Wii Wish You a Happy New Year

Last year and the year before Meghan put together an elaborate set of activities for us to do with the kids. This year, we scaled it back a bit. We still had our traditional fondue, though, which is something I always look forward to. As an activity, we thought it would be fun to break out the Nintendo Wii. I’ve had the Wii for years (maybe seven?) and I used to play it occasionally before we had kids. But when you have kids, your free time diminishes, and that was one of the casualties. But I’ve kept it around hoping that some day the kids would be ready for it. This also gives me a free opportunity to play it, so everyone wins! Joshua previously had a brief experience with real video games, and he likes playing the little kid games on his Kindle Fire, but this was really the first significant exposure he’s had to a video game. Wii Sports is the game that comes bundled with the Wii, and it has bowling, golf, tennis, baseball, and boxing, and we chose to go with bowling. I made a Mii for each kid and helped them bowl. They had fun, especially Joshua. It was a little hard for them to learn the motions and the buttons you have to press and release, but Joshua and Clara mostly got it. We then also played MarioKart, which is one of my all-time favorite games. They all liked it quite a bit, though they really struggled to not only stay on the track, but to go the right direction. When initially choosing characters, Joshua recognized Mario but couldn’t quite remember his name, and called him Remargo, which was really cute. After I later told him it was Mario, I guess he didn’t quite hear me right, because Joshua liked to be “Baby Marro” (there’s Mario and Baby Mario in the game) until he discovered Bowser, which was then a way cooler option, apparently. Hannah liked to be “the one with the bow” (Baby Peach), and Clara liked to choose various different characters without really having a favorite. Meghan and I helped coach them (which mostly consisted or repeatedly telling them they were going the wrong way and that they should turn around), so we didn’t play much, but it was still a lot of fun for everyone.

For dinner we had appetizers, and then we had the New Year’s Eve event for the kids, since they weren't going to be staying up till midnight.  We put on hats and I distributed noisemakers.  I used the small, cheap, plastic disco ball that I have for solely this reason, and played some music off a party-themed CD we have, and the kids had a “dance party”. They loved it and were really disappointed when it was over.  The above pictures were actually taken in near darkness with only the light of the disco ball until the bright flash of the camera illuminated everything.  But check out their dance moves!

              Without the flash, things were a little different.  I have no idea what's happening here, but I love it.

                                                      Here the kids are entranced by the disco ball.

I then pulled up some random countdown video from YouTube on my phone and we did a countdown and then blew our noisemakers, and then it was midnight, at least as far as they were concerned. We weren’t tricking them, because they don’t even know that’s a thing.

Then they went to bed, and Meghan and I had a couple hours to kill before the actual midnight (we’re so old).  And yes, this was my outfit.  We had plenty of theme parties when I was in college, so I had a handful of crazy shirts which worked in various situations.  And I kept them, because I thought you'd never know when you'll need a crazy shirt.  Well, it turns out you do know, and the answer is that I don't really need crazy shirts at this point in my life, as I think they've all gone unused since college.  So I decided to break out one of them for our New Year's Eve party, so here I am in my sweet blue lamé shirt. And notice that was lamé, like the fabric, not lame, thank you very much. Anyway, we drank champagne and watched some of the specials on TV.  Like last year, Pitbull had the best show (what is this world coming to?) as he had fun and energetic music acts, as opposed to the lame acts and horrible “comedic” banter from comedians trying too hard (but still failing) to be funny. Shortly before midnight Pitbull himself performed (and continued until the end of the show), and I realized there’s a surprising amount of Pitbull songs that I like. For some reason Ke$ha didn’t show up to sing her part of “Timber”. I can’t imagine she had something more important to do, but whatever. Anyway, we had a really fun evening, and it’s been a great 2015 for us, and we’re looking forward to 2016.

Christmas Pug

Natalie is an old dog at this point (she's almost 12), so she doesn't hear well and doesn't see well, and she's also really tired and just likes to lay around all day, except at mealtime, when she is like a youthful, energetic pug, ecstatic about the impending filling of her bowl with food.  But aside from that, she mostly sleeps.  Like any dog, she prefers soft, comfortable places, and now that we have our tree up and the tree skirt out, she decided that was a nice place to sleep.

Finding Dinosaurs at Home

This week we have been learning about dinosaurs. Today we excavated a dinosaur and talked about how when people find dinosaur bones, they have to figure out how to put them back together again, just like we did.

Our excavated dinosaur ended up being a stegosaurus (I think. My only complaint is you get no documentation at all, but it looks like a stegosaurus to me). We also had a 3D puzzle that was a T-Rex. Though Hannah doesn't look particularly thrilled in this picture, she loved this guy and named him "Dino", which is pronounced like a dinosaur, not like dino from the Flinstones. We talked about how T-Rexes are meat-eaters and eat other dinosaurs, but the stegosaurus is a plant eater. We also talked about how their plates keep them safe from meat-eaters and also probably helped cool them off.

I also remembered there is a Dinosaur Train episode that talks about the plates on a stegosaurus, so we watched that. Buddy, one of the main characters, is also a T-Rex so we got to see him too. Clara watched with her dinosaur and of course had to tell him all about it, because she really likes talking and explaining, even to inanimate objects. We had a fun time learning about dinosaurs. Some things we do I am personally not that interested in, but I actually really like dinosaurs and my "Biology of Dinosaurs" class was one of my favorites I took in college, so I enjoyed this week as well.

A Birthday Visit from Grandpa Jim

Grandpa Jim was at our house yesterday evening on Joshua's birthday.  I got so many good pictures, I wanted to put them in their own post.  He spent a lot of time hanging out with the kids, and even little Natalie got some love.  The kids always love seeing him, and everyone had a great time, as you can see from the pictures.

Happy Birthday Joshua!

Today is Joshua's birthday. He woke up to a decorated door, but besides that the first thing was to go to school, since it's a Monday. He wore his special birthday shirt and brought snacks (which have to be healthy at this school, so not super fun). While he was at school, Jason put together his new nightstand with Hannah's and Natalie's help. He really couldn't have done it without them.

Then we went to school a little earlier than pick-up time so Jason could be the guest reader. He read one of Joshua's favorites (and Jason's favorite), "Dragons Love Tacos".

After school, we went to PowerPlay, which is sort of like a cross between Chuck E Cheese's and Dave and Buster's. We started with the buffet, which is exactly what you would expect and really awful, but the sort of thing a five year old boy loves (all you can eat frozen pizza? How can you go wrong).

We started out in the little kids area. This had an indoor playground, a bounce house, and a train ride that the kids enjoyed.

It also had unlimited machine rides, like they often have outside of grocery stores. Our kids never get to do those because I rarely have quarters and, when I do, I save them for animal feed at Deanna Rose, so they were pretty excited and really liked that.

After that, Joshua decided he was done with that little kid stuff because he is five now. So we went into the main arcade area. We had the place virtually to ourselves. They didn't really need to pay for every game to have fun. The car games were popular and totally free for them.  They were convinced they were playing and controlling the car on the screen, when actually it was just the demo that runs when no one is playing.

We played several games. They also had rides that I would have liked to do if we had more time and tickets and definitely think Joshua would like next time.

Finally we were down to our last tokens and played a game of air hockey (which you can tell Jason loves Joshua because he let him win) and then we were done for the day. I hoped Joshua would love this place but I wasn't sure, but he really did, so I think it was a great place for a five-year-old.

Once we got home, it was time for naps, but first we showed Joshua his mini room makeover. He wasn't that thrilled about changing rooms with Hannah, so I told him we would make his room "cool". So I got him a Spider-Man decal for his wall and a new nightstand and Spidey pillow. If I had known the Spider-Man pillow was going to be such a hit, I would have wrapped it as a gift. He loves fighting with it and was super excited about his room.

In the evening, we did a pizza dinner (his choice), followed by presents. His favorite was a remote-controlled transformer, which he was really excited about. Actually all the kids were excited about it, but Joshua is really the only one who can drive it with any accuracy. I was tempted to get a better one: a real RC car. But as much as this thing is hitting baseboards and columns, I think a toy is a good first step. Joshua is such a giver and sharer. He said, "Do you know what would be kind? If I let my girls open my presents." Which would be very kind, but we told him he should open his own presents because they get to open theirs on their own special birthdays.

Finally we did cake. He had a Miles From Tomorrowland cake, which is his favorite show. We had a super fun day with our big boy.

Dinner With My Mom and Christine

My mom was in town to visit her mom and also to spend some time at a retreat with her best friend Deb, and she was able to stop by on her way home. So today Christine and she came over for dinner. The kids really enjoyed seeing her, and of course it was nice for me too.

Since she was here and won't see the kids again this fall, my mom took advantage of the timing and gave the kids their birthday presents. They really enjoyed their gifts.

Almost as much as Christine enjoyed her free new hair style.

Hannah was exhausted by it all. It was really great to see both my mom and Christine and we are glad they could stop by.

Pug in a Basket

Tonight I needed to start a load of laundry. I grabbed my laundry basket from upstairs and prepared to walk downstairs. Natalie wanted to go downstairs with me, so I scooped her up and put her in the basket. I knew she wouldn't really like it, as she doesn't like being lifted up or carried or being in any place that isn't on the ground or on a piece of furniture.  But I couldn't help myself.  Once I was downstairs, I put the basket down, and she looked at me with a combination of dismay and terror.  I took her out, but not before taking a picture.