playing games

Kids love to play games.  Playing games with your kid is the easiest way to bond with them.  You don't have to dress and undress barbie dolls and try to get an imagination that does not imagine so well anymore to come up with something.  Many families even have a family game night.  I think this would be an extremely good idea, especially with teenagers.  
Last weekend I went to some yard sales and we found a bunch of new games.  Here are a few of our favorites:

I am not sure why my daughter likes the game of LIFE so much, I am not a fan.

This one is simple to play and great for active kids like mine!

This is a discovery toys game.  Very easy and quick to play.  Requires a little strategy!

This one is actually our favorite because it is only 2 players and goes very quickly!  Does your person wear earrings?!

This one is a great game to play with a group of people, be sure to get the family version if you have children playing!

We also have some great games that we like to take with us when we go camping.  We will all sit around the campfire and pass the game around.  So much fun!

Bop It and Brain Warp

So, grab some games, sit down with your kid and have some fun!

grief

Grief.  It is such a funny word. 

Good grief!  What an oxymoron that is!

The kids are giving me grief !  Getting closer...

I think that it even sounds the way it makes me feel.  Grief.

It is strange emotion.  One that I have never really felt before now.

It is exhausting trying to avoid feeling it.  And then it catches you, and you end up crying in front of 20 teenagers over an episode of MTV's Exiled show.  "Quick, someone give her a hug", I hear them whispering.  One or two cry along with me.  They know what I am going through and try their best to keep me laughing, God bless them.  

That is why that darn grief is such a tricky feeling.  One minute you are laughing and dancing the "dougie", and the next minute your heart feels like it will bust and you need a tissue.  

I wonder how long it takes to get through grief?  People who come up and talk to me, well meaning people, tell me that you never really get through it.  That scares me more than anything.  I don't want to be bursting into tears in front of people for the rest of my life.  It is one thing to sit and have a sad moment, but for it to just sneak attack you whenever it wants to like this, is pretty awful. 

beautiful

As I was running in to use the girl's restroom in between classes this morning (gotta beat the kids to the big stall!), I noticed one of the girls standing at the mirror primping.  When I went into the stall I could hear her say "I just feel beautiful today!"  And I thought to myself wow, when was the last time I looked into the mirror and thought that?  Instead I tend to focus on the extra fat around my stomach or the fact that I am over due for a haircut and color.  Why?  Why do we do this to ourselves?  And what can we do to change it?  Next time, I want to peer into the mirror with the little girl and say, "why, yes you do honey, and I do too!" 

Mystery Monday- Getting Personal

It's Mystery Monday and this week I have been wondering about some mysterious things that always seem to happen only to me.

Like how I can take a shower and forget to wash the conditioner out of my hair.  I mean, what exactly was I doing in there?!  It's not like the routine changes each time I shower: wash hair, apply conditioner, shave legs, rinse conditioner, wash with poof! 

Or like how one hour after I showered, the bottoms of my feet can be so dirty.  I am not running around through my garden or anything, maybe just out to the garage, but my feet, ugh!

I'm embarrassed to admit that this has happened on more than one occasion, but have you ever worn your underwear inside out and then not realized it until half the day is gone?  Nope?  I knew I must be the only one!

Finally, how come I always have to be the one who somehow forgets to zip my pants after using the bathroom?  And it is also a mystery how I can have 6 classes of 20 kids staring at me all day, and not one of them brave enough to let me know my zipper is down.  Would it be too much to ask that someone at least slip me a little note?

What mysteries are you pondering in your life today? 

The Mother's Day Extravaganza!

My daughter was so excited about Mother's Day this year.  She was planning my Mother's Day surprises all week, and even enlisted the help of my lovely neighbors!  She started by waking up at 6 o'clock (6 o'clock!) and trying to sneak out of the house to go next door.  I woke up in time to catch her and send her back to bed.  I told her that she could not go waking the neighbors up until at least 8.  She waiting patiently.  Until 6:55.  (I'm sorry C and DK!)  I was told to "go blog or something, but don't go downstairs yet!"  Finally, I was allowed to come downstairs and boy did she out-do herself!  She had signs taped to the wall:

She had home made cards spread on the table.

She (with the help of my lovely neighbors) got flowers and an adorable card.   And my neighbors had helped her to make me the most fabulous breakfast:

Bacon, cheesy eggs, bananas with strawberry sauce, cinnamon buns, Starbucks coffee, and fizzy grape juice (grape juice and sprite)!

Cheers

Finally, we topped the extravaganza off by having my mom and brother and sister in law over for a big crab feast!  We had fresh corn, toasted cuban bread and some beautiful tomatoes along with 2 dozen blue crabs!

This has truly been the best Mother's Day ever!  I hope that yours was just as perfect!