The Finale of National Turn off the TV Week

7 days , 168 hours or 10,080 minutes which ever way you add it up is how long SOME of the Novotny's turned their TV's off . The reason I say SOME is that by Saturday night we had a couple Novotny TV Addicts go AWOL on us.

Here is our weekend report:

Friday Afternoon: #1 Son Stephen arrived home from college for a quick 24 hour visit. In which his little brothers interrogated him about his participation in the Novotny Turn off the TV challenge, he confessed he had been watching TV while away at College - Caleb quickly says " Mom, I have a secret to tell you" - I was quickly informed of Stephens breaking of the No TV Challenge.

Saturday Morning: #1 Son asks #3 Son (Nate-no) if he wants to play guitar hero with him, I over hear the conversation but forget that Guitar Hero is considered a video game. Instead I am thinking how sweet it is that this big 19 year old brother wants to play Guitar Hero with his 7 year old brother....bonding time right? About an hour later I hear Stephen head out the front door but still hear Guitar Hero playing, it hits me Nate-no is not supposed to be playing Guitar Hero, OOPS...I quickly sent Savannah off to remind him - the TEARS begin he thinks he has ruined it all and is in BIG trouble. I got him calmed down explained to him that it was OK to play with Big Brother but now that he has gone it is time to turn it off.

Saturday Night: #2 Daughter Savannah arrived home from a long day/night of show performances, starving and wanting to chill. At 11:00PM She announces to me she QUITS and is going to take her bowl of soup to the bonus room and watch TV promising that her brothers will never know. She falls asleep leaving the TV on. Which Caleb then discovered that she was watching TV and broke the Challenge.

Sunday : Caleb announces it is his last day and tomorrow ( Monday) he can begin watching TV again WOOHOO!!!! I do inform him that we will have some new rules about the amount of time our family watches TV. He seems to have adjusted to the No TV and has enjoyed hours of Monopoly, playing outside, helping mom in the kitchen and hanging out as a family.

Monday Morning: 5:30 Am we awake to the TV on in the bonus room. Who so you think is up watching TV so early? CALEB. His first question to me is "did he Win the challenge?" "YES" Caleb you WON...Nate was then concerned if he had WON as well. I am still not sure what they think they WON , but I am proud of the Novotny team for their effort this week to turn off the TV and spend more time together as a family even if we had a few AWOL moments.

So, 7 days, 168 hours or 10,080 minutes later the Novotny TV's ( Talking Box) are back on, only this time on a limited basis.

How was your week of no TV?