I spy signs of play

Smiles after a football toss...nightly ritual before dinner.

 

Silly moment at swim lesson...if you water Reese, will she grow?

  

Testing our skills with games, Othello and Scrabble Flash.

 

Tennis, anyone?

 

 

READY, SET, PLAY is in motion :-) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Give Me A Reason

REASON #41 Why Our House Rules....We really LOVE our burgers!
Ketchup, anyone??

 

 Oh, happy Friday! We're SO excited for the 3 day weekend because we're going apple picking!! How about you? We'll also be keeping our eyes open for more moments of play 
(whether there's a sign or not.) Later, Gator!

The apple and the tree

 

Dear Ethan and Reese,

This is your dad and yes, he is doing a cartwheel. Why? Because it's FUN.

Your dad is on the other side of 40 years old, which means he's an adult, but he still acts like he's a kid. This is a very good thing.

How did your dad get so good at PLAY? Lots and lots of practice.

Your dad will always say YES to playing with you, in the backyard, in the pool and with every board game and lego set you own in the basement. (All 200 plus of them, legos, that is.) When he is not playing, he is singing songs and making us all laugh. He's got a great smile, you see it everyday. And if you make him laugh, you've made his day.

You might be thinking, well, that's just dad, that's who he is. But there's more to it. That inner spark, that PLAY that is so your dad is also inside YOU!  It's in your genes, passed down from generations. Don't believe me? Just think who your dad got his sense of PLAY from?

 

That's right, your grandpa Ralph, another PLAY FULL and funny guy!!!

If there is anything you can learn from cartwheels and balloon hats, it's that there is a lot of PLAY to be had in this life.

So go PLAY, have some FUN and let's not let the apple fall too far from the tree.

xoxo
Mom

Someone is watching

 

This weekend, a little birdie called me out on my electronic use. Okay, maybe it wasn't a little bird, it was my best friend (who I love). Still her words did have some peck to them.

"You are so addicted to your electronics! You're just as bad as the kids."
Ouch. Busted. It was a bit true, and I knew it.

But show me someone who isn't addicted to their devices these days?

I could make an argument that I mostly use my devices - phone and kindle -  to stay connected with the world, big and small. But how many connections does one need? Phone, text, email, Facebook, instagram, pinterest, blogger, google, msn...the list could go on and on. 

I began to wonder how much time do I spend being plugged in? How many times a day do I check my phone? Is there a greater world passing me by?

This week, I am going to do some investigating to find out. Be afraid, Nancy. Someone is watching you. Caw!

Challenge - Are you curious of your electronic use? Track your electronic minutes and let's chat next week.

To follow <our house rules> and receive email updates, add your email on the right side of this page. Thanx, you rule!   

ethan's fortune cookie

Last week while Reese and I had a girl's night out at a school fundraiser, David and Ethan had a boy's night in complete with some Chinese food.

I was told that the chicken & broccoli was AWESOME but the fortune cookie or rather the fortune was the WORST ever!!

"Oh Ethan, you know you can't take fortunes seriously." I said.
Ethan just cocked his head at me. "Wait till you see it, mom".

"Maybe you were right, mom," he casually added, "maybe I do play Minecraft too much."

Honestly, I didn't know what shocked me more - the fortune or Ethan's response to it. It didn't matter. The HUGE smile that then appeared on Ethan's face told me all I needed to know....he could laugh at the moment, laugh at himself and the realization, his true fortune was PRICELESS.

In the kitchen...

One artful day, I painted this sign as a reminder for us to keep up with our PLAY this month. When it came time to find a place for it, the kitchen seemed the obvious choice, but where exactly?

 

I poked around looking at old photographs. One favorite spot kept coming up, year after year.

 

 

 

 

 

So many years - so many goldfish - it only seemed fitting that we hang our sign 

at our favorite hang out spot! Can't wait to see what the rest of the month brings:-)

Don't Minecraft Me

So, we had a revealing weekend! The plan to turn off our electronics and have some FUN didn't quite "play out" as I hoped.

As much as I pulled the kids to do new things, inside and outside, their actions reminded me over and over what was still on their minds. MINECRAFT.

At the house, they made chalk drawings on the new blacktop on our driveway...Minecraft characters.

 

Reese found her paint and brushes to make some art...Minecraft art.

Ethan spent an afternoon building with his legos....Minecraft designs.

Maybe we just need to get out of the house? I thought. So I took them hiking one day at one of our favorite local state parks. Our 3 mile trek turned into 3 miles of Minecraft chatter and banter - lucky me! They took the occasional breather to have a picnic snack, to count rings on a tree stump and to admire some cute chipmunks and this beautiful horse.

So, as I said, it was a revealing weekend on many levels. We survived one another (lol) and had moments of FUN (extra points on kids' creativity) but our first rule? Yeah, it's going to take more than just a push of a button.