Happy 70th Birthday Joyce!

Today is my MIL Joyce's 70th Birthday, or as Callum calls her Nanny Joyce. As we are seeing them Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we had a special seperate celebration on Sunday for her. Just close family went out to Harvester for lunch and then it was back to our house for birthday cake and fun on the Wii. I think it shows what a fantastic idea they have come up with at Nintendo with the Wii console as it keeps a family from a five year old boy to a 70 year old Nan happy. I didn't get a huge amount of photos taken but the ones I did can be found here.

All that is left to say is "Happy Birthday Joyce!"

Putting the Spring into Dash

Yesterday morning.

Callum: Mummy Mummy! Quick! You need to come rescue Dash!
Me: Where is he?
Callum: Up on the window! Quick Mummy, it's really funny.
Me: The window? Tell him to get down.
Callum: He can't.

I then come downstairs to find this:




And yes the daft Dashy dog couldn't get down.

Piranha Panic (NaBloPoMo)

Look into those eyes, do they look like the eyes of someone that would have you playing Piranha Panic before 8am on a Thursday? Well they are!! And they are eyes that cheat at the game too! LOL! But do you know what it was fun, all cosied up on the bed while Daz was getting ready for work, even though a few of the marbles (not just the ones in my head) were missing, even though the rain was hammering down on the window panes... and even through the major cheating going on. I suppose there will be no surprises when I say that Callum won but I'll beat him next time. I love playing family games, they give you that chance to just shut the rest of the world out and enjoy the company of those that are near and dear to you. Sure sometimes Callum makes you play, play and play until you never want to play that game again, I'm looking at you Top Trumps, or Daz makes you get out the Monopoly Board so he can own more hotels than you, but you know what you always end up giving in and getting on with yet another round of whatever game it is you're fed up of playing and that's because at the end of the day you're spending precious moments with those loved ones....and you know just one day you will own all of those pretty sapphire blue properties on the board, bwahahahah they will be mine... oh ermm... who took over the typing then???

Each year Daz and I try to add to our collection of board/family games, some times it's a success and others a big huge mess that gets hidden in the back of the wardrobe. This year I've been looking around to see what looks fun and here are a few suggestions I've come up with:


Articulate

This is a game that we've played a good few times with family members but is a game that we haven't as of yet bought. The idea is for each team to make their way round the board by describing what is on the card for the other member of your team to guess, within 30 seconds. You can not say it sounds like or rhymes with to help them out. At the end of the allotted time however many your team mate/s guessed that's how many spaces you can move on. The winner is the person who makes it round the board first. It's a little bit like that game show that Joey plays on in Friends. It's great loud fun and gets your brain thinking and also in a way tests how well you know the people you play with.


Pictureka

This is the new game out from the same people who make Articulate and looks more like something we could play with Callum. It's like hide and seek but as a board game and you have to find the item on the card that is picked, first to find it wins the card and then the one with the most cards at the end is the winner. Sounds fun although I'm not sure what kind of longevity this might have because if you have a child like mine who is brilliant at remembering where things are he'll have that board memorised in no time. Still it's one to maybe consider.


Trivial Pursuits

In my opinion you can never go wrong with good old Trivial Pursuits, maybe that's why they have brought out so many different versions of it. The latest that I've seen is the Girls vs Boys one. As it says on Amazon "Boys questions cover boy toys, action films, blokey sports and hot babes. Girls questions cover chick flicks, chick lit, fashion, girly music and hot hunks". Now this seems like it could be fun. Sure ok it's not really for the kids but I have noticed today on Amazon that they have Disney Pixar Bitesize one. We'll see how this one goes.

I'm sure there are going to be plenty more board games that grab my attention and I'll be sure to let you all know what we end up getting and if it is a hit, miss or maybe.

Thank You For the Music (NaBloPoMo)

Music plays a big part in most peoples lives and it certainly does in ours. From when I was pregnant with Callum to today he has loved music and mostly it seems rock. Today while cooped up in bed (again!) I decided to look through the various online photo/video sites I have and came across some gems (well in my opinion) of Callum dancing.

First up we have Callum singing and dancing along to The Barenaked Ladies' rendition of Jingle Bells, this was in December 2006 so Callum would have been 3 and a half years old nearly. Even through the crappy recording no matter how many times I watch this it still makes me laugh and smile, it is so typical of Callum and his love of life and the energy he has an abundance of.



Now fast forward to November 2007 and we once again have Callum singing and "dancing" to Jingle Bells but this time on his musical keyboard. I never realised before the coincidence of these, nearly one year apart and in a way the same song. I'm now thinking I will have to do a yearly capture of Callum singing and dancing to Jingle Bells and I look forward to seeing how in a year he changes and grows up so much. It's sad to see but also wonderful, he is maturing and learning at such a fast rate that it is wonderful to have these moments on video to look back on. For that I am thankful.

NaBloPoMo

No this isn't the next stage of my insanity but instead a challenge I am taking up. Somewhere on the wonderful internet today I came across NaBloPoMo and the strange amalgamation of letters caught my interest so I found the official site and read about it. It sounded fun and maybe a way to lessen my boredom. So here goes. It seems as though for the month of December the topic is Thanks and I think that's a pretty good topic to discuss and talk about.

These last few days have made me realise even more than ever how thankful I am in having such wonderful, loving, kind, handsome, funny men/boys in my life. Yes I'm talking about my extremely handsome husband Daz and my dazzlingly beautiful boy Callum, or otherwise known as My Boys. These last few days I have been bed bound with a poorly leg (goodness knows what I've done but painful isn't as strong a word to use) and they have been a godsend. Daz has run around doing all mannes of chores, getting Callum to and from school, making me little food parcels, helping me to the bathroom and back and so on and so on. He even this morning before setting off on the school run for Callum before then making his journey into work brought me up a plethora of material to keep me occupied all day and not starving hungry or gasping for a drink, he even remembered my favourite dvd boxset (the Good Life). I've always known how lucky I was to meet Daz and marry him but I'm even more thankful today for that. As for Callum he has been his usual mischievious self. This morning after he was dressed ready for school he came into the bedroom, crept into bed with me and then brought out his Top Gear Cool Wall book and stickers, "This will help you feel better Mummy, which cars do you want as yours?" We spent the next 15 minutes discussing why the cars should go on the cool wall or the uncool wall. Top Gear I salute you (once again!) in your wiseness in bein able to keep a five year old and a thirty-five year old entertained, I am indeed thankful to you for that!

This entry is probably a bit random and bizarre, I'm tired and can't think too well but hopefully over the next few days I will be able to be more cohesive... and be able to type and spell better.

For now I'll leave you with my little thank you photo, My Boys! I love you with all my heart and more.