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.

Movie Quiz Answers and Winner!

When I announced this little contest last weekend, I knew it would be fun for me to put on, and boy was I right! I hope you enjoyed the game too!  There were a couple movie stills that stumped people more than others (number 1 and 6 in particular), but it was a VERY close race!  All of the scores ranged from 13 - 15 correct, and had there been a tie in the top score, the winner would have been the person who got that score first. 

1) 300

2. Die Hard

3). Inception

4) The Goonies

5) Newsies

6) Vicky Christina Barcelona

7) Enchanted

8) Knight and Day

9) Finding Neverland

10) Braveheart

11) Star Wars 3, Revenge of the Sith

12) The Princess Bride

13) Public Enemies

14) Batman Begins

15) Home Alone (the first one)

16) The Notebook

17) Walk the Line

18) Bruce Almighty

19) Kill Bill vol 1

And the winner, by a margin of 1, is Jodi!  Congratulations!  I just need your email address and you should have your $10 amazon giftcard in the next few days! 

Here's the link to the original post, submitted answers are in the comments below the post.

Thanks for playing everyone!! This was really fun!



A Little "Nunsense" This Weekend

Two weeks ago I was lucky enough to go see Into the Woods, a Steven Sondheim musical.  Well, February is turning out to be a pretty exciting month regarding musicals!  This Friday night Spencer and I, along with some ERCT buddies, are going to see Nunsense!  I'm especially excited for this show because other than the woman playing Sister Mary Leo, I know everyone in the show!

Last summer I youtubed clips of Nunsense starring Rue Mclanahan as the Reverand Mother.  I absolutely adored this version of the play, and can't wait to see what kind of a spin my friends in Elk River put on it!

The premise of the show is that the convent cook accidentally poisons the soup, killing 52 nuns! The convent can't afford to bury the dead nuns so they put on a variety show to raise funds.  Luckily for us, the nuns that didn't drink the poisoned soup happen to be very talented and quite hilarious!

Since I have no clips of the ERCT show, I'll leave you with these!





This last one is of the Reverand Mother who has just been given a suspicous substance that Sister Robert Anne found in the girls locker room.  The poor Reverand Mother has no idea what she's about to do.


So if you like that, and want to see what the talented people of ERCT can do with it, come out and see the show!  Click here for showtimes and ticket info!!

"Into the Woods" I Went!

I don't know about you, but I had a pretty fabulous weekend!  It started Friday night when I went with some theater friends to see Into the Woods.  It is a musical by Steven Sondheim and it was fabulous!

Although the night was wonderful, it didn't start out that way.  When I walked out my door and into the dark garage, I didn't see a folded up metal dog kennel which had fallen right in my way.  I tripped on it, and started falling.  Of course my eyes hadn't adjusted and I couldn't see anything to grab on to so I just put out my hands and hoped it wouldn't stab myself on anything.  I landed right on my knees, my left knee in particular. 

Bad words were spoken, and not under my breath by any means.  There were no kids around and it hurt like hell so there was no holding back.  I managed to get up, stagger to my car door and get in so I could assess the damage.  My left knee was pretty scraped up but not really bleeding, and more importantly my pants had not ripped! So I started the van and moaned and groaned all the way to Target where I was meeting friends to go see the play.

Once in the Target parking lot I put some bandaids on (I always have bandaids in my purse) and waited for the others to arrive. 

This is me waiting. Can you tell I'm excited to be going out?

Here is a description of the play, copied from the Bloomington Civic Theater's website:

What happens after “happily ever after?” Into the Woods brings together some of the most well known Brothers Grimm fairy tale characters to help us find out. While the characters are familiar, their stories intersect through unexpected plot twists.

When a Baker and his Wife learn they've been cursed with childlessness by the Witch next door, they embark on a quest for the special objects required to break the spell, swindling, lying to and stealing from Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Jack (the one who climbed the bean stalk). Everyone's wish is granted at the end of Act One, but the consequences of their actions return to haunt them later.

Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning score thrills us with cleverly crafted ensemble numbers as James Lupine’s ingenious puzzle of a story guides us to take a look at the inevitability – and treachery – of our innermost wishes.

What follows is a bold, darker look at what happens after the wishes are granted and the fairy tale ends. What began as a clever diversion touches deeper nerves. Ultimately, the characters end their journey aware of the moral consequences of their actions; each having learned valuable lessons about power, tolerance, personal sacrifice and the strength of shared community.

The play was fantastic and aside from an unnecessary costume element for the VERY MALE wolf we enjoyed it very much.

Although Rapunzel's voice left little to be desired, and Cinderella was.... eh, the very difficult music was performed exceptionally well. 

If you get the chance to see it, I'd recommend you do... but dont bring the kids. 

Here is a clip from the show, I believe this is the Broadway cast visiting the Rosie O'Donnel show.  It is The Baker's Wife singing with Little Red, and The Baker singing with Jack "No One is Alone".



"Into the Woods" I go!

Tomorrow night, or tonight depending on when you're reading this, I'm going to see Into the Woods.  I don't know a ton about this musical, except that some of the songs I've seen youtube clips of are pretty awesome, and it has to do with a different look at some well known fairytales. 

I'm sure I'll tell you about my evening out next week, but for now check out this Into the Woods song!

Dinner Out With the Family



If there was one thing we used to be able to do when we had just one child, that we are not able to do with three children, it is go out for dinner as a family.  Well, actually there are lots of things that are easier with one child than three children, but that's beside the point.

Going out to eat with three kids gets expensive.  Not only do the adult size sandwich basket meals seem to keep getting more expensive, we're also paying for 3 kids dinners, and fending off pleas for dessert.  Last time my kids asked for dessert when we went out for dinner I told them if they started watering the money tree we'd start ordering dessert.  They then asked, "what money tree?" and I responded with, "Exactly."

I was trying to remember the last time the five of us when out to eat, and I can't remember anything since sometime last summer!  For Christmas one of my daycare families gave me a generous giftcard to Davanni's, a pizza place, and we used that giftcard tonight.

You can imagine my excitement at the end of the daycare day when I looked at my cluttered kitchen table and my dirty dishes and realized that I didn't have to take care of any of that before dinner!  Sure it means that I still have a kitchen left to clean tonight, but it gave me an opportunity to relax a little after work.

Even though Little Man was a bit crabby and restless before our pizzas came, it was a wonderful time out as a family.  Everyone got their fill of pizza.  Little Man kept holding up his pizza and saying, "Wow! kejklsdkfnav Wow!" Babydoll ended up with two balloons to blow up and play with while we waited, and Sweet Pea was making bets with Spencer on whether or not she could finish her second huge piece of pizza.  Not one to give in to peer pressure she was only a few bites away from winning before she decided to lose because she didn't want to finish it.  Anyone who knows Sweet Pea's eating habits knows she could have certainly finished 2 big pieces of pizza if she wanted to!

It was a wonderful evening out, and even though I still have a ton to do, I feel a little more refreshed and ready to take it on!

By the way, Davanni's doesn't know me, read my blog, or ask me to blog about them. But if they did ask I would definitely blog about them some more in exchange for free pizza. :o)