Tis the Season!

It's happened.

The holiday season is upon us.

I've done a lot of thinking about what this holiday season will be like for my family, here's what I have so far:

Step 1: Intense slave driving, with prolonged periods of yelling and punishments, to ensure that my children finish their schoolwork in a peremptory manner so as not to put a damper on the actual holiday days. This course of action will put a damper on every other day, but I'm out of better ideas. I've found that my children don't respond to candy bribes as well as they used to, I blame Halloween. If you can't use candy to get your kids to behave, yelling is all that's left.

Step 2: Let my mother in law handle all things Thanksgiving related. This is key to my serenity and thankfully she seems to embrace this role. I will bring a turkey for my husband to help cook and probably some carrots. I will be deeply and eternally thankful that that is all that I will do. My son seems interested in learning the magic that makes the Thanksgiving meal happen. I will encourage Curly in his endeavors and give my full support. Some day he can be in charge of Thanksgiving dinner, for this I am also thankful. Mother-in-laws and kitchen loving sons are a true blessing from heaven.

Step 3: Avoid Black Friday and go to a hotel. That's right, you heard the big news here first, I'm skipping the biggest shopping day of the year. I blame my sister and the internet. My sister is my partner in all Black Friday crimes and she's going on vacation like the highfalutin girl about town that she is. Then there's the internet. Do you know what you can buy on there? Literally, anything. I have completed most of my shopping plus a great deal of unnecessary shopping (thanks Facebook targeted ads, you know me too well!) online this year. It's probably best if the spending stops now.

Oh what, you thought I was going to just skip over the hotel part? Unlikely. My husbands company had the good sense to book the annual Christmas Party at a wonderful resort with a killer employee deal encouraging us all to make a weekend of it. Consider me encouraged. 3 days and 2 nights of staycation bliss are headed my way next weekend. Bonus: It will probably cost the same as Black Friday usually does Double Bonus: We're counting it as part of the kids Christmas present. They seem fine with it. Can I get away with this every year?

Step 4: Decoration. It's hard to feel festive without the right amount of tinsel. What is the right amount? Zero. I hate tinsel. But I do love Christmas decorations. The inside and outside of my humble abode will be festooned and lit up enough for even astronauts to benefit from their glow. It's always wonderful once it's up but terrible trying to get it all there. Day drinking may become the norm around here. Oaths may be uttered. It's all a part of the process.

Step 5: Crafting. This is an essential part of any successful holiday season. At least it is in my manor. Curly is still saving for his school sponsored world travels so we've signed up for a craft fair in the hopes of accomplishing his fundraising goals and ridding my house of an overabundance of crafty goodness.  In the course of the first week of December I will probably craft myself into oblivion while watching every Christmas movie ever made. This O.D. of holiday cheer will temporarily grinchify me, but it's nothing that eggnog or apple cider can't cure.

Step 6: Parties. We don't get invited to many, but this is probably a good thing. We're hosting one early which will mean frantic scrubbing, organizing, baking and hiding clutter in places we won't find until next Christmas. It's strategic to host, it means my family has to help me clean the house. A clean house means I have the possibility of not going completely bat crazy this holiday season.

Step 7: The bliss. School will be out for several weeks. The house will be clean. Most regularly scheduled activities will be on break. My family and I will sit back and enjoy the fruits of all of our harried labors. There will be games. There will be food. There will be relaxation. This will become my mantra.

God seems to have made the modern holiday season exactly to match my manic ways. I thrive on the scrambling exhaustion that leads to the unscheduled bliss. It gives me plenty of time to reflect on the wonder of his gift to our world and plenty of things to ask him for forgiveness about. Scramble times always have me saying or doing something that I'm not proud of. Thankfully he's a forgiving God. I like to think my misadventures give him a good laugh. We're friends like that.

How's your holiday season looking?

Fuming!

Well, they did it again. My charmingly adorable munchikins made mommy go ballistic.

Now I have to apologize. (Insert full on pouty face)

It's not really fair that I have to apologize, because it's ALL THEIR FAULT (insert foot stomp)

Tonight, out of the kindness of my heart, and the cheapness of my wallet, I offered to cut my boys hair. They deal was that they had to sweep up the hair into the dust pan when I was done. Easy peasy right?

Wrong.

First up was Larry.

His directions were, "Just cut it."

My questions were, "Do you want a style? Do you want it buzzed? Just one hair cut? What are you going for?"

He remained steadfast with, "just cut it, but not like, all the way."

I buzzed his head and told him to sweep up.

After convincing Moe to get a trim (but only if you use scissors mom!) I returned to the kitchen to find the hair in the trash and the first kid could be heard taking a shower. All seemed well.

Little did I know...

Moe wanted to keep his current hairstyle so it was to be "just a little off the edges." I did okay til I got to his cowlick. The back of his head now looks a like a miniature goat has been grazing in select patches. I figure it gives him character.

I tell Moe to sweep up.

He says he can't find the dust pan. I say Larry just used it so ask him. Moe finds Larry and comes back with the report that Larry cleaned up the hair on the floor with his hands. I yell at Moe to find a flippin dustpan now!

All still seemed moderately well...

I go find Curly and return to find the hair in the trash. Curly doesn't know how he wants his hair cut so I just go at it with the buzzer. It comes out lopsided so I comb it in that direction and pretend it was on purpose.

I then ask what he's been using to wash his hair because it does not feel very nice.

This is where things really begin to go downhill. He mumbles under his breath something about not being able to find soap.

Now I go ballistic as I begin to interrogate him on how long he's been going soap free and loudly exclaiming over the many places soap can be found in our house. I finalize my terrorist ways by going right in his face to explain that life as he knows it will end if he does not learn immediately that bathing requires soap and not just water.

I don't think this is what experts mean when they tell you to get down on their level.

I tell Curly to sweep up the hair and he says he can't find a dustpan. I explain that Moe just used it. Curly goes and finds Moe and then reports that Moe cleaned up the hair with his hands. I now go straight into Moes face and loudly explain that he will find a dustpan RIGHT NOW!

Did he learn nothing from Larry's mistake? Oh yeah, he learned that he could pick up hair with his hands :/

At this point I've completely lost it. A bizarre round robin style interrogation is set into motion that uncovers the fact that none of my 3 boys have been using soap for quite awhile and all of them think that water gets the job done just fine. We also uncover the ugly truth that when I say "sweep it into the dustpan" they hear "be as lazy as possible and try to avoid getting yelled at".

As I fume and spew my angry thoughts my 2 yr old flounces into the middle of the room and announces "Mommy, I love you the most." I quickly acknowledge her comment and return to my tirade. She quickly interrupts again, "and I love all my brothers because they're so special."

We should make her superhero name "The Diffuser."

It's hard to stay angry with this level of cuteness happening within inches of my anger cloud so I turn my focus to her. I kindly interrogate the 2 year old and have her briefly explain to her brothers

1. Where we keep the elusive soap

2. Where the soap goes on your body to make you clean

3. If you are allowed to bathe with water only.

Turns out she knows all of these answers and quickly schools my shamefaced sons. As the tirade nears an end, the floor gets swept (with the broom and dustpan which were put away where they belonged) and Curly yells from the bathroom, "I used shampoo and conditioner, are you proud of me?"

No Curly, no I'm not, because this is a basic expectation for your general hygiene that even the 2 year old can follow.

So yeah, I need to apologize, I really lost my cool there. But it wasn't all my fault.

My relationship with my bed

It's an intense relationship. There are not many objects, or people, that fill me with the longing, desire and need that hits me when I see or even think about my bed. This relatioshup is part of what makes bedtime at my house both magical and maniacal.

You see, I'm not one of those magical mom's. Heck, when it comes to bedtime, I'm not even a nice mom. I have no bedtime routine that I lovingly concocted. It basically comes down to this, when I say it's time for bed, I am saying exactly what I mean, for my children and myself, that it is time for bed.

With the 3 older boys time for bed means tell me 6 more times and might listen. Brush your teeth is a funny suggestion that will only be taken under advisement if we bought new toothpaste. If there's new toothpaste, it may get eaten. Pajamas are an antiquated notion beneath the likes of my boys. They're real men who sleep in the clothes they were wearing or strip down to their underwear (if they were wearing any, or if it's hot, or if they got cool new underwear). As they hang their heads and march down the stairs to their presumable doom, the dog and cat will run crazy circles around the upstairs as they realize they've been forgotten and must revel in their moment of stolen freedom in the oddest ways possible. I will yell from the top of the stairs that somebody better get the animals, because walking down the stairs or doing it myself is just too hard. The youngest will now reappear to see if he can finnagle his way into sleeping anywhere but his bed.

Let the begging, pleading, and whining begin in 5...4...3..2...1. He will suggest his sisters room "to help her sleep", the couch and even the bathtub. Some nights I will give in, most I will remain stalwart. Inevitably, he will be somewhere odd in the morning regardless of what I said last night.

I willfully ignore the older two that I can clearly hear doing battle downstairs in a feeble attempt to let them handle it amongst themselves. Or because Im lazy. They know not to come upstairs unless blood has been drawn. Things will work themselves out.

As the battle with the boys nears it's end I focus my intense need for sleep onto the littlest darling in our home. Thanks to some particularly clever bribing (tutu pajamas from Costco if she could go a whole week sleeping on her own) she now puts herself to bed. An almost 3 year old putting themselves to bed looks a little something like this:

(Each announcement is made while holding 1 finger in the air in an authoritative manner, picture that so you can really be in the moment with me)

"Okay mommy, I put on my jamas now!"

(Pitter patter run down the hall)
(Emerge with dress up princess dress)

I silently shake my head

(Throw princess dress on floor, Pitter patter back to room and reemerge with snowsuit)

I silently shake my head

(Throw snowsuit on the floor and pitter patter back to room)

"I did it!"

(She reemerges in backwards, inside out pajamas, and it won't be obvious at first, but she is inevitably commando)

"Goodnite mommy!"

(She climbs into bed. 2 seconds later she reemerges.)

"I forgot to say goodnight to daddy!" Hmmm, maybe I forgot brothers too? Where's the dog? I need say nite to Leia! Where's the titty ( that's how she says kitty)?"

She now just stands in the middle of the hallway and yells, "goodnight everyone!"

(Scamper back to bed. Moments later we hear sobbing.)

"I forgot to brush my teef! Somebody help me!"

(Teeth get brushed. Which means lotion gets put on. Which means hair gets brushed. Which means everything from the bathroom counter can now be found on the bathroom floor. Back to bed.)

Now I can hear her reading to herself quietly, so I go to check on the rest of the house. Every light has been left on so that we can stand out as a beacon of hope if a midnight apocalypse occurs. I shut it down, along with any hopes of directing an alien landing party to my house. Somehow at least half these lights will turn on again throughout the night. Some night elf in my house appears to take the beacon thing very seriously.

My bed is calling to me with the sounds of a beautiful siren and I am lured into its trap. As soon as I lay down the pitter patter can be heard and a cherubim face framed by golden curls will appear in my doorway.

"I just need to tell you one more thing mommy. I love you the most!

Do you love me the most?

Mommy, why aren't you talking to me?

Mommy?

What we doing tomorrow. We go skating maybe?  I invite Grandma? Can I call Grandma? I love Grandma."

No honey, we're not going skating tomorrow. Goodnight.

"But is it dark out or light out? Let's check. It is dark out!!!! We should go to bed.

Goodnight mommy.

One more thing.

My favorite movies are Mickey Mouse, Ponies, Strawberry Shortcake, Avatar and Backyardigans.

Maybe I should watch one tonite?"

No.

"Otay, I'll watch it with daddy tomorrow. Is that a good idea? Yeah, thats a good idea. Goodnite mommy. I'm a big girl and I sleep aaaalllll by myself. Yep. That's why I have a tutu. And I'm 2 but I'll be 3 on my birthday. Is tomorrow my birthday mommy?"

No.

"Otay. First it's brothers birthday, then it's mine and next is Sophias! Alright! Goodnight mommy."

The silence will now end in 5...4...3...2...1.

"I'm firtsty!! Where's my cup? I'll get it. Don't help me mommy, I can do it. I found it! Can I have juice?"

No.

"Otay. Aaaaaahhhhh! I have to go potty RIGHT NOW! I need help. I spilleed my water. I can wipe. Did I brush my teef? Oh yeah, I did. Goodnite mommy."

She'll go back to her room and I'll lay in my room, tense, waiting for the next child to emerge with the next problem or conversation that has to happen immediately.

The barrage will eventually end and I'll make one last round to see where they all ended up, turn off the lights to extinguish the household beacon and finally, as I close my daughters door, I'll outwardly smile and inwardly cringe as I gaze at her, nightgown up in her armpits, full moon exposed, and vow that we'll start a bedtime routine tomorrow.

But for tonite, my bed is calling. It needs me and I need it. My pillows are fluffed and my blanket is waiting to comfort me with its softness. It's dark and it's quiet and I'm in one of my happiest places.

Goodnight.

Mothers Day

How do you feel about this holiday?

I recently learned (thanks Flipboard app!) that it became an official holiday in the United States in 1914 thanks to Ann Jarvis of West Virginia. Her mother passed away in 1905 and Ann began campaigning at that time for a national holiday to celebrate Mothers. Woodrow Wilson is the president who finally signed it into law.

And you thought it was a Hallmark holiday. Tsk, tsk.

By 1920, Ann Jarvis was fed up with the commercialization of the holiday and spent the remainder of her life protesting and trying to get the law rescinded. One other notable fact in this holidays history is that both Ann and President Wilson were clear in their use of the word Mothers being a singular possessive referring to your mother only and not mothers around the world. Weirdly specific, right?

Now that I've provided you with your history lesson for the week, let me share/rant about why this resonates with me. First, and foremost, I like that a daughter wanted this holiday to honor her mom. It's sweet. I'm unclear on why it needed to be a national holiday, but hey, a celebration is a celebration. Secondly, I love the specifics that it is to celebrate your mother only, I feel pretty passionate about this part, and also confused. Finally, the commercialization of it all is nonsense. In todays instamedia saturated world, it's just the worst.

My Mothers Day this year was filled with facebook posts of moms being pampered and adored. I hope it made Ann feel good in her afterlife to see some of the results of her work. It generally made me feel junky that my kids had forgotten and were behaving like cretons. I may have allowed myself to wallow a bit. I did feel joy for others joy too, I promise. My favorite post was a friend who took a picture of her table. The picture showed 2 presents wrapped up on it with handmade cards (I think) and a pile of folded laundry. Her comment was something about how the presents were from her kids and the best present was that her husband had done all of the laundry and she felt loved. So sweet, and I think most definitely Ann Jarvis approved.

That Facebook post is not how my Mothers Day ever goes. Don't get me wrong, my husband and children are wonderful, but this holiday does not make them appear so. I don't help matters. I always say I don't want anything or I just want a clean house, they don't believe me, and we all end up feeling weird about things. I have now officially asked my husband to strike Mothers Day from our family calendar and treat it like an average day. He's says I'm waving the white flag and giving up, I say I'm saving myself and it really will be better this way. I'm pretty sure he thinks it's some sort of convoluted guilt trap, I assure him it's not, we agree to disagree. Time will tell.

This year I spent the bulk of my day getting angrier and angrier at a bowl. It wasn't healthy. Just so you don't report me to the authorities, I don't want to end up in a sanitorium like Ann, I'll give you some background. I let my kids sleep in the living room the night before. The only rule for this special treat is that you clean up the space in the morning. They did not follow this rule. No matter how many times I brought it up throughout the day, at least some of the mess would remain. The final straw was the popcorn bowl in the middle of my floor. It was always someone else's job and kept getting pushed aside until the sight of it just made me feel unloved and ignored and angry. Beware the power a bowl can hold!

My husband tried to make things nice for me, but I didn't really allow it because I agree with Ann Jarvis and Woodrow Wilson. Mothers Day is a day to celebrate YOUR mother. I am not his mother. He should focus on her. I should focus on my mother. My kids should focus on me. Realistically, and logistically, this holiday wasn't very well thought out, it's very crowded sharing with all these people, and someone is bound to be let down. My husband offered to make me breakfast, an hour after I had made it myself. He announced he would handle lunch for everyone, just as I was taking the food off the stove that I had cooked for everyone. After getting my feelings hurt when I asked my son to go for a walk and he countered with, could we ride bikes instead (no! no we can't. because that's not what I asked to do on my freakin special day. Also my bike tire is flat.)  My husband offered to go for a walk with me (he hates walks and he had just injured his knee which was swollen to 3x it's normal size). Bottom line though, he didn't need to do anything for me, his day should have been focused on his mom. My kids need to be capable of remembering and celebrating my amazingness all on their own (or with very slight prodding and prompting) for this holiday to even have a chance at success.

Finally, the commercialization! Ann Jarvis wanted Mothers Day to be about remembrance. People were to wear a white carnation if their mother had died and a red carnation if they were still alive. She wanted children to give handwritten notes proclaiming their love and thankfulness towards their mothers. This idea quickly gave way to floral bouquets, boxes of candy, preprinted greeting cards with only a signature from the child and commericals pushing hundreds of products to buy for Mothers to show your love. Personally, I've had enough with all of it. My kids make me things, write me notes and give me presents whenever the mood strikes them (or someone tells them too). It's not usually something to brag to the world about but it melts my heart and makes me happy. I don't need a special day or a special gift to have this happen. The pressure is just too much. In the end, I just need them to grow up to be good people (and eventually be able to say nice things to me without being told to).

Realistically, Mothers Day (and Fathers Day, but we could do a whole other post on that!) ends up being a day where you often just want a break from all that makes you a mother. That's kind of weird, right? Something has gone terribly wrong with this holiday. I want it to go back to carnation wearing and handwritten notes. If it can't be that, I just want a normal day. If I'm waving the white flag, so be it. I vow never to sit and stare angrily at the empty popcorn bowl, because it's supposed to be my special day and why can't they be nice to me and just listen for once, ever again. I'll still stare at it angrily when they ignore me as a I ask them to pick it up. I'm not perfect.

No? Is it just me? You love Mother's Day and all it entails? I sincerely do hope that your Mothers Day was wonderful and that you felt loved all day long. I won't begrudge you your happiness, I promise :) Don't begrudge me my right to an average, normal, run of the mill sort of day either. Deal?

Out of Excuses

It finally happened, I got back in the exercise game. I flirted with the idea a year ago and made a challenge group, but it didn't really stick.

Almost 3 years ago, I had a baby so I stopped exercising. My exercise partner got stuck working full time so I had no one to go to the gym with. I hurt my foot last September and ended up in a rehab boot til my birthday. I went on trips in February and March so my schedule was off. I asked everyone I could think of, to go to the gym or walk with me, and they all smiled and said maybe or made plans with me and then had to cancel.

So many excuses.

My reality is that I do not put myself first. I have a to do list and anything on it that other people need done will get done first. So, unless I have that accountability of another person, exercise goes to the end of the list.

This past week I discovered that my children are people too! With this revelation, plus the fact that I make their schedules, I now had people to exercise with. Also my sister came with me a lot and I didn't tell my husband what I was doing, I just sort of left him with some kids in the early morning.  This system seems to work.

I know it at least has a chance because today, no one woke up early to go with me, my sister missed her alarm, and I went and exercised ALL BY MYSELF!!

Wait, I lied. I took the dog. She's getting out of shape too and it made me feel like I was helping her out.

Now, before you all leap up into a standing ovation to celebrate my monumental accomplishments let me share the monumental benefits of daily exercise.

(I'm sharing these because I saw a video of what happens when you don't exercise today. Maybe I should have made a video of what happens when you do?)

Monumental benefits of increased exercise:
- improved mood
- increased exhaustion
- clothes that fit better
- way more laundry to do
- impressive tan
- way more showers
- way less chores done
- weight gain?
- decreased appetite

Now you can give me that standing ovation.
Or, call me and set up an exercise date, that might be better.

Let the adventures in exercise begin. As soon as I can figure out flattering slefies I'll assault you with a barrage of exercise proof photos. You'll love it.

Being this cool isn't always easy

In case you missed part 1 of this story, here's the link: http://timeforb.blogspot.com/2015/12/forced-family-fun.html

Forced family fun pretty much makes me the coolest parent on the planet. Except that for almost 2 weeks I made them open the wrapped games and then not play them. We had some school goals to get done, some bad behavior to deal with and some days where I was lazy/tired. You know how it is. By the time our semester ended on December 11th this whole board game advent calendar idea was beginning to feel like another failure of an idea.

I persevered,  more for you, my fans, than anything, but still, I persevered. So, over the course of weekends or whenever we had some free time, we caught up on the advent gaming to do list. We're still not caught up completely but tomorrow's schedule is wide open so there's hope that we'll finish.

These reviews are too late to do you any good for Christmas, but let's face it, you should be playing more games always, so pick up whichever sounds the most interesting/least awful and open it up on the next rainy day. You'll thank me.

Dec. 7th - these dates are not real and just serve to make sure I don't forget any of the games

This see through card game, Swish, is a new one for us. It was quick to figure out and has infinite playability as a one person challenge or with a lot of people. There were a few tricks to figuring it out but we got good as we went. Game play was fast, about 30 minutes. It's a puzzle game where you have to match cards in a sort of pattern. The trick is that you do it in your head and call "swish" when you're sure you can do it. You can only touch the cards to rotate, flip etc... at this time. I loved it.

Dec 8th 

 

Concept, another new game for us that I now LOVE! This game is pictionary with a twist. You have a board full of images and you have to get everyone else to guess a word or phrase simply by marking the images. Everyone who guesses gets points for helping and the person who guesses correct gets double points. It's quick, funny and sneakily taught my kids that images have more than one meaning. That's an important concept in our emoji filled world. Game play 30 minutes.

Dec 9th

Loot is a cooperative card game where you loot pirate ships. You can choose to work together or against each other. I've only played it once and it wasn't my favorite. When my kids unwrapped it, I let them play without me. I will say, they all really enjoy it. If your kid is into pirates, ships or card games at all, this is probably a winner. Appropriate for ages 5 and up I think. Game play approx. 30 minutes

Dec 10th

 

I can't say enough good things about the card game Fluxx! I was desperate for the holiday version, I love the idea of a game that comes out with the decorations each year and goes away with them too :)

Disclaimer: we've introduced Fluxx to 2 other families, they did not share our love for the game. I don't know why. It's sad.

Fluxx, in any of its versions, is a game where the rules are in the cards and change as people play new rules to replace old rules. The cards are witty and I like the way they're written. This is a game that my husband and I will sometimes play on our own after kids are in bed, we think it's that good! All the kids love it and none of us can ever turn someone down when they ask us to play.  Game play lasts 10 minutes to 60 minutes, it's all about the cards you draw.

Have I mentioned we love this game? It's genius.

Dec 11th

Aaaaaahhhhh, Monopoly Deal, the only other game my husband and I play, even if it's just us and uses our precious free time. We love, love, love it! Game play really is 15 minutes, but you'll want to do it over and over so we usually play for about an hour. The concept is similar to Monopoly, you need to collect 3 property sets to win the game, there are cards that bring you windfalls and setbacks. You can steal and block opponents moves, which is a fun twist. The only thing I still haven't gotten used to is that there is no change. If you owe $1K in rent and you only have a $10k note, you have to pay the whole 10k. No money? You pay in properties. Buy this game! Well, I mean, if you're cool and if you like monopoly,  buy this game.

Dec 12th

 
Scattegories is kind of a classic game. It's got a timer and stresses my kids out and hasn't been a success at my house but I love it. Scattegories the card game has been the answer to prayers we didn't know we had. We bought it a year or two ago during our card game craze and it has had serious staying power. It's a game we can play in the car, at dinner, with friends or wherever and however we want. It always leads to laughs and sometimes identifies bad spellers in our midst. Basically it's a win - win :)

Dec. 13th

I'm not totally sure what to say about this game. Civilization is based on a computer game. You develop an ancient civilization and win by being be the best at conquering, or technology or the arts. The youngest son loves history and was desperate to own this game. I managed to play it without crying. There are so many pieces that it took us almost 2 hours to setup. Game play was interesting and the first time my son attacked my village I declared him supreme ruler and quit. I have hopes for this game, it gets rave reviews and now we have it organized so it should be quicker setup in the future. But, I won't be trying it for quite awhile, it emotionally and mentally exhausted me.

Dec 14th

Wizard! This is my favorite card game and I almost always have a game going with at least one of my kids. It does take about 2 hours to play but it's easy to stop at any time and pick up where you left off later. It's a game of trumps. Each round you get an increasing number of cards and the trump suit changes. There are wizards and jesters that have their own special rules. It's easy to figure out and never stops being fun. You need strategy so it's a great learning tool to help the kiddos hone those skills.

 Dec. 14th

I'm so excited to tell you about this new to us game, Tokaido. You go on vacation in Japan, travelling the ancient road from Edo to Kyoto. Along the way you stop at inns, souvenir shops, excursions and scenic overlooks. You collect postcards, souvenirs and yummy food as you go. This game is all about the journey. It was super fast to setup and learn and we are all begging to play it again asap. The directions has some great info on Japan and it's customs, so you may spark some interest. I love it!

Dec. 15th

Now we've reached my favorite board game, Settlers of Catan. It has a lot of expansions and versions but the original has stolen my heart. The board is different everytime but the goal is the same, to settle Catan. You build villages, cities and roads and buy development cards. It takes about 2 hours to play.  Come over, I'll play it with you any time!

Dec.16th

Apples to Apples anyone? The more people you have the longer it takes, but the more fun you'll have. Everyone has red apples (nouns)that they need to match to green apples (adjectives) and the judge votes on the best match. The more you know the players the better you'll be at this game but it's fun with anyone. A great party game.

Dec. 17th

Smallworld. The youngest boy got this for his birthday a year ago, it was a spontaneous purchase that revived my faith in the boardgame industry. It's a small world on the board that needs to be conquered by the many different races using their many different skills. All of its expansions are amazing must haves that add to the game without changing or adding rules. When pixies, amazons and orcs have a chance to battle you know the game is a winner. Game play takes 1-2 hours. It's available as an app too, and plays great in that mode. The app is probably the best way to learn the rules and hone your skills so you're ready for battle when the time comes to play the game with us :)

We have 7 games left to play, so look forward to another post soon. We clearly favor strategy games :) we've also managed to play quite a few board games that weren't in our advent calendar in the last week such as Blokus, Catan Jr, Quirkle, Pictopia, Balderdash and the 2 year old favorite,  Go Fish. Feel free to ask me about any of these if you've been considering a major board game purchase or check out reviews at boardgamegeeks.com

Forced Family Fun

Foreword
I'd feel remiss if I didn't note that it's been many months since my last post. I have a lot of excuses. I have time. I should write. I love to write. I need to write. I'm thankful for my friend who gets me to write at least one blog a year, her and my dad are my number one blog fans so talking with either of them gets me back in writing mode everytime. Guess I should be talking to them more often, or getting more fans :)

Now, with that out of the way, how about I tell you about December. I decided, based on my sisters brilliant suggestion, to do a board game advent calendar this year. I wrapped up 25 games, some new, most old, and attempted to pile them up in the shape of a Christmas tree. It came out a little more crumbling pyramid than tree but it's all about the effort right? I had plans to number the packages so we didn't accidentally play Risk on a weeknight and to avoid other time related disasters. But... the kids begged to choose, and I was flustered because I started late, and it was already feeling like a half assed plan, so I gave in.

I still maintain that the idea is a good one, but 6 days in I've learned a lot of what not to do :) This advent calendar essentially forces us to sit down, interact and have fun, or fake it so as not to be the Debby Downer in the group. This has proven to be a Herculean task for my children.

Let me preface by saying that my kids love games!! They have patience, follow rules and a few can even develop strategies.  But, they are very used to choosing the game. They  now have a nightly struggle of possibly miss out on fun or play the game I think I don't like. It doesn't help that the kid who loves the chosen game rubs it in everyone's faces that they finally get to play and no one can veto. We may need to work on sportsmanship. Hence the phrase, forced family fun. Try it, you'll like it, and most kids won't cry!

At least one kid has cried every single night that we've played. We've had to switch games twice because of timing issues and we've had to delay bedtime twice in order to finish a game. Oops!
Bad parenting examples displayed daily at our house.

I'll keep you posted on  how it goes the rest of the month,  and I'll share with you what we played and suggestions on games to try from our board game loving family to yours. Merry Christmas!

The 2 yr old taking uno seriously.

Indestructible waterproof uno cards. 

Settlers of America. Needs space, has lots of small pieces.

The advent calendar. Don't count closely, some were in the mail or at a friends house so they weren't wrapped yet.

The cards have to pictures to choose from, you only need to match one.

The mess of choosing which games to wrap. I used up 3 rolls of wrapping paper!

Games played so far:

December 1st - Loonacy Card Game
A fast paced card game similar to Spot It. Match pictures and be the first to get rid of your hand. Game play lasts under 30 minutes and is always entertaining.

December 2nd - Settlers of America
A great version of Settlers of Catan! Bonus that your kids learn the states as they play. Double bonus that they all sing "Jackson, Mississippi" like Bruno Mars whenever they're near that area. The goal of the game is to travel from east to west by train or covered wagon. You need to build settlements and deliver goods to other settlements to win the game. Game play lasts about 2 hours.

December 3rd - Uno H2O
It's Uno but with waterproof cards. If you've ever tried waterproof cards than you know just how amazing they are! Practically indestructible means even the 2 year old can play. She doesn't have strategy but can easily match colors and numbers.  All my kids started out with uno as a first game and all still enjoy it. Game play is usually under an hour.

December 4th - Phase 10 masters
Phase 10 is a favorite in my husband's family and they take it seriously. Phase 10 masters tweaks a few of the rules (in ways that I love!) and is a faster paced more strategic version. I had a moment of weakness and felt bad that I was beating my children so soundly. I eased up for a round or two and ended up losing terribly. I generally think a game should be fun whether you win or lose and usually stand strong against whiners but I had a moment of weakness. Never again. Game play was about 2 hours.

December 5th - Dominion
This card game is fairly new to our family but we are obsessed! It's a card game with different variants so the strategies change based on which setup you choose. Your goal is to build a deck of properties using money and action cards so that you have the most victory points (properties) in the end. Game play is 45 minutes.