That Darn Scottish Blood

It showed itself in my boys today. With the temps being in the sub zero range for most of the day the kids had absolutely no outlet for their high levels of energy. So when they were done playing upstairs and had finished a snack, we needed to find something for them to do. So at about 10:30am we got out a few board games and gave them a go. They had gotten several new ones for Christmas and have been dying to play them.

First was Mouse Trap. Yeah, that was interesting. I played game master and kept the game moving. The boys are VERY competitive. It begins before we even start the game with who is going to go first and who is NOT going to be last. The game went smoothly for a while until Jacob got sent back to the start, twice. Grace moved ahead quickly, but stalled out in the loop waiting for the trap to be built. We quickly realized a roll of six just puts you right back where you were, once in the loop. With the trap finally completed Nathan was set to trap Grace, but the contraption didn't work. The hand, thing a ma jig and tub didn't want to work right. The ball kept falling off the back of the thing a ma jig and although the game allows for "misses" I think this was just poor balance and construction on our part. So I "helped"it along. In the end, Nathan won having captured all the other mice.

Our next attempt at a game was Monopoly, Jr. This faster paced game uses a carnival theme. The kids have to set up token booths on their property. The first one out of money is out and the winner is the one with the most money. Jacob and Grace quickly caught on that the more booths they had the more money they made, regardless of how many they had on each color, although that helps. Nathan got stuck trying to get a chance card to bump Grace's booth off of one of his properties so that he would have both and thus double the money he collected each time someone landed on those spaces. He never did. Daniel went out first and Grace won.

Let me just say that it will be a few weeks before we play anymore board games!! Competition is stiff in our house!!! Doug says it is their Scottish blood. I would have to agree.

PS -- Jacob has become victim number three to the stomach bug we have been passing around. Instead of going to the chili cook off tonight, we stayed home while Jacob hung out in the bathroom. We have figured there is about a 4-5 day incubation period for this thing. So next week ought to be loads of fun. One at a time is good, except that it drags out giving the first person a chance to get it again at the end. If they all went at the same time I could sanitize and hopefully be rid of the thing, it just means for crowed, busy bathrooms!! Never a dull moment here!!!!

Odds and Ends

There isn't that much exciting going on in the Adams' home this week. I added the pictures to my last blog so check there. This weekend is our Chili Cook-off at church so we are preparing for that.

Doug has begun exercising at home on a regular basis. It is part of his attempt to become more healthy, both in mind and body. He has been working tons of hours and spending little time at home and work has been stressful too. So to combat all of this he is spending more time at home and working out again. We have a weight machine but his weights of choice are the kids.

I took a time out while typing this tonight because just as I said nothing exciting was happening, Sarah threw up. She is now on my lap and I am waiting for her to do it again. It is only a matter of time.

Today the twins performed a play with their class called "Follow the Drinking Gourd." It was about slavery. They did a great job. Nathan was a free slave and Jacob was a Quaker who helped the escaped slaves. Most of the pics I took were blurry, but here are two that look OK.

Like I said, not much going on, just odds and ends, If I had both hands to type I might find more to say, but I think I have a date with a Disney movie. Yep, throw up #2, every thirty minutes like clock work. Talk to ya tomorrow!!

I love to Laugh

Just a few funny thoughts to brighten your day.

Recently Doug has been shaving his head completely bald, razor to the scalp, Lex Luthor like. The best description I have found so far is that it is just the battery for a solar powered sex machine!

If you didn't know already, Sarah is a firecracker. That side of her personality came out today when I told her she had attitude. She replied, " No, I Sarah, Sarah Attitude!!"

Sarah got into Grace's lipstick today, which, by the way, I didn't know was "real" lipstick. By the time I caught her she looked like a clown. Half her face from her nose to her chin and from ear to ear was PINK!!!! She can also draw pretty good "people" with her crayons. She decided to display her artistic abilities on the top of the DVD player.

Critter Riddle and other funny stories

Here is a riddle for you:

What kind of critter can get stuck to a sticky pad trap at 5am, run through the dog's kennel, mud room, Kitchen and dining room of a house, go into a vent, & get unstuck from the sticky pad trap in time for Doug to see it's long pink tail scurry away down the vent?

Put your answer in the comment section and yes, it really did happen.

Some other funnies:

As Jacob was getting ready for bed last night he had taken a drink and then come in to kiss us good night. Just as he was about to give Doug a kiss, Jacob belched, loudly, in or near Doug's face. Doug, never knowing whether to congratulate or scold them for such fine handy work, kinda laughed it off and made a comment about being rude. Jacob, funny guy that he is, kissed his father and walked up the stairs singing, " A, I'm Adorable, B, I'm so beautiful..." from Disney's Three Musketeers, the Mickey Mouse version. I laughed till I cried!!

This one wasn't a funny from the family but I had to include it. Howie Mandell was on Live w/Regis and Kelly today. He was quite funny, but I thought the best story he told was of his daughter who is a teacher in inner city LA. Each week she writes the beginning of a familiar phrase on the board and the kids, first graders, are supposed to fill in the end. He read several examples, here are a few. I had to LOL at the last one. If you go to their web site, just type it in your google bar, you can see the whole opening guest chat. Anyway here are the funny quotes:

Where there's smoke there's .......................... pollution.

Children should be seen and not .......................spanked or grounded.

A penny saved is ............................. not much!

Better late than ...............................pregnant!

10 Things I learned over Christmas Vacation

This has been a great Christmas for our family. We have been able to truly enjoy each other and our family. The kids had their last day of school on Dec 21, but Christmas had begun the Wednesday before when Grandma and Grandpa Adams came to help with installing some new lights and fans. School begins on Monday, January 7, and although I will be shoving them out the door at 7:45am, I must admit that the break wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. I did, however learn some things over this Christmas break that I would like to share with all of you. A quick note before I share: Some of the pictures I got from my dad-thanks Dad!-- and as you will note I am missing a few too, so if you have a picture to share with me please send it along and I will put it in its proper place in the list. Also, all ten items may not be posted tonight. Keep checking and I will have them all up soon. The best ones are at the end :-)

I hope that you all had a very Merry CHRISTmas and a fun New Year. Hopefully we will see you all in 2008!!

10 Things I Learned Over Christmas Vacation

1. HAVING A TWO YEAR OLD IS A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP

* Sarah learned a new word "naked" and liked to use it. After stripping one day she sang, "I naked! Yeah!Yeah! Shake your booty! I naked!!

* "1,2,3, you're done!" She commanded as I drank from our communal large coke from McDonald's.

* I told Daniel to go play with Sarah in the Blue room. To which she replied from the Blue Room, "I not Sarah, I Honey!!" Later I called her Honey and she said, "I not Honey, I son!"

* There was no nursery on Christmas Eve so I tried church, alone, with all 5 kids. What was I thinking!! Sarah lasted all of 10 minutes, church lasted nearly 90!!!

2. COLD WEATHER DOESN'T PHASE KIDS

I never would have made it outside as long as they did!!

3. DANIEL THINKS HE IS SEVEN

On several occasions these past two weeks, the twins have received gifts that Daniel didn't. He was quite upset each time. He doesn't quite understand that he is only 4 and some toys aren't appropriate for him. An example, the twins got hand held video games but Daniel didn't, the twins got Spiderman web shooters and Daniel didn't. Daniel got some pretty cool stuff, but not in the eyes of a four year old who thinks he is seven and just like his brothers. Being four, however, he quickly got over his disappointment and learned to enjoy and appreciate the gifts he did receive. We did however get him a hand held game with some of his Christmas money. Those dimples win every time!!!

4. SEVEN IS TOO YOUNG TO DO LAUNDRY ALONE

Thinking to teach the boys a new skill I had them help with the laundry. They usually help by putting the wet clothes that I hand them from the washer into the drier. Well, they wanted to get the clothes out of the washer themselves. After getting a stool so they could reach into the machine I came to check on them. I asked if they wanted some help and Jacob replied from inside the washer, "Nope, I got it!"

5. GRANDPARENTS AREN'T THE ONLY ONES SPOILING MY KIDS ANYMORE

Their aunts and uncles are doing a great job too!! With the addition of the Wii gaming system to our house shopping was easy, it was deciding which game that was hard.

6. THE WALLS OF OLD FARM HOUSES DON'T HAVE STUDS

or at least we couldn't find any. There is about a half foot of plaster on each wall. The reason we know this is because over break we tried to install a wall mount for a TV in the kids playroom. The idea was to have a TV in there so that they could watch their stuff but it would be up high enough that I could control what and when they watched. We just had trouble finding a stud to anchor it too. They must have put two dozen holes in the wall looking for one. They never did find one. The mount is in the kennel on the floor and the new TV is where our old one used to be. The kids do have a TV in playroom, at least until tomorrow anyway. We put the old one on an unused TV stand so they could at least watch all the new videos they got for Christmas. Now we just have to figure out how to mount one of them on the wall with no studs!!

7. SOME VOWS WILL END UP BROKEN

Not the "till death do us part" kind, but the "MY children will NEVER sit in front of the TV playing video games for hours and hours!" kind. Let's just say that on more than one occasion they have indeed sat in front of the TV playing video games for hours. Hey, they go back to school on Monday and the rule is no TV or Wii until Friday after dinner. So I had to let them get it out of their system now.

8. CHARADES IS FUNNIER THE OLDER YOU GET

Just picture Jacob pretending to be a cow. No one can guess what he is so he starts to MILK himself. They all got it then!!!

9. FAMILY IS IMPORTANT

We really enjoyed spending time with all of our families this year. We started on the 19th with Grandma and Grandpa Adams. Then we had the Wyckhuys' here on the 22nd and 23rd. On the 29th we traveled to Lansing for Christmas at the Taylor's then Scott and Nora came to our house for the weekend. It was relaxing, fun, funny, and an all around good time, as you might have guessed from number 9!!! Thank you to all who came to visit and those who were with us in our hearts. Thank you for all the gifts and greetings. We wish you all the same. We love and miss you all!!!!!

10. READING LUKE 2 IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN READING "TWAS THE NIGHT..."