Game Days

Our family is the perfect age for board games.  Everyone can play and we have some pretty good ones.  

My personal favorite "Blokus"

Matthew got this from us 2 years ago after I saw my freshman year college room-mate (also Ken's sister's sister-in-law) playing it our niece's wedding.  Regarding that connection...let's just say "it's a small world after all".  You should agree...especially when you add the twist that 10 years before I was a freshman, my sister was assigned to be her sister's room-mate.....ok I digress.

I love Blokus and everyone in my family loves Blokus....if you don't own it you should....which is why I have bought this game to give as a gift 4 times.  If you lived in Iowa, I would probably be giving your kid this game at their next birthday party....ha ha!

Anna loves: 

Carolyn loves: 

Joel's favorite (although he hasn't played it much).....I am guessing it is Ken's favorite too:

Matthew's favorite:

So I am writing this post for 2 reasons.  

#1 to remember our favorite games in 2014

#2 to tell a funny story about today's game "Wits and Wages"

ok - 3 reasons - to encourage you to share your family's favorite game with me!

 ok - so back to #2.  Today we were playing Wits and Wages for the first time.  This s a game recommended by Dave Ramsey, although I am not sure exactly why since it isn't really about budgeting.  I think Dave would be extremely happy though as I bought this game for < $5 ....so I was even budget conscious, which makes me laugh because I have been completely ignoring any concept of a budget for months.

Here is our funny picture playing this game.  

The first 2 rounds were without Carolyn as she had a baby-sitting job.......can you believe it.  This was her 3rd gig!  She really likes it and loves earning money.  So here is a picture when Carolyn joined us for the game later.  We had to get it quick as people were in good spirits and were trying to "photo bomb" the picture.....thank goodness for digital!

Wits and Wagers is a cool game because you don't need to know the right answer....you just need to bet on the person's answer who you think is right.

Anna stated several times, "I don't know what you mean" for the questions (like "when was the movie Casablanca released?")....but she still could enjoy the game.

One question was "when was the first winter Olympics?"  I was off by 100 years and Matthew thought it was since I was born.....I am not that old!  Joel however guessed the exact year. (1924 by the way)  We were amazed.

The best question was "how many cards are there in a deck of Uno cards"?  We all bet on Matthew's answer because he made an UNO/Jenga mix game this spring.  (112 I think...)  It was funny because we all piled our chips on Matthew's answer....guess you had to be there....it was hysterical!

Anyway - fun was had by all!

Joel was the big winner

I realized as I posted Anna’s birthday pictures that I hadn’t posted Joel’s birthday pictures.  I do have some, but they must be in the normal camera ……  so here is a picture of Joel after he learned he won the Easter Basket from Village Inn!  Have you ever seen a happy kid?  You would have thought it was an IPAD - his smile was so large.

I will try to post birthday pictures once I have some time to spend with the camera….but we already discussed my bad blogging habits.  I am just happy to have a cute picture of Joel readily available on MY IPAD!

Happy Birthday Anna

Anna is now seven.  I can hardly believe it.  She had a great birthday - even receiving a balloon headband from Joel's 3rd grade teacher!  Doesn't it just scream "today is my birthday"?  She chose a strawberry cake with strawberry icing and princess decorations.  I made a little path between the castles.  Luckily she is easy to please.  She received lego kits for her gift.  I have a picture of her starting them.  Once she is done I will show you both pics.....well maybe - as I a haven't been the best blogger.

We did it!

 A few weeks ago we go the garden planted!  The side was then replaced to keep out the many rabbits that roam our neighborhood.  Last year they actually ate through the plastic - so we doubled up in the low-lying areas.  The wood planks let us get to the middle without walking in the mud!

We took our first bike-ride to the swimming pool.  It is 2 miles away and we have never done this before.  Now Anna is an experienced rider and the big kids and I each have a big enough bike.  It took Anna and I a long time!  Matthew and Joel actually stopped at the library for over 15 minutes before heading home and still got home when we did.  Still Anna did great!