Just Playing Around

We got a bunch of new games for Christmas this year. We have been in an all out game playing marathon this week. I’ll give you a quick rundown on a few of them. Family game night has lots of options now! Anyhow, here is my impression of a few games…

Apples to Apples - holy moley, this is an awesome game! Basically, each person gets 5 cards, each with a word. Each person puts down their card that most closely describes the “target word”. It’s a lot of fun…especially with small kids. For example, once the target word was cuddly. The submissions were basketball and lobster. As the judge, I had to decide which was most cuddly. Interesting game for sure!

Guess Who? - sort of like Clue with out the murder. You get 25 people and have to eliminate faces based on characteristics like eye color, beards, etc. We’ve had a bunch of fun with this one.  Abigail is a master!

Life, Pirates of the Caribbean edition - If you know the regular game of Life, you pretty well get this edition…just add a parrot on your shoulder and say “arrrrr” a lot more.  You pay in dubloons rather than dollars!

Dominoes - this has been our big time winner. We’ve played just under one million rounds of Mexican dominoes in several different variations over the past week. The kids have a fun time playing this although I think the adults (we’ve played with everyone) have had the most fun. I had no idea dominoes was actually a cool game!

We are working hard to institute a regular family game night.  We play games a lot but I suppose as the kids get older that it will be more difficult.  I figure we’ll start a tradition now if we can and hope it sticks.  Do most people have a family-something night?

Christmas - the part with bruises

So, yesterday, I mentioned that Isaac and I got Christmas presents that were bruise-causing.  Awhile back, Isaac mentioned that he wanted to try skateboarding. A friend of mine is big into skateboarding so I consulted with him to find good starter skateboards and pads for Isaac and me. My friend skates with his sons and has a lot of fun. I figured that as Isaac and I age and we have our times where we don’t see eye-to-eye, we’ll need something to do to burn off some energy.

So, Isaac and I got set up with new equipment and headed to Cookskin Park’s skate area.  It was 75 or so degrees and really beautiful so there were a number of people there to watch the noobs try not to break bones.

Everything started off pretty well.  I got a somewhat effective set of sea-legs and was able to handle most of the ramps (read: I could skate down them without falling….no tricks of course).  Isaac had a smarter approach.  I asked him if he wanted to try a ramp.  He said, “Dad, you know I am not a risk taker!”  He tooled around on the flat surfaces learning to coast and balance…bright kid.  Abigailsurprised me though and grabbed her scooter and follwed me on all of the ramps.  Anyhow, I was starting to feel like quite the skater so I started talking with one of the teens there and he suggested a different way of getting on the board to ride down the ramps.  I had made 30 or so runs with no problem.  Atop the highest ramp I had skated, I decided to try the new method.

Skating Lesson 1:  Never take skating advice from a teenager.

Skating Lesson 2:  Never ever try a new trick on the highest ramp around.

Skating Lesson 3:  Always wear a helmet, knee and elbow pads, and wrist guards…absolutely no one else in the park had any safety equipment.  Mind you, this safety equipment is partly for show as you will still get an awesome bruise…but you’ll look good when you hit the deck from 5 feet in the air!

Abigail was the only girl at the park which I thought would intimidate her. She was also the youngest. My fearless daughter was awesome though. She cruised around like an old pro! I think that scares me…a lot!

We surely had a lot of fun and I even earned this trophy!  It’s actually much larger than it looks but I don’t think you could handle if I showed any more leg!  It’s already turning a wonderful shade of yellow on the edges…sort of like a bag of Skittles exploded and tatooed my leg!

Christmas - the part without bruises

We had a great Christmas this year.  We spent lots of time with family and enjoyed tons of great food and gifts.  The kids were pretty calm on Christmas eve and went to bed before too late so Santa could come at a decent hour.  On Christmas morning, the kids even slept in until 7 or so (I was never that kind on Christmas to my parents)!  I think kids really are the most awesome at whatever age they are at.  I remember being so excited for my 2 and 6 year olds to open presents, but it was even better for my 5 and 9 year olds.  My Mom always said she liked us best at whatever age we were and I think I agree.  I am not sure that the same rule applies into adulthood though.  Of course, she can send us home now instead of just to our rooms.  Anyhow, I think I like my kids best at whatever age they are too!

Abigail had strep for Christmas but she is now mending (after 4 days on an ineffective antibiotic, she got a new type which worked).  I only mention it because we had to wake her up on Christmas morning.  Isaac was eager to open presents and we knew Abigail would be mad if he didn’t wait.  So, we woke her and the kids started opening stuff.  By the way, motrin is magic - it makes the most awful strep/sore throat/fever bearable for everyone!  Anyhow, I loved how our Christmas morning this year.  Rather than just fly through all the presents, the kids stopped and played with each gift before moving on to the next.  We didn’t prompt them to do so, but it let us know that Santa had done good research.  It took us 3 hours to open all the gifts (and there weren’t that many)!  We were exhausted by lunch time!

I’ll post some more pics tomorrow of one of the gifts that Isaac and I each got…but I need time for the bruise to properly finish developing before I show it off!

We’re still hungover…from sugar cookies

We are still goofed up from too much eggnog and sugar cookies.  I love too much icing!

Like a lightbulb

We were sitting in the car (aka our recording studio) when the kids decided to sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  Abigail was going to sing it with her kindergarten class so she wanted to practice.  I just happened to have my handy dandy voice recorder with me and I recorded this…the debut of Isaac and Abigail with backup vocals by Mom.  Maybe it’s just me, but I think kids singing and having fun is about the best sound in the world.  I don’t like regular kids’ albums where they have kids singing in wishy washy, overly sweet voices (do kids ever do anything gently or softly?).  I really love to hear kids singing loud and proud!

I was just a few days ago lamenting the fact that I was not yet in the Christmas spirit.  Things still feel a little different this year, but we are making great strides towards getting us fully Christmas-ey.  I may work half a day tomorrow but hanging with the family, just playing (and singing this song a bunch more times) will bring us into full Christmas swing.  I didn’t ever get how Mom and Dad could be content getting each other underwear for Christmas, but their real present was seeing their kids have a lot of fun playing games, singing, dancing, eating too much, and crashing at the end of a hard fought day.  I am a slow learner but I think I get it now.  Getting myself in the Christmas spirit is a change in attitude…it’s not about me anymore…and that’s cool!

My brother…the sock monkey

We went to my baby brother’s house this weekend to have an early Christmas (as none of us intends to travel for Christmas itself). I only see him once or twice a year but it always seems that we pick back up where we left off. I am 2.5 years older than him so we’ve been together as long as either of us can remember. I am certain that he made out better in the deal than I did as I had to give up the complete attention of my parents whereas he was born into a good family with a fantastic older sibling.  I used to be pretty rough on my brother…he would say I tortured him but I always thought of it as tough love.  Anyhow, I still pick on him a good bit but he is now a good bit larger and stronger than I am.  Fortunately I taught him well as he does not typically pick on me to make up for all those years…

Anyhow, we goofed around a lot this weekend. I think we’ve been clowns for about as long as I can remember. We are both professional adults and lead fairly adult lives…except when we get together. I won’t detail much of the tom-foolery that went on, but rather, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…but honestly, red suspenders need to be snapped.  My parents (who were present this weekend also) got them for my brother who recently bought a firetruck from my home town.  I think my brother intends to use the truck to get groceries and for the occasional powerwash of the driveway.  Anyhow, he couldn’t have a firetruck without red suspenders…and I couldn’t see red suspenders on my brother withought snapping them…and he couldn’t let me snap them without bear-hugging me until my ribs cracked!  It was great fun!

As we’ve aged, we’ve grown separate in some of our interests and thoughts and discovered other areas in which we agree.  

We still burp at the table and stuff, but since we are adults, our parents can now join in.  I mostly feel like an adult, but hanging out with my brother takes me back a little.  I get a little less serious (hard to imagine you say?) and a little more annoying to my wife.  It’s sort of funny how brothers work I guess but since I can’t (er…I mean won’t) trade mine in, I suppose I’ll keep the one I have!

Preemie no more

Nine years ago today Isaac was born.  It started as all babies do.  I’ll spare the details, but we found that Isaac was to be born on February 14, 2000.  Emily’s pregnancy progressed normally until the middle of December.  Isaac had always been a bundle of energy, even in the womb.  We called him popcorn before he was born since we didn’t find out his sex.  Anyhow, a few days before he was born, Emily noticed that he had stopped moving.  She waited a day and then another and still no movement.  We were new parents and didn’t know any better.  We decided we’d quell our new parent fears and she called the doctor who recommended that she go straight to the hospital.  She headed to the hospital and 2 1/2 hours later, Isaac was born.  He would not survive long enough to go through normal childbirth so they took him the hard way.  He was suffering liver and kidney failure as well as congestive heart failure.  We later found out that Emily had fifth disease, a common, typically childhood disease that is not terribly serious for kids, but very serious for unborn babies.  So, Isaac contracted it in utero which caused his loss of movement as he was dying.

So, the doctors delivered him and rushed him to the NICU at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, TN.  Baptist is a huge hospital in Nashville and is generally considered “the baby hospital”.  They have a fantastic NICU and a great staff.  Anyhow, since he was born 2 months early, and without advanced warning, he was not given steroids to prepare his lungs.  A typical NICU ventilator would have killed him.  Fortunately, he was put on a jet vent which puffs lots of little bursts of air into his lungs.  They also filled his lungs with some sort of liquid to ease his transition to the ouside world.

Because of his liver failure, the medications he was given processed through his system slower than expected so he didn’t not proceed as expected.  Initially, the doctors were not aware of this and suspected, instead, that he had suffered a brain hemmorage and was brain dead.  We kept faith through it all but feared the worst. 

I can’t really bear to relive all of the details, but slowly, Isaac started to wake up and to move.  And slowly he was transitioned off of the jet vent and placed on a regular ventilator.  Slowly, he was moved from a feeding tube to eating a few cc’s of milk at a time.  He pooped 8 days in to this ordeal!  It was only then that his body started to really heal. 

We still weren’t out of the woods.  Doctors recommended all sorts of treatments, one of which they warned us, would likely make him deaf.  Due to all of his issues, they warned us that he would likely have some mental disabilities as well.

So, here we are 9 years later.  From the boy we were told was brain dead, we have come so far.  From the 3  1/2 pound baby to the 5 foot tall, 90 pound eating machine who wears a size 8.5 men’s shoe, he has exceeded everyone’s expectations.  From the baby who would likely be mentally disabled, to the boy who has just started gifted classes, we remain astounded at how we have been blessed with and by this child!  He suffers only one of the afflictions the doctors warned of.  Isaac has moderate hearing loss for certain frequencies.

I love my little boy so much and he continues to delight me.  I had no idea, 9 years ago, that I could possibly love that kid more…but I do.

Gingerbread house - 2D

I really like ginger stuff.  My mom used to make gingerbread and lemon sauce (sounds iffy but it’s great!), I like gingersnaps more than just about any other cookie and I have explored medicinal uses for ginger brandy (uh…sure…medicinal uses).

When Momaw and Granddad invited us over to make gingerbread houses, I was likely more excited than the kids.  None of us has the patience to make a full-blown 3-D gingerbread house.  Patience runs so thin amongst us, in fact, that Isaac didn’t even have the patience to ice his gingerbread house.  He said he liked it as it was, though I think he really just hates crafty stuff that much.  Anyhow, Momaw found a simple recipe and a house cookie cutter so we were set to go. 

You can see that the kids used the flour with gusto and had it all over.  The very best part of this fun was that it was at Momaw and Granddad’s house!

We iced most of the cookies a little but we really were excited to get to the eating.  After only 24 hours, we have finished all of the cookies!  Yes, hibernation weight is coming along nicely!

Snowflakes!

I have mentioned before  that I love Instructables.com.  I was browsing the other evening when I came across a post about cutting intricate paper snowflakes (holy moley, sorry for all the links!)  I don’t think I was ever particularly good at cutting paper snowflakes but I thought I should pass along the frustration of cutting them to my kids.  I had barely finished describing what we needed to do when Isaac declined any further involvement…so, that leaves Abigail to drive to madness!

Typically, when I cut snowflakes, I just started in on the paper in my best Edward Scissorhands imitation.  Like most things, I had no plan or desired output.  It never occurred to me to plan ahead but the instructable changed my mind.  We decided to fold the paper as usual, but then draw a pattern ahead of time.  It made me think about what I wanted the end result to be.  Cool!

Abigail didn’t really get the excitement of “the edge”.  It’s the “mother-edge” I told her, the edge from which all snowflake life flows.  “Ok Dad, can I cut now?”  Ah, sweet…she’s feeling snowflake frustration!  Anyhow, she drew a number of shapes including some trapezoids and parallelograms to see what would happen.  As she unfolded her first snowflake, she began to understand the “edge from which all blessings flow”.

We decided to hang our snowflakes on the front door, but Mohinder, our cat, didn’t like them there…blocked his view I guess.  We had to raise them up so he couldn’t reach them. 

Anyhow, we are pretty proud of our work.  I expect that we’ll make one each night for awhile.  She loves to do arts and crafts projects and this is right up her alley!  I expect that it won’t be long until we learn to make paper-mache or 3-d origami-like ornaments or tissue paper ornaments, etc. 

Abigail is also pretty generous and wants to make enough so that we can give them to people for Christmas…I like the way she thinks!

Cinnamon applesauce ornaments

This works…you’ll never believe it, but it works.  We made cinnamon applesauce Christmas ornaments this weekend.  These ornaments are cool and they smell awesome!  We started with 1/2 cup of applesauce and added an equal amount of cinnamon.  At first, it mixed up pretty well and seemed right (whatever that is!) but we quickly found we needed more cinnamon.  We didn’t measure but I’d say we ended up with another 1/2 cup of cinnamon.  Anyhow, mix the two ingredients until they form a fairly dry, thick, clay-like consistency.  Roll them out between sheets of waxed paper until they are 1/4 inch thick.  Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and start them drying on a clean sheet of waxed paper.  We poked holes in them to run a string through for proper hanging.  Once they have dried about 24 hours, you can flip them and move them to a wire drying rack to finish.  I think ours will be dry tonight (48 hours).  Let me tell you, they smell awesome!  When I walk in the door at night, the cinnamon fills the air.  I sort of want to lick them but I know better…

Just so you know, they do not taste as good as they smell.  Isaac likes applesauce with cinnamon - a lot.  He reasoned (as I always do) that if a little is good, a lot must be awesome.  He tried some of the dough but quickly downed a bunch of water after eating a small bite (who am I to discourage a little first-hand experience?)  Before Isaac’s bite, Abigail decided she would wait on her brother’s experience before she tried the dough (who am I to push her into reckless behavior?)

As with many crafty things, Isaac was mainly in a hurry to get things done.  He did tough it out because it all smelled so good.  We discovered that appley cinnamon leaves a pretty good stain on your hands but it washes off pretty easily.  We also did a little science related to soil testing - Emily’s Dad is a civil engineer so he was able to rate the consistency of our dough compared to soil.  I think he mainly enjoyed slamming balls of dough onto the waxed paper to see how much it compacted!  It made a great cinnamon thump!