, and so the movie may not be suitable for very young children. There is suspense and danger, and perhaps some wouldn’t be ready for that; but there is no violence, language issues, or sexual overtones. It’s one of the cleanest, most inspiring movies I’ve seen in years.

I’d definitely recommend making an outing to see The Stray.

Want to know more? You can watch the movie trailer here!

You can even win tickets to see it for free! Click here to enter the giveaway for a family pack of tickets.

I received free tickets to see The Stray in theaters opening weekend. All opinions are my own.

Host a Family Cook-Off Night

March 4, 2016 by Amy Leave a Comment

We’ve got a new family tradition – we’ve decided to start holding monthly family cook-offs.

The kids are getting really into this.

Earlier in the month we had a grilled-cheese competition for Valentine’s Day. I baked different kinds of bread, bought a few varieties of cheese, and preheated the griddle. Everyone made two sandwiches and we tried them all before crowning a winner.

The kids had so much fun that they asked if we could hold a cook-off every month.

Since My Little Man won the first challenge, he got to choose the theme for this one, and he chose pizza.

Our family rules are simple:

Everyone had to use the same kind of pizza dough.
All ingredients in the kitchen are up for grabs, within reason.
Use a reasonable amount of your chosen ingredient.
The winner chooses the theme for the next challenge.
Everyone else cleans up!

I made a double batch of pizza dough and called everyone to the kitchen.

My Little Man went first. He called his ‘Loaded Pizza’ and it had two kinds of cheese, two kinds of sauce, and several types of meat.

My Big Helper stuffed her crust with mozzarella and made a meaty pizza, too. Her daddy went next, and he experimented with sauce and meat combinations.

I made a homemade Alfredo sauce – the recipe will be here on the blog soon – and made a white pizza with Alfredo, mozzarella, Parmesan, chopped broccoli, and bacon. Haven’t had it in years, and I’ve really missed it!

Then we voted via silent ballot. One family rule is that you can’t vote for yourself, and we write our top choices on index cards, giving our favorite more points than the others.

My Little Man won again! He was very excited about that.

Check out that pizza!

My Little Man won the right to choose March’s theme. I wonder what he’ll choose?

In reality, these nights are fun, but I’m seeing other benefits from them, too. The kids are thinking seriously about ingredients and flavor combinations and how to balance trying new things with realistically using food that must be paid for. My husband is cooking and preparing dishes – some of which he’s never thought about the preparation process. I’m learning to be more patient in the kitchen and to step back as they all try things they’ve never attempted before. It’s a good thing for all of us.

Want to host your own family cook-off? Check out these resources:

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