31 Day Challenge

There's this "31 Day Challenge" going on this month over at The Nester's place (It's BIG and looks FUN, check it out!). I've been going back and forth on whether or not I should just go for it! So, I'm writing this first post and plan to just go for it!  

I've decided that I want to do it because...

1. I haven't been blogging very much. Hardly been writing at all.  Perhaps a focused topic for 31 days with give me the accountability I need to get motivated again. 
2. I think it will provide me with a good opportunity to refocus some of my energy and attention in this area I feel like I've been becoming a bit 'lazy' and 'comfortable' in.  

So the topic I want to focus on this month is: Investing in my Girls. (They are currently 10 and 12 years old.)

You see, I know my days with them are numbered. I even have their 18th birthday in my countdown app. A reminder to me that yes, my days with them will not last forever.  And yet sometimes in the day to day of living, I forget that the little things I choose to do (or not do) make a difference.  Parenting is about all those little choices in the everyday-ness of living. 

This isn't about me doing things right. Ask my girls, I do a gazillion things wrong.  I'm trying to figure out this mothering thing. Many people tell me I'm a good mom. Some days I believe that. Some days I don't. But it's not about what everyone else thinks.  Several months ago I won a copy of Jill Savage's book, No More Perfect Moms. I still haven't read it, but I plan to finally read that book this month too. 

So tonight, as I reflect, what actions did I actually do today that invested into my girls? 

Today, it is this: I took time and played a game with them.  Here's the deal...

This evening, after working all day, then going the grocery store, I wanted to just lay on the couch and catch up on facebook, but I could tell the girls were bored.  So, I offered to play a game with them.  They chose Scrabble Slam.  We played 4-5 rounds of it.  (sidenote: we got this game 2 years ago and we had to 'take it easy' on them then.  Now, they are hard to beat when I'm trying my hardest!)

Playing games with my girls is fun, besides it builds relationships...interacting together, competing, laughing (at dad's word 'fart'). 

We don't play games every day, but we do try to keep these favorites nearby, so we can play often... Scrabble, Scrabble Slam, Yahtzee, Apples to Apples Jr., Who-what-Where, and Banagrams

What games do you play together as a family?