Spring has sprung, people! What are y'all doin' sittin' here readin' this blog when ya should be out enjoyin' the day? :) I know some of you can't get out right now due to inclement weather, but when it does get nice where you are go out and have a great day.
The kids have been out just about every day playing with their neighbor friends. Just last night they shared the news that we are moving to Louisville in a month and it was not well received. They all just sat on the back deck staring at the ground with sad looks on their sweet faces. The funny thing is, they have only been playing together for about 3 weeks but already talk about each other like they have been life-long friends. My little Terefech has made fast friends everywhere she has gone and I doubt that Louisville will be any different. One great thing is Joseph has come out of his shell because of her. It's great to see how they help one another. Don't get me wrong...most days they want to kill each other, but it doesn't last. Just two days ago Joseph had finished a fight with Terefech when he started to cry. I asked him what was wrong and he said if he was bitten by a poisonous snake then he would never see Terefech again. This made me smile (on the inside). After assuring him that he was not in danger of being bitten (I don't know where he comes up with this stuff), we talked about how his feelings toward and for his sister have changed. It made him smile...me, too.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Let's Play
I found an article on VocalPoint that really sparked my interest. (I would recommend to everyone joining VocalPoint and making your voice hear...and you get coupons!) I'm the main person in the family to get everyone else to play and I love it! I could play board games or cards for hours (and I have). There are two that I really like and could play everyday--Blockus and Rummikub. I have found that even kids enjoy Blockus. It probably has something to do with bright colors and it looking like a puzzle. My mom and I used to play Rummy every night when we were together and now our game is Rummikub. We have even taken this game to the pool and played while the kids were in the water. This game has also been the source of some good smack-talk between great friends on New Year's Eve. I highly recommend it.
Some other good family games, but that are hard to find are: Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride. A great adult game is Settlers of Catan. It's a cool strategy game that is very interesting. At Tim's last job he had a boss, Herb, who loved sharing his games with people. His family has quite a collection of awesome games that we had never heard of, but after playing decided we wanted to purchase. For those in the Louisville area go to Something 2 Do in the Oxmoor mall for a great collection of interesting and hard to find games.
Have a great day and play a game tonight!
Best New Family Games
Best New Family Games What does your family typically do after dinner? Watch television, get lost in cyberspace, ask for the Pepto-Bismol? Why not keep everyone happy, entertained, and together by organizing a family game night? We know, you can already hear the groans. But instead of hauling out dusty ol’ Yahtzee or Scrabble, serve up one of these new board games. They’re cheaper than a trip to the movies and—get this—unlike video games, you actually interact with real people!
Cranium Family Edition: The Cranium games have been around for years, but this edition takes the four stock categories (Creative Cat, Data Head, Star Performer, Word Worm) and broadens their age appeal. Since players build, sketch, sculpt, act, and create in teams, everyone can participate. Watch out for flying frogs! Ages 8+
Connect 4x4: You may remember this game from when you were younger, but it’s been updated with a clear, double-sided grid that allows for up to four to play multidimensionally. Objective: Get four of your rings in a row. Reality: Not so simple. Ages 8+
Curious George Discovery Beach Game: Every kid loves hunting for treasures at the beach. Now they can do it in a box in the living room sans sand. The game challenges players to find a variety of sea stuff. But watch out for waves and don’t forget to put sunscreen on the monkey. Ages 3 to 8
Small World: Compete to control a fantasy world filled with wizards, giants, and—wait, doesn’t that dwarf look just like Uncle Frank? Use your special powers, expand your empire, but be careful because it’s totally immersive. Ages 8+
Lost Cities: A card game in which you lead a team of explorers into uncharted territory in search of forgotten civilizations. Watch for tikis and other artifacts. To make it totally realistic, wear bush pants and don’t forget the mosquito repellent. Ages 10+
Richard Scarry’s Busytown Eye Found It! If your preschoolers love Scarry’s books, they’ll love this game, which uses the same delightful you-find-it principle. Only now you place magnifying tokens over each board item you find and advance ever closer to Picnic Island. No one wins, no one loses, but everybody has fun. Ages 3+
Fits: This is a competitive puzzle game similar to Tetris. Each player gets an inclined board and a set of unique puzzle pieces. As different cards are drawn, everyone tries to complete their puzzle. Good confidence builder for kids because they usually beat us adults. Ages 8+
Super Mario Chess Collector’s Edition: Your kids might take more interest in learning the game of games if the characters are Nintendo favorites Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, and their entire gang. But get ready to explain why Luigi is the queen. Ages 7+
Pandemic: Despite the scary name, this is an exciting and educational family game in which players race to find cures for infectious diseases. Make sure to use hand sanitizer before and afterward. Ages 10+
Game on!
Some other good family games, but that are hard to find are: Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride. A great adult game is Settlers of Catan. It's a cool strategy game that is very interesting. At Tim's last job he had a boss, Herb, who loved sharing his games with people. His family has quite a collection of awesome games that we had never heard of, but after playing decided we wanted to purchase. For those in the Louisville area go to Something 2 Do in the Oxmoor mall for a great collection of interesting and hard to find games.
Have a great day and play a game tonight!
Best New Family Games
Best New Family Games What does your family typically do after dinner? Watch television, get lost in cyberspace, ask for the Pepto-Bismol? Why not keep everyone happy, entertained, and together by organizing a family game night? We know, you can already hear the groans. But instead of hauling out dusty ol’ Yahtzee or Scrabble, serve up one of these new board games. They’re cheaper than a trip to the movies and—get this—unlike video games, you actually interact with real people!
Cranium Family Edition: The Cranium games have been around for years, but this edition takes the four stock categories (Creative Cat, Data Head, Star Performer, Word Worm) and broadens their age appeal. Since players build, sketch, sculpt, act, and create in teams, everyone can participate. Watch out for flying frogs! Ages 8+
Connect 4x4: You may remember this game from when you were younger, but it’s been updated with a clear, double-sided grid that allows for up to four to play multidimensionally. Objective: Get four of your rings in a row. Reality: Not so simple. Ages 8+
Curious George Discovery Beach Game: Every kid loves hunting for treasures at the beach. Now they can do it in a box in the living room sans sand. The game challenges players to find a variety of sea stuff. But watch out for waves and don’t forget to put sunscreen on the monkey. Ages 3 to 8
Small World: Compete to control a fantasy world filled with wizards, giants, and—wait, doesn’t that dwarf look just like Uncle Frank? Use your special powers, expand your empire, but be careful because it’s totally immersive. Ages 8+
Lost Cities: A card game in which you lead a team of explorers into uncharted territory in search of forgotten civilizations. Watch for tikis and other artifacts. To make it totally realistic, wear bush pants and don’t forget the mosquito repellent. Ages 10+
Richard Scarry’s Busytown Eye Found It! If your preschoolers love Scarry’s books, they’ll love this game, which uses the same delightful you-find-it principle. Only now you place magnifying tokens over each board item you find and advance ever closer to Picnic Island. No one wins, no one loses, but everybody has fun. Ages 3+
Fits: This is a competitive puzzle game similar to Tetris. Each player gets an inclined board and a set of unique puzzle pieces. As different cards are drawn, everyone tries to complete their puzzle. Good confidence builder for kids because they usually beat us adults. Ages 8+
Super Mario Chess Collector’s Edition: Your kids might take more interest in learning the game of games if the characters are Nintendo favorites Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, and their entire gang. But get ready to explain why Luigi is the queen. Ages 7+
Pandemic: Despite the scary name, this is an exciting and educational family game in which players race to find cures for infectious diseases. Make sure to use hand sanitizer before and afterward. Ages 10+
Game on!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
General Update
Okay, wow, it's been a while since I've written. Sorry about that, mom. :)
In the last few weeks we have made some big decisions around the Chase household. We stopped swimming with the Shelby Sharks at the end of January. Things were just a little difficult with swimming every day, meets, and my stress level. Joe misses Coach Jeremiah so much, but we still get to see him when we go swim for fun at the FAC which we don't get to do enough.
The biggest decision we made was we are finally moving to Louisville. I have resisted this for a long time even though the city has been growing on me. It honestly just makes good financial sense. We have found an apartment that is larger than our current place and less money per month (no-brainer, right?), and Tim will now be able to get to work for free (a HUGE savings). This does mean we will be leaving our church, The Point Community Church, but we will be back there every now and then. This will be a slow transition and will have us commuting back there for a few months until we find a church that fits us as well as TPCC. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. It will be the hardest part of this whole thing.
School has been going well for us. Both kids are progressing in their work and I have been amazed at their accomplishments. Terefech has quite the vocabulary now (which also means she has more ways to sass me, but, whatever), and Joe has a true knack for Geometry. Handwriting for both of them is significantly better and attitudes all around are good. Joe still loves talking Christian theology with Tim and has included me in a few conversations lately. It's such a blessing to see him mature as a Christian.
This last weekend we went through our garage and started to organize and throw away stuff. Wow! It's amazing how much crap two people can accumulate in 16 years. We did decide to finally get rid of all the old phone books we have been carrying around. Actually, we didn't know we still had them so it wasn't a big loss.
I recently ran into a friend from high school who told me that a friend of ours had died in the Haiti earthquake. This was shocking to me (as you can imagine). David Hames was there filming for Compassion International and was in the Hotel Montana when the earthquake hit and the hotel collapsed. He was a great guy and we had reconnected on Facebook. He was talented in film and TV production and had created/produced Cranium's Ark, a kids Christian, educational video. Joe and Terefech watched it yesterday and they both loved it. It's a cliff-hanger episode and Joe is very concerned about finding out what happens. I had to tell him that I'm not sure if we will get to see it since David has passed away. This peeked his interest in Haiti and the earthquake so we spent half an hour looking at video and learning more about what happened. Joe was very excited to learn that David was a Christian and that he will be in heaven. He told me that if we don't get to see the next episode of Cranium's Ark then he is going to ask David about it when he sees him. How cute is that? :) If you have little kids you can help support Renee (David's wife) and the kids by purchasing the video at http://www.craniumsark.com/Craniums_Ark/home.html. Trust me your kids will love it!
In the last few weeks we have made some big decisions around the Chase household. We stopped swimming with the Shelby Sharks at the end of January. Things were just a little difficult with swimming every day, meets, and my stress level. Joe misses Coach Jeremiah so much, but we still get to see him when we go swim for fun at the FAC which we don't get to do enough.
The biggest decision we made was we are finally moving to Louisville. I have resisted this for a long time even though the city has been growing on me. It honestly just makes good financial sense. We have found an apartment that is larger than our current place and less money per month (no-brainer, right?), and Tim will now be able to get to work for free (a HUGE savings). This does mean we will be leaving our church, The Point Community Church, but we will be back there every now and then. This will be a slow transition and will have us commuting back there for a few months until we find a church that fits us as well as TPCC. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. It will be the hardest part of this whole thing.
School has been going well for us. Both kids are progressing in their work and I have been amazed at their accomplishments. Terefech has quite the vocabulary now (which also means she has more ways to sass me, but, whatever), and Joe has a true knack for Geometry. Handwriting for both of them is significantly better and attitudes all around are good. Joe still loves talking Christian theology with Tim and has included me in a few conversations lately. It's such a blessing to see him mature as a Christian.
This last weekend we went through our garage and started to organize and throw away stuff. Wow! It's amazing how much crap two people can accumulate in 16 years. We did decide to finally get rid of all the old phone books we have been carrying around. Actually, we didn't know we still had them so it wasn't a big loss.
I recently ran into a friend from high school who told me that a friend of ours had died in the Haiti earthquake. This was shocking to me (as you can imagine). David Hames was there filming for Compassion International and was in the Hotel Montana when the earthquake hit and the hotel collapsed. He was a great guy and we had reconnected on Facebook. He was talented in film and TV production and had created/produced Cranium's Ark, a kids Christian, educational video. Joe and Terefech watched it yesterday and they both loved it. It's a cliff-hanger episode and Joe is very concerned about finding out what happens. I had to tell him that I'm not sure if we will get to see it since David has passed away. This peeked his interest in Haiti and the earthquake so we spent half an hour looking at video and learning more about what happened. Joe was very excited to learn that David was a Christian and that he will be in heaven. He told me that if we don't get to see the next episode of Cranium's Ark then he is going to ask David about it when he sees him. How cute is that? :) If you have little kids you can help support Renee (David's wife) and the kids by purchasing the video at http://www.craniumsark.com/Craniums_Ark/home.html. Trust me your kids will love it!
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