Saturday Activities

Eric and I knew that the calendar was empty today, so in an attempt to keep the children from fighting and arguing, Eric came up with the following idea. Each member of the family wrote down two ideas for activities that they would like to do. Each activity could only last for a maximum of 30 minutes and it couldn't cost anything. The kids had a great time thinking of ideas, even Jon-Jon got into the act. Then we folded up the papers and put them in a jar. Each member of the family, starting at the youngest, got to draw a paper out. Jon started and drew out "Watch Pink Panther cartoons and do voices for all of the characters." That was really funny since the characters don't talk at all and the kids had a great time making up comments to go along with the story.

After Pink Panther, Adam drew "Watch Horton Hears a Who." So we watched the last 10 minutes of the movie.

Emma's turn was "Make something blow up." So we all went to the kitchen and did science experiments with balloons, baking soda and vinegar. The kids LOVED this one.

Braden drew out "Wii Sports". So the boys had a bowling tournament and then the girls did one as well.

Mom's turn was "Wii Fit" and since this was Adam's paper, he choose that we all had to do the running games. *sigh* Not my favorite.

On Eric's turn, we played a short game of Boom Blox on the Wii. Then we wrapped around to Jon's turn again which was "Make a family sandwich." A family sandwich starts with Eric laying down on the Love Sac. Then each of the children pile on and Mom squishes everyone as the top layer.

Adam drew "Make Valentine's Day cards with Mom's card stuff." Surprisely, the kids all had a great time making card with my card making supplies. I was really surprised when Braden said that he wanted to do it again sometime. He made a card for his teacher with a cute poem inside that he made up himself.

Emma got the last draw before dinner which was "Read to each other." Eric took this one and read a really mixed up version of Green Eggs and Ham to the kids while I made dinner. To top off a fun afternoon, I made something special that we had never had before. I made cheese fondue and served it with bread chunks, steak chunks, and apple wedges. The kids loved eating out of my fondue pot (which has only been used once before). They begged for chocolate fondue for dessert.

Karen came over at 6 pm and brought her game "Curses". In this game, you get cursed and have to do funny things like "talk like a vampire the rest of the game" or "your wrist have been glued to your head." While you are cursed, you draw other challenge cards that you have to complete such as "sell an insurance plan to your neighbor" and "sing a holiday song". If the other players catch you NOT doing your curse, you lose.

After Curses, I made chocolate fondue and we ate bananas, Maria crackers and palmeras with it. Yummy. We played "Swap" with the kids and then Eric, Karen and I finished the night off with games of Dominion and Ticket to Ride. It was a great day.

Of course, I just realized that I missed the first half of the day, when we went to a very excited Braden basketball game. His team pulled off a 18-13 win over a very tough opponent. Then we cleaned house. All in all, it was a very satisfying Saturday, and I loved how the kids interacted positively with each other instead of fighting and arguing over the Wii.

Have a great Sabbath.