Video Game Obsessed

My husband likes to brag about beating video games since he was the age of, well, nearly a fetus.  It is his favorite recreational activity... well, one of them.  Some guys play golf, some guys play music, some guys camp, Spencer plays video games.

When we were dating we'd often hang out either playing video games together or I would watch him play (some are indeed fun to watch for a while, I genuinely enjoyed it back then).

Fast forward to these last several weeks and I'm thinking...

Why did I agree to have three children with an obsessive enthusiastic gamer!?


My kids, particularly my younger two, are obsessed with video games!!



Babydoll, who is barely five year olds is kicking butt on Zelda Twilight Princess on the wii.  Also most recently she has become obsessed with watching Spencer play the new Batman game.  He's not even all the way in the door after work and she asks, "Can we play Batman now!?"   They actually beat the game yesterday, but now they are playing it again on the harder level.  That's right, she sat through the entire game with him!




Sweet Pea, who is nine years old, has had a long-lasting love affair with Viva Pinata.  She wakes up in the morning and heads down to the basement to play, and plays again after her homework is done in the afternoon.  Not as often really as her younger brother and sister, but she is currently on another viva pinata kick.

Notice how the nine-year-old is playing a game for ages 3+, and the five-year-old is playing a game intended for ages 12+.  

And they aren't the only ones.  The most video game crazed child in my life is currently Little Man.  I have to force him to stop and play with real toys and eat meals or he would just keep on playing his computer games.

He's been playing two games, but his current favorite is a Tonka Construction game.

In this game he is using construction equipment to build skyscrapers, castles, parks, clean up a ski resort after a blizzard or avalanche or something, and something involving a quarry that I've never caught the beginning of to know what it's about.

He and I have both been learning about excavators, front loaders, graders, and other equipment.  I particularly enjoy hearing him say, "front loader" and "scoop"... pretty damn cute!

He's a wiz with those computer games, knowing how to navigate all over several of them.

What does it all mean?  When I want some peace and quiet, they can play their games and I can catch my breath.  When I want to spend time doing other things with them.... I'm in trouble.

Yes they have limits, and yes they must wait to play until after school/preschool activities are completed.

Renaissance Festival

A little over a week ago we went to the Renaissance Festival like we do every year.  The girls have always dressed up like princesses or fairies, or fairy princesses.  We didn't have anything to dress LM in so he went as a futuristic boy.

As soon as we got there the children's theater guy asked the girls if they wanted to be in the Pied Piper play that was about to start in a few minutes.  Sweet Pea did this same play 2 years ago and played one of the towns children, this time she played a mouse.

Direct quote from Babydoll as soon as she got up there, "I'm a children!"

She was the only one of the "children" who put on the hat. They didn't know what they were missing!

BD rode a llama

LM and I rode an elephant.  I was so glad he got to sit right up front, it's the only way to really get to feel the  elephant's skin.  He really liked petting it's ear!

Riding the butterflies

The giant horse and pirate ship swings were one of the few things that excited SP this year.  She was bored for some reason.

Also her and BD were arguing a lot.

Also LM was whining a lot and having tantrums about everything.  What had started out as a fun family day was quickly becoming stressful and not fun!

At one moment of hightened stress, we were also trying to traverse through a particularly crowded area with a stroller filled with angry two-year-old and all our crap.  Spence was getting mucho frustrated.

Come on hun, smile!!

 I'm glad we went, but I think we're ready for a Ren Fest trip without the kids for once!

It was exhausting!

Spencer's 30th Birthday

My old man husband just turned 30 last Friday.  I know, I'm not far behind him, but I have until January to still be in my 20's, and I'm going to soak it up for all it's worth!

Though his birthday was the 13th, I planned him a surprise party on the Saturday before, so he wouldn't see it coming.  I had been telling him that there was some bridesmaid thing that night - we were getting together to talk about some of the final details, get to know each other before the bachelorette party, and have some drinks and games at Dave & Busters (game place/bar).  Sort of believable but we still needed to get him there.  My soon-to-be brother in law called him up earlier that week and asked if Spence would come along with him because he was going to be sober-cab for us ladies that night, Spence of course agreed and we hired a "last minute" sitter (planned not so last-minute actually).  We got dressed up for "my" night out and Spencer's "glorified chaperoning" as he called it, and I drove us out to Dave & Busters.  I pulled into the parking lot and as we were walking up to the building he spotted his mom's truck (it's impossible to not recognize) and commented on it.  I told him, "well she is the mother of the bride and it is a wedding planning thing so she probably decided to come out too."  He bought it. 

As we got closer he noticed one of his friends, and then the rest of them, sitting out at a big group of tables in the outside dining area.  Big smile on his face and a little light hearted swearing - he was thrilled!

Lots of people came out for the surprise and dinner/drinks.  It was fun, and I felt so relieved to have it go off without a hitch!

After people were dispersing we went with some friends, his sister and soon-to-be-brother-in-law, to our friends' house and continued the party there until I finally was able to usher Spence into the car and drive him home. 

For his actual birthday last Friday we had dinner at Mongo's (mongolian bbq), played at Best Buy and got him a game, and came home to make some fun drinks. 

Here's the photo recap of the dinner part of his actual birthday... I was a moron and forgot my camera for the surprise one.

Heading out to Mongos

Little Man grabbed everyone's chopsticks and made an arrangement.

finishing off the sunday.

The Reason We Walked - Spencer's Diagnosis

Last weekend we participated in something special. Spence, the kids (except Little Man), his parents, his sister, her fiance, and I arrived at the Mall of America for the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes.

When Spencer was just 2 years old, he came down with what appeared to be a bad flu.  High fever, wouldn't eat, felt crappy.  His mom took him in to the doctor, who told her he had the flu and told her how to handle it, then sent her home.  Meanwhile for a week or two they hadn't been able to keep him away from drinking fountains or gallons of juice, he wouldn't eat food, and he was peeing constantly.  Two days after the doctor appointment she took him back because his fever was back up and she was concerned about his symptoms.  She wanted the doctor to test him for diabetes, but he told her that she was being over protective and kids his age don't get diabetes... it's the flu. 

She went home, called someone from the diabetes association and asked them about his symptoms.  The person at the association told her to go back and demand a blood test.  So she did.  She went back and told that doctor that she wasn't leaving until they did a blood test to check him for diabetes.  They drew the blood and sent them home.  On the way out the door Spencer and his mom passed the nurses station where the doctor got everyone's attention and announced, "Everyone, look at that woman.  Her kid is going to grow up with so many psychological problems because she is overprotective and worries about every little thing."

Humiliated I'm sure, they left the building and went home, where she put Spencer down for his afternoon nap. 

At noon the doctor called her and, without introducing himself, told her that he was sorry, Spencer has diabetes, you need to get him to the hospital immediately there are people there waiting for him.

Upon arriving at the ER three people came and immediately took them to a room. 

Normal blood sugar for a diabetic is between 80 and 120, Spencer feels pretty crappy if his blood sugar gets up in the 300s.  His blood sugar when he got to the hospital was 983!  They were amazed he wasn't yet in a coma.  His body was shutting down, his veins were collapsing,  they couldn't get an IV in him, and for about 24 hours they didn't think he'd survive.  Remember, he was two years old.

Obviously he survived, and has been extremely lucky to have had no complications after 27 years of the disease, he isn't even needing glasses yet.  And although I want to strangle him from time to time, I don't even want to imagine a world where he hadn't made it through that time. 

So while I've been wanting to do some kind of walk for the cure for a long time, my dear hubby has dragged his feet, and I haven't had the stamina to push it, so we haven't done one since we've been together.  When his sister signed us up for the Mall of America walk I whined a little about the time of day we'd have to have everyone up and ready to leave the house, but I'm so glad she did it because it was a great experience!

We left Little Man with my parents, knowing we'd most likely stay to go on rides and he'd miss his nap, but the turnout was great!  There were so many people there, and it was touching to see all the teams of people walking to raise money to cure type 1 diabetes.  About 18,000 walked that morning to reach their goal of raising $2 Million to find a cure and keep making advancements in care and treatment for diabetics.  The advancements already made since he was diagnosed are enormous.  There are pumps that will inject the correct amount of insulin into the wearer's body based on the food info they enter into it.  My aunt trains service dogs to detect high and low blood sugars in their owners and alert them even before a glucose monitor would detect it!  The progress made is reassuring and exciting!

Not only was it a rewarding morning, we enjoyed a delicious brunch and a few rides, and some quality family time.  Next year Little Man will come too and we'll have more time to raise a bunch more money for the cure, because I want to keep this guy around for a LONG time!

Spencer's Tattoo

Spencer got his tattoo Tuesday night!  He's been wanting this particular tattoo on his back since he was a wee little 14 year old boy.  He had set a goal to lose 25 pounds before he would allow himself to get the tattoo, and he did it with the Spike Diet, but then it was a matter of money.  Recently he did a job for a wealthy older lady who tipped him, big!  She nearly paid for the whole tattoo! 

First I should show you where the tattoo came from.  It was a tattoo on a Final Fantasty (video game) character named Red 13. 

Now here it is on Spencer's back (that's his back, Mindee, not his back-end ;)

This is about a minute and a half after getting home from that tattoo place, it's not so slimy looking now :o)



Name Printing Practice Cards

I've been finding and reading a lot of blogs about preschool and homeschool and all that fun stuff.  The best part is finding ideas of things to do with my kids.  I figured it was my turn to show you a simple thing you can do to help your preschooler learn to correctly print his or her name.

You will need:
Index card - blank or lined, I used blank
Handwriting practice paper - look below
Glue stick
Laminating materials or Clear contact paper - I use contact paper
Pen or Pencil
Dry erase markers

First take some paper like the one pictured below, or click here like I did and print it off.  They have two sizes, the kindergarten size is about an inch tall from bottom line to top line, the preschool size is much bigger.  I went with the kindergarten size because my kids ("my" meaning my kids and/or my daycare kids) tend to print their names approximately that size already.

Print their name on one of the lines.

 Then cut it out with another handwriting line below the child's name.  Then use a glue stick to glue it down to the index card.  Using a laminating machine (which I don't have) or clear contact paper (poor man's laminater, what I do have) laminate the whole thing.

Then have your child trace his/her name using a dry erase marker, and then they can print their name on their own on the lines below. 

You can make a larger one with more tracing opportunities, but I like the size and convenience of the index card.  Babydoll is working on uniform sized letters and printing them between the correct lines, I have a daycare kiddo that mixes up the order of the letters in his name, so when it is time to write their names on their papers/artwork I give them their name index card to look at as a reference.

In other news, Spencer got his LONG awaited tattoo last night, and he loves it!  It looks really cool! I'm still getting used to the size of it, as it's bigger than I expected, but I like it. 

So you'll have to excuse me now, I have to go rub A&D ointment on my husband's tattooed back.



The Spike Diet - Weighing In

In October I told you about a diet Spencer and I had started, back then I had lost 5 lb in the first 2 weeks.  The diet is called The Spike Diet, and you can read about it on their website.

I'm thrilled to update that I've lost, as of my last weigh-in last Saturday, 18 pounds!  There's no way I'll tell you my actual weight, but the second digit in my weight dropped to a number I haven't seen in years!  I've lost more than 2 inches off my waistline! I bought a smaller belt and am now buckling it at the 3rd hole, and I'm wearing jeans I nearly threw out before because I haven't fit them in a long time and couldn't foresee squeezing into them again... now they fit comfortably!

I'm not the only one who's been losing weight, Spencer lost 25 pounds and is in the best shape he's been in in years!

I'm not going to lie and say it's been a total breeze, but for someone who's never really committed to a diet before... any serious attempt at a diet would not be a total breeze.  But it hasn't been hard at all either!  Once a week I get to stuff my face with whatever the heck I want, and it's a key part of the diet! I've heard from a couple people that they would be worried about getting back in diet-mode after a day of indulgence, but for me it actually makes it so much easier because I know that on Saturday I can eat as many Christmas cookies as I want. 

A few things that have helped me along the way...

I keep track of ALL the food I eat and calories on a spread sheet and enter them as soon as possible.

I snack on protein because it burns more calories in the digestions process. 

Keeping a bottle of water handy helps stretch me to the next meal, and keeps the water weight off... somehow.

We buy Special K Protein Meal Bars for when I don't want to make something... the chocolate chip ones are the best and the convenience of them keeps me from reaching into my kids' halloween candy, or popping a hotdog into the microwave.

I'm trying with all my might to not bake any cookies until Saturday, because I know that before they are even cooled off I will eat like 7 of them... which is ok on Saturdays because that's my spike day!

When I make dinner I add up all the calories in the ingredients and divide it up to get my total calories eaten.

The calculation of how many calories you are supposed to eat can be a bit confusing, so be careful when you figure it out.

   The whole metabolism boosting thing must be working because I feel like I'm losing weight more easily as I go along, although I'm not expecting much weight loss in the next couple weeks with Christmas coming up.  I'm not really worried about it though because a couple times during my diet I've fallen off the bandwagon and gained a couple pounds back, but the next week those pounds were gone.  One of those times was when I had the flu (or whatever it was) and I was eating whatever I could grab or was given to me, like really yummy and bad for you creamy chicken and wild rice soup.  Once I was well enough to prepare stuff I was back on track.

Oh and, a small Christmas miracle occurred on Sunday.  I took the girls to go see the childrens' play How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and there were cookies for sale, and I didn't get one!  Most people wouldn't consider that a small miracle, but if you know me then you know I'm obsessed.  Coffee and cookies get me every time, but not THAT time!

I'll check back at some point again, hopefully it will be because I reached my goal of 25 lbs lost!

Oh, and because tips are always good, what diet tips do you have?

Apple Jacks

Every fall, since Sweet Pea was a newborn, it's been our tradition to go to an apple orchard with Spencer's parents.  Most of those years we went to Apple Jacks orchard.  There is a lot for the kids to do, and though there are a ton of people there on the weekends the only time it gets annoying is when you're in line to buy food.

The first thing I wanted to do, before anyone got their faces painted, was get a picture of the kids together.

Have you ever tried to get 3 young kids to sit together and smile, especially when one of them is 18 months? It did not. go. well.

attempt #1

attempt #2

attempt #3... Oh I give up!

Time to just take pictures of them seperately I guess.  Notice the thumb in the mouth.  It is a constant thing with him and it's driving me crazy.  I love that he is a thumb sucker at night, but he constantly has it in his mouth during the day now too.  It got bad when he got his molars, and starting this week I'm on the lookout for something to put on his hands to make him stop sucking on it. 

Thank you girls for being cooperative!

At Apple Jack's they have facepainting, candy-tube filling, apple picking, pony rides, and wagon rides.

Little Man with Spencer

Three generations.

Sweet Pea enjoys pony rides, even when she was two and my aunt Diane brought her horse to the birthday party to give the kids horse rides, she's loved it.  Babydoll on the other hand, was extremely excited to ride a pony, until she got on.  She panicked, and wanted off immediately.  I knew she was scared because she had a death grip on me for several minutes!

There's also the "cow train".  A train made out of milk barrels that have been turned into cows.  This is a huge highlight for them every year...

even Little Man got to ride it, and I rode with him.  He actually rode it last year too.  He was 6 months old then and Sweet Pea held him in her lap.  I was a nervous wreck the whole time watching them go around a big strawberry field, but they made it safely back to me.

There is a petting zoo (sort of) where you can see and feed goats, turkeys, and chickens.

We have a great time every year, and this year was especially great because the weather was gorgeous!  Those of us wearing sweaters had the wrong idea, because the temp was in the upper 60's, beautiful!  We ate baked goods with apples, brought home some apples, apple bread, and apple cinnamon rolls (which I burned...oops!) and enjoyed the beautiful day before it was time to go home for dinner.

Little Man looks so very comfortable up there doesn't he?