The Hazard Chronicles

It has been a very eventful week! That means it’s a long blog post. It’s worth it though, so read on.

Let’s go day by day.

Sunday: Super Bowl! Rachel and I got pizza, breadsticks, and buffalo wings and watched the game in surround sound with our projector on the wall. It was fun, and we both agree that the right team won. I would have liked to have seen a better football game though.

Speaking of our projector- this is a setup that has almost become a permanent fixture in our house. Rachel and I are in the midst of watching the TV series “Breaking Bad,” and we do lots of movie nights as well. We measured the size of the picture and came up with 104”. Now that is a big “screen”. It’s like a movie theater. It’s fun.

Monday: Family night. I have really come to enjoy our family nights. They are going better and better as our kids get older. Sure, we have the occasional fiasco, but things are usually pretty good. Here is our agenda:

• Introductions of each member of the family with an enthusiastic round of applause. This is done by an assigned “conductor.”  This is our kid’s favorite job, and they look forward to their turn to conduct.
• Song/Prayer- also chosen by the conductor
• Lesson- We use our Hazard Family Declaration for this: a carry-over from when I was a kid. We wrote ours a little bit different than my parents though, in that we have twelve article-of-faith style items. Each month we choose one of these items to be our monthly theme and the lessons are all centered around that idea. Rachel or I switch off lesson weeks, and one of the kids is usually invited to help us prepare. This month the theme is “Men are that they might have joy,” and for the lesson this week we all went around the room and thought of things that we like doing to make us happy. We then put together a week plan so that we could do each thing. This was a fun activity that showed the importance of planning. Each day, the kids helped us do a little bit to get ready for things (buying stuff, making phone calls, etc). Then, when all the preparations were made, we got to carry through for a very action-packed week. Keep reading, and you’ll see what I mean.
• Discovery activity- The kids totally love this. We instituted this a few months ago because Rachel and I are giant geeks, and we think it is absolutely essential for kids to learn how to think critically. So…every week we do a science experiment or a pattern game or a thinking activity. Something that will get them to ask questions. Already, each of our kids can tell you the meaning of a hypothesis, and “how do you know…” has become a favorite question for them. I love it! Again, Rachel and I alternate weeks on this, and we usually invite a kid to help us to prepare it.
• Closing prayer/Refreshments- Sometimes we will bake stuff with the kids. Usually we just buy something at the store though. We rotate on which kid gets to decide what we will eat, and then that person gets to help pass it out to everyone.
• The end. Bed time. Take a deep breath and count our blessings.

Tuesday: Rachel and I watched the Bill Nye/Ken Ham debate. I honestly cannot understand people like Mr. Ham with their magical worldviews. Sometimes I wish I could. Seriously. It might help me to talk with certain people a little easier. Alas, I am a science nerd to the core. You know- the kind of person that Mr. Ham would call a “secularist.” I suppose I would embrace that label though, since to me it describes a person who has both his feet and his head solidly planted in reality. I guess this world needs both kinds of people though, and it was interesting to watch the arguments made from both sides.

Wednesday: A day of rest. Sort of. We didn't do a whole lot with the family, but I’ll take the opportunity here to do a brief update on our business. We are doing AWESOME! When we put together our business plan we were counting on a 20% per year increase. We figured that if we could do this that we would survive, and with time, eventually be able to achieve our bigger ambitions. Well, so far we are continually seeing 50% increases each month over last year’s numbers. This is great! Over time, it’s looking more and more like this is a trend. I sure hope so! With the added money we have been able to pay our staff some good bonuses, and I think everyone is pretty happy with the way things are going. At the same time, we are super busy and we have had some crazy work days. It’s fun when we are able to make it work, but it gets tiring sometimes. Wednesday was like that. I think I got to work and didn't stop until it was time to go home. I love it!

Thursday: During our family night lesson, the thing I had chosen to do was a family popcorn movie night. This happened on Thursday when we rented Despicable Me 2 and watched it together.

Friday: In the morning we went to the fire station. This was Jackson’s activity. He helped me go on the internet and reserve a time for us to have a tour. When we showed up, they had hats and badges for all the kids, and we all had a good time playing on the trucks. I think Jack was the most excited though. He was literally bouncing! It was fun to watch.

Later that afternoon, Rachel went to work. For those who haven’t read it yet, go back to last week’s blog and see more about this. I said it there, but I’ll say it again. My wife is awesome. I love her, and I support her fully in her career ambitions. She is doing great, and it is fun to watch her doing such amazing things.

While Rachel was gone, the kids and I made Valentine’s Day cards. This was Evelyn’s activity. Earlier in the week she had helped pick out some paper and stickers, and it was fun to see the creativity flow as our A,J, and E colored, designed, and glued their masterpieces together.

Saturday: This was Addy’s morning-Gingerbread Houses! Of course she got to help pick out the candy we used to decorate with. Rachel and I cheated a little bit by using the hot-glue gun ahead of time to assemble the houses out of graham crackers. The kids all had a great time frosting and embellishing them though. Even Maren got in on the fun!

That afternoon, Rachel went to work again. The kids had quiet time and then played downstairs by themselves, meaning that I had a solid 3 hours alone with my guitar. Have I mentioned before that I love the guitar? Oh. Well…I do.

Sunday: Of course we went to church today. The real fun didn't start till we got home though. Tonight was Rachel’s night. Cooking. Griffin and Ashland gave us an awesome new cookbook for Christmas, and the kids went through it to design the perfect meal. Tonight, Rachel made super good BBQ pineapple and chicken quesadillas with Addy and a green bean salad with Jack. Meanwhile, Evelyn and I made a delicious strawberry shortcake cake. When it was time to eat, Maren helped set the table…sort of. Well, not really. But the dinner was great.

Well- it’s late. Congratulations if you read this whole thing. I’m going to end there and enjoy the rest of the night with Rachel. Have a good week!

Our Hazard Family Declaration. This hangs at the top of our stairs when you walk into the house.

 Movie Night

 The family that cooks together, eats together...or something along those lines.

Evelyn came up wearing this. She announced, "I have a talent. Do you know what it is?" When we asked, she proudly told us "My talent is to make dress-up clothes out of garbage- Look at my new dress!" She had made this totally out of packing paper for a package we had received this week. She is one very talented girl.

A marble race game that the kids love. This is what we do when Mom goes to work.

You can tell it's been a long day. Apparently I fell asleep like this and Rachel took my picture. Like I said- I love the guitar.