New Games

On a $10 Cyber Monday Sale whim, I snagged this goofy game called Poetry for Neanderthals--a game where any word that is more than one syllable gets you whacked on the head with the "No" stick :) You have to be in a pretty forgiving mood to play this game, because sometimes words that are one syllable sound like two to the whacker (who is never on your team). An overly ambitious whacker might whack at an unexpectedly wacky time (see what I did there? ;) Also, it is super hard for Englishy people to make up sentences in cave man speak, but it is really funny when they do :) Boy make face at card. Not know word to say. Big sis want whack boy head. Boy think hard. Girl like whack dad. Dad no like whack. Girl smile big, wait for chance. Ha!

We also got to play another game, so new you can't buy it! Our music teacher launched a board game business last year. He and his brother are expanding the collection and needed some game testers to play the paper version before it goes to board game production. The kids caught on quickly and really enjoyed the complex, but simple game play. I was the instructions reader. Any time we came across something confusing or unclear during regular game play, Mr. P would stop, make a note in his phone, and brainstorm ideas to make that aspect of the game run more smoothly. It was a super cool opportunity for the Crew! (minus Caelan because she was working or something ;)

But we couldn't stay too long at Mr. P's, because Brennen had invited his special friend over to learn some guitar and hang out at our house. Caelan arrived ahead of us and got dinner in the oven (I forgot to add the chicken in my rush, so she also completed composing the meal :) 

While I STRUGGLED downstairs to get the kids' new phones set up (Gabby needed/wanted more storage and Brennen bought his own in anticipation of driving himself places in the future, which means G$ ends up with a brand-new phone, too--because our mobile company got bought out, didn't support the old one, so sent us a replacement recently--welcome to being the youngest) with anti-virus, etc. We need a lot of licenses around here. Anyway, it FINALLY worked (after some tears and some prayers) and Buck and I went upstairs to help the kids finish the game. 

I was then trying to set up G$'s calendar for family activity alerts, and as a test case sent him "Dance Party at 10 PM." Only I accidentally sent it to Brennen's phone. He was confused and read the invite outloud, with his typical furrowed brow. His friend got a big grin on her face and said, "Don't worry, you can still make it!" To the dance party, in our living room, where we all were, in 10 minutes. I laughed so hard; her comment reset my grouchy phone stuff mood. Clever girl!

By the way, the escape room box they completed was set in Australia. They found the hidden treasure, despite some unruly teens getting in their way (or something like that, the storyline was for an older crowd, I guess :) But, all that to say, it has been nice to have just a few minutes here and there to sit down and play a board game or solve some puzzles, because it's important to slow the pace. I'm hoping lots of book reading (which I haven't done in at least a month) and relaxing is on the menu for Christmas break, oh, and more board games, too!