First Turek Day

I had heard once of a family creating their own family holiday and thought it sounded fun but wasn't really sure what or when to do it.  Then I thought of the upcoming anniversary of finalizing our adoption of Nathan and knew that should be the day.

I want this day to be about our family, things we enjoy, and mainly focusing on showing love for each other.  

With the current ages of my kids, Joshua is all about what letter words start with and he enjoys a theme.  :-)  (He is soooo my child.)  I knew for Nathan this first Turek Day wouldn't mean too much but he would enjoy whatever we did.  

We decided to go with a T theme for Turek.

We made trees for decorations.

We started our morning off with a very sweet breakfast which included orange juice.  We reserve orange juice for holidays only around here.  

Then we all watched our DVD slideshows.  We have one used at our wedding reception so lots of baby pics of Matt and I.  Then we have one of each of our boys' first year.  We talked about what made us a family and the importance of temples.  I got a little teary as I watched both boys laughing at the videos.  I just can't believe how quickly time has passed.  

Later, we made "Timed Lists."  Each person wrote their name at the top of the paper and we took a minute to write all the things we loved about each person.  Joshua illustrated on each person's list and then explained his drawings.  

Matt had a late start day at work so it was awesome to have him around for the morning festivities.  He left but Turek Day continued with games; we played toss, tag, and trains.

Then we made truffles.  Joshua still hates getting messy so it took some convincing to mix these by hand.  He posed for this picture and then raced off to wash his hands.  

Finally, it was time for our last event.  Joshua really loves to dress up so we decided a dinner with tea lights and ties was in order.

He wasn't so sure about me wearing a tie but then we decided it was my necklace.  He decided he was a prince, Matt was a king, and Rachel and I were princesses.  He insisted on heels.  He has very high standards for his ladies ;-)

We tried taking this selfie before Matt got home.  Nathan's love for the ipad and very long reach made this quite challenging.

Rachel had to leave to go babysit just as Matt came home.  He threw on a tie over his scrubs and dinner commenced.

We love breakfast around here so we had breakfast tacos.  

Following dinner, Joshua came and asked, "May I please have this dance, Princess Mom."  We danced to the Disney station for a bit before calling it a night.  Nathan was taken to bed as he had been screaming for the last 5 minutes of the 15 minute dinner.  

Family prayers were given that night by Joshua and he listed every moment of the day.  I would say our first Turek Day was a huge success.