Good to Wow: Couples/Self-Portrait Edition

Well, I just completely missed out on Monday's SOOC posting, so I figured I'd cram it all into one post. And...I didn't actually take this photo for this challenge; I took it for the Joy of Love Challenge, which, if you haven't been following, ended February 28, and I only got to like Day 9. Sad, huh? I may still get those photos posted yet, but for now here is my SOOC photo for Good to Wow: Couples Edition...


That's my husband Mark and me. I've known him for 30 years, been married to him for almost 16, hope to have another 50 with him. He's my best friend and soul mate. I couldn't imagine doing even a moment of life without him.

Here's my first edit:

All I did on this was crop and then run Coffeeshop's Perfect Portrait action. I brushed on White Teeth at 30%, Eye Define at 100%, and Smooth Skin at 50%.

I also wanted a more subtle edit. So I took my last edit and converted to sepia, which I adjusted to 60% opacity.

Joy of Love - {18}

I am hopelessly behind on the Joy of Love Challenge. Well, not hopelessly exactly, because I do intend to catch up. And in fact, I am posting Day 18 today even though I have not yet posted Days 9-17.

But it's my birthday and therefore my prerogative. It's also my husband's birthday. Growing up, I always loved sharing my birthday with him because he was a cool older kid, and here was little ol' me celebrating on the same day. Of course now it's extra special sharing a birthday with my favorite person in the world.

This year we celebrated a couple of days early. We finally found a wonderful babysitter up here in our new digs, and she came over Sunday night. When we go out, we almost always do a fancy dinner, often trying something new.

The experience this year was new to me: a tapas restaurant. Mark has been to Barcelona several times on various trips he made in the past up here to Connecticut. It is fun now to share in this part of his life that I, for years, heard about but didn't live.

Unfortunately, the lighting was bad and all I had was my iPhone, but the kind gentleman at the table next to ours snapped a photo anyway. I added a little extra noise in an attempt to make it appear like I meant for it to be that out of focus, etc., etc. It's a capture of the memory anyway.

{Day 18}
going out


To join in the fun, visit Willette Photography.

Joy of Love - {8}

{Day 8}
gift of love

My husband gave me this beautiful necklace on December 3, 2008, for our 13th engagiversary. I know of a lot of men who forget their anniversaries. My sweet husband always remembers our wedding date as well as the day we promised to begin our forever journey together.

Mark proposed to me on a mountaintop in North Georgia. It was the Christmas season, so he presented to me a beautifully wrapped gift. When I opened the box, I found a fun gift, plus another wrapped present. Inside that present was another gift and another wrapped present. There were a couple more "layers" to unwrap before the final one which was a small gift, the size of a ring box. And that is when he got down (precariously - we were sitting kind of on the side of the mountain!) and asked me to be his wife.

And the rest, as they say, is history. A wonderful history of almost 16 years. He's an awesome father, a great cook!, my best friend, my soulmate, the love of my life. He treats me like a queen and is so much fun to be with. I'm so lucky God gave him to me!



To join in the fun, visit Willette Photography.

Photo Scavenger Hunt, Vol. 1

1. Memories


Almost 16 years ago, my husband and I exchanged vows and rings. We got our wedding bands from West Africa, which is very meaningful to us since that is where we grew up. What is funny is we only spent about $50 on each of them back in the day. Sometimes we joke that we're going to take these bands in to one of those We Buy Gold places to see how much they are worth now. But we wouldn't; they mean too much to us.

The verse from Ruth is special to me because I recited that passage as part of my vows. And I guess I have lived up to my promise because here I am in Connecticut!







2. Silhouette






3. Doorways


Up until this afternoon, I was just going to cheat and pull a favorite from last week's You Capture post showcasing doors. But then on the way to the kids' basketball games, we passed a barn I've been meaning to photograph. We were running late, but when you have to have a new doorway, why shouldn't it be a barn door? I love all of the barns up here in New England!



For more barns or to link up, visit Barn Charms.

4. Reflection


I saw this fabulous picture at one of the local Starbucks of a mug sitting outside carrying a beautiful reflection of the sky. I wanted to give it a try. A couple things that worked against me: It is always windy here at my house, so it was difficult to catch a still reflection. I would have waited it out, but it hasn't gotten past the mid-20s around here, and my shutter finger was becoming numb. I also discovered I had to use manual focus, something I usually forget about. I tried in vain to use AF, but it was far more interested in the dark inside of the cup rather than the beautiful picture floating on top. My shutter finger was really numb by the time I remembered manual focus.

I'll perfect this shot this summer!

5. Silver


I love to decorate cakes, and I have a few too many of these. My five shiniest and most interesting decorating tips posed for this photo.





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The Best Day Out

My husband and I are competitive people. So when he takes the boys out for a Boys' Day Out, and I venture out with my sweet girls for a Girls' Day Out, there has to be a little competitive edge thrown in. Just for fun. Not that we set out this morning to make it a competition, but I guess I perpetuated it by sending friendly text messages to my husband throughout the day that said something like, "I bet we're having more fun than you." Because, honestly, who doesn't want to be the cool parent the kids all want to hang with?

So who won? Well, you can be the judge.

First, we breakfasted at Starbucks where the girls enjoyed some divine Hot Chocolate paired with scrumptious donuts and cinnamon rolls.





Then we were off to the mall. First stop: the salon where we all had manicures, which included festive designs painted on our nails.





Following the salon, we did a little shopping, including a stop at Bath and Body Works where the girls chose their favorite scent and left with luxurious bath products in that fragrance.

Our tummies were rumbly at this point, so we lunched at one of our favorites: California Pizza Kitchen. Only problem? My recently birthdayed 11-year-old is no longer on a kids' menu. So a new era in our lives begins.



A girls' day is not complete without chocolate, so our next stop was at the Rainforest Cafe where we ate way too much of a Volcano.





A little more fun shopping for last minute Christmas gifts, and we headed home.

Around this time, I texted my husband "See? More fun!!" accompanied by this picture:


He texted me back with this "picture":



Something about breakfast, haircuts, lunch, and video games.

Seriously. Is there even a contest?

One Night in Cambridge

Yesterday was my engagiversary. In case you don't know what that is, it is the anniversary of the date a person got engaged to be married. Duh! And I suppose I should say yesterday was our engagiversary. Our 16th! And we got to go out of town. Without kids.

But we didn't go out of town without kids on account of our engagiversary; the two events just happened to coincide. Mark had meetings in Boston this week, and last night I joined him there. I know it sounds all pretentious and all, but we flew up a friend's daughter from Atlanta to stay with the kids. It's not really as uppity as it sounds because we used miles to fly her up. She has family here in CT too, so it was a chance for her to see them.

Anyway, Mark had driven up earlier with colleagues, so I drove up yesterday - 2 hours of blissful peace and quiet in the car. No fights. No potty stops. No "I'm bored"s. Just peace and quiet. OK, so not quiet because I got to blast my music as loud as I wanted. And when I got there, I giggled a little when the valet asked me if I wanted him to pahk the cah. Seriously, how can the accent be so different just 2 hours away?

The hotel was the very pretentious Charles Hotel, which I would never stay in on my own dime. Not that pretentious makes it any more comfortable than our regular Courtyard Marriott. But there were TVs in the bathroom mirrors, and that was pretty cool.



After I checked in and Mark's meeting ended, we grabbed a bite for lunch and then tackled the freezing cold outside. The Charles Hotel is in Harvard Square, so it was fun exploring a bit. We didn't see as much as I wanted to on account of the freezing cold, and I did not take my camera because my gloved hands do not take pictures well. (I imagine I was probably the only Starbucks customer in Cambridge who ordered an iced drink to carry around in the freezing cold.)



Later on we ventured a little beyond Harvard Square in the car, I mean cah, and I found the first landscaped cemetery, established in 1831. I love cemeteries. I'm not being morbid, I just think they are beautiful, and I love to see the dates and the history in a cemetery. This one was especially pretty and fascinating.



For dinner, we joined Mark's colleagues. In a pretentious hotel like the Charles Hotel, what could fit in better than a pretentious Italian restaurant? That is where we ate. Restaurants like these always take something good--a steak, for instance--and completely ruin it by topping it with fruit or serving a side of octopus with it. Those are the kinds of things I discovered on the web menu we checked out beforehand, so I wasn't too excited. However, I had spied a cute little Hah-vard IHOP right down the road we could go to after dinner if the fru-fru food was inedible. Much to my surprise, though, the food was good. Really good. I pushed the apples off to the side of my salad plate (I do not mix fruit with my salad!), my steak came sans octopus, and I made a special request that the chef leave the orange peel glaze off of my chocolate torte, so it was all delicious.

We had a private dining room for our party and spent a couple of hours chatting over dinner and after dinner. This was my first meeting with most of Mark's colleagues. Did I mention I'm a little burned out on meeting new people? But I put on a brave face and actually had a good time getting to know them. I have heard about these people for years, so it was fun to put faces to names.

Although some headed out elsewhere for after-dinner drinks, we turned in early because we had to rise early. Alex and Michael had their first basketball practices today, and 10:30 isn't as late in the morning as it sounds when there is a hotel room to be packed up and a 2 hour drive.

What happened to my baby girl?

Just yesterday, she was this sweet, precious, perfect bundle in our arms
offering her first smiles,
delighting us with her first words,
taking her first steps.

Now she is a sweet, precious, perfect young lady
who offers her contagious smiles to everyone,
whose words are confident, kind, and wise.
And tonight her steps, clad in my size 9 knee-high, high heeled boots,
accompanied her daddy to the American Heritage Girls
Daddy/Daughter Dance.

Mexican Fiesta!

Doing the Macarena

Conga line

A Cowbell and a Song

Birthdays at boarding school were alright. I mean, you were miles from your real family, but there were always lots of members of your school "family" with whom to celebrate. But then again, there was that dreaded lunchtime song. Lunches in the dining room were family style as opposed to the buffet style breakfast and dinner we were served. Family style meant we had to sit at assigned tables and partake in the meal together. At some point, an adult would ring a cowbell indicating we must all be quiet to hear announcements. After general announcements, came the birthday recognitions. If it was your birthday, you had to stand while all almost-200 people sang Happy Birthday to you. It was the longest rendition of Happy Birthday you'd have ever had the opportunity of hearing, and by the time it was over, you'd sit down, red-faced.

Thankfully, I spent all of my school years sharing the lunchtime birthday recognition with Mark. Of course, I never dreamed I would marry him, but sharing that moment always made that announcement so much more bearable. Not only was he a "big kid" and therefore cooler than cool, but it also took some of the pressure off during those few moments of song.

Now, while there is no lunchtime song--unless performed by four adorable children--I still love that I get to celebrate my birthday on the same day as Mark. Of course, I must point out that yesterday Mark turned the big 4-0, while I am 3 years behind him! But there is no one I would rather grow old with, and I am so grateful he was born and that our paths crossed in the just the right place and in just the right time years down the road from those moments following the infamous cowbell!

Asheville

If you've known me for any length of time, you know I suffer from Wanderlust. After about two years in any given "home", I'm ready to move on. And I don't really care where we end up; however, I have offered a few suggestions along the way. Like when we docked at the Cayman Islands a few years ago on our cruise, I may have offered a "We should live here" after we had been on the island for only a few minutes. I've wanted to make Miami my home. I've even suggested we move to that charming town in Middle-of-Nowhere, Alabama. And, despite the fact I was so cold I thought I would die, I remember envisioning how beautiful Wheaton, Illinois, would be in the spring, so of course I could make a home there.

Occasionally, though, I adventure to a town I know right off I would not want to order address labels for. I discovered that to be true for Asheville, North Carolina. Mark and I dropped the kids off at their grandparents on Friday and took the scenic route up through the mountains to Asheville. And there were moments along that trail where I may have mentioned that "I would love to live here!" It was a gorgeous ride with snow covering many of the mountaintops and quaint little towns dotting the map.

Asheville itself, however, is one of those artsy-fartsy towns. Since I am not of the artsy-fartsy persuasion in any way, I never feel comfortable in that type of environment. We spent some time exploring downtown Asheville. There is a beautiful building they have dubbed "Grove Arcade", which seems such a strange name. When I think Arcade, I think a child's gaming paradise. But this is not that. At all. It's one of those hoity-toity places, grand as it is, that houses only a few shops. Expensive shops. There was an overpriced quilt shop, an overpriced rug shop, a very tiny farmer's market full of organic anything, a cheese shop, and some art shops where ordinary people like me don't feel comfortable browsing.

Outside the mall, I was excited to see a bookstore. But I wondered what a champagne bar was. We wandered in, again feeling a little out of our element. There was indeed a bar serving champagne, so the name was not metaphorical for anything else. The shelves were laden with books, but they were clearly collector's books because the cheapest one I saw was $90. In the back there was a group of over-dressed (for a Saturday afternoon) what I can only assume were book collectors nursing their glasses of champagne over the dusty covers of some rare books. Where does a person go if he simply wants to read a Grisham novel around here?

Don't get me wrong. We had a wonderful time together. I love to see new things, and this type of environment, though not a comfortable one for me, is fun to observe. And we enjoyed each other besides. We finished whole conversations. Mark opened my car door for me like in the days of yore before he took on the duty of strapping children into carseats. We ate a delicious dinner at an Indian restaurant, a cuisine we love but the kids not so much. And we even went to a 10:30 movie which meant we stayed up way past our bedtime.

The movie was an interesting experience. It was a Cinebarre movie. I don't know--maybe the average person is more sophisticated and more experienced in American culture than we are, but we had never experienced a movie like at this theater. At the ticket counter, you can also purchase a drink--not just soda, but wine or a margarita. Then inside the theater, the chairs sit behind a counter that runs the length of the row. Every two or three seats, there is a setting of salt and pepper and other condiments as well as a menu and an ordering tablet. There is full fare offered on the menu. You write down your order, a waiter picks it up, and at some point during the movie, the waiter brings you a plate of hot wings or pizza or chocolate cake. We only indulged in some popcorn and chocolate cake since we had already had dinner. We really weren't hungry for anything, but you've gotta experience it, right?

We saw Valentine's Day, which turned out to be a cute movie. Kind of slow and all over the place at first, but good in the end. Since this getaway was sort of our combination birthday trip and Valentine's celebration, it seemed appropriate. And even if I wouldn't want to put roots down in Asheville, North Carolina, I did have a wonderful time away with my favorite person.

You Capture - Faces

Two out of five of my favorite faces in the whole world having a little fun at the Bass Pro Shops.

For more Faces, visit I Should Be Folding Laundry.

In Which Things Get Quite Confusing While Pursuing a Cookie Badge

The kitchen looked a little like it had thrown up, but that was alright because my daughter was being independent and baking cookies. There are several different kinds of cookies she has to make to earn her Cookie Badge for Keepers of the Faith; she chose to work on the sandwich cookies today using a favorite recipe, which I cannot reveal because the cookies are a surprise for her daddy who often visits here since these are, after all, also his Treasured Chapters.

In an effort to quell the Control Freak in me, I left the kitchen while she worked. I came in upon her request after all ingredients had been mixed together. She wanted me to taste the batter.

"Are you sure you added enough sugar?" I asked.

She nodded and then offered, "It's kind of salty, isn't it?"

Very keen taster, this one. She described it better than I did--too salty, not necessarily, as I described, just not sweet enough. I verbally went through the recipe with her. And discovered that we needed to review again the fact that a capital T means tablespoon while a little t means teaspoon. Yes, salt can be good but not in tablespoons in a single cookie recipe.

(I've always wondered why Jesus tells us to be the salt of the earth. I get that salt adds necessary flavor, but you really can get too much salt. Of course, maybe this characteristic of salt is just to remind us not to be overbearing and obnoxious. Like the Jehovah's Witnesses that interrupted our school day this morning. Of course, they sent the sweet, little old lady to whom I could be nothing but nice. And I finally researched JW's after she left. Their literature looks so much like Christian literature, I've always been curious about the differences. Google it. Interesting stuff.)

So what was I talking about? Right. The Cookie Badge and the salty cookies. We washed the salty cookie batter down the drain and started over. The next batch turned out cookies flatter than unleavened bread (in sticking with the Bible theme). This new problem was mine; I had taken the original recipe and substituted butter for shortening because, as I've said before, I have a problem with feeding my children lard. Turns out you really must use lard to make the cookies turn out.

So...we used a completely different version of the recipe. By this time, we had gone through I don't know how many eggs, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder. But this batch finally turned out. I inserted my Control Freak a lot in this last batch, but I'm going to pass the poor girl on her badge because the flatter-than-pancake cookies were my fault. She made them according to the recipe; I just took too many liberties with the recipe.

Plus she and her siblings are being so sweet. I'm not sure why this homecoming is different from any of TravelDaddy's other returns, but they have planned a full party for him. Our dining room is decked out with handmade decorations, and these cookies will be center-table.

Of course there might be a little something in it for them as well: We aren't sure exactly when TravelDaddy will get home because he may catch an earlier flight. "If Daddy gets home while we're having school," Jacob asked me tonight, "can we stop school so we can have our party?"

See? I can act my age.

I'm in my mid, almost upper-30s. I look young. And I'm not bragging. That's not a compliment to me when someone tells me I look like a teenager because usually what a person means by that is, I don't take you seriously because you look like a teenager.

I act old, though. I don't play, really play, with my kids as much as I should. I don't do a lot of fun, spontaneous things anymore. And I always require my 6-7 hours of sleep.

But this weekend was Thanksgiving. Which means there was a Black Friday following the feasting. Which means that tradition dictates I throw the Old Lady Act out for a day or, rather, a night. It is on this, the nation's biggest shopping day, that I venture out with my husband in the middle of the night. We check things off our list, and we enjoy each other's company minus the little people.

This year was a bit different because some stores threw off our normal early-morning schedule by opening at midnight rather than at 4am. Toys R Us was that store. And I don't know why we always try to do Toys R Us. We are not serious enough shoppers to stand for hours in a line out in the freezing cold, so we never get there early enough to get the doorbuster deals. Then, after we have chosen the items we do want, when we see the check-out line that circles the gigantic store at least once, we always put the items back and leave empty-handed. But every year, there we are at Toys R Us. And this year, there we were. Only earlier.

Even though they opened at midnight, the other stores we wanted to visit didn't open until early morning, and, try as we might to be completely young, we did decide we wanted at least a couple of hours of sleep. So we went to bed at 9:30. And I lay there wide-eyed for at least two hours like I usually do, solving the world's problems. (Oftentimes I write blog posts in my head while I'm lying there, but obviously there was no head-blogging going on, or this post would have been written a bit earlier). Just as I had fallen into deep sleep, the alarm went off.

We were out the door by 1:30 and off to Toys R Us. The parking lot should have been our first clue that we were once again going to leave empty-handed, but there we were with 3 and 1/2 hours before another store would open, so in we went. And sure enough, the really good deals I wanted were gone, and the line was already winding around the store, in and out of the aisles. We left. But not before running into some good friends whom we would encounter several times during the night/morning.

With a couple of hours to kill, we decided to head to the mall. We had no idea there would be anything open in the mall, but there were cars in the parking lot, so we decided to follow the crowd. (As a side note, following the crowd can backfire on you. One Christmas, we were on the road and saw a McDonald's that looked open. We pulled up behind several cars in the drive-thru, finally got up to the speaker-order-thingy, and tried to place our order. No one there. It was closed. I wonder if we were on candid camera that day.) Anyway.

Our early morning escapade ended up being worth it because we cleaned up at the Disney Store in the mall. All items that weren't on our list, but the deals were too good to pass up. After the Disney Store, we got to go on our date. To the Waffle House. Because we're a class act.

So to cut down the length of my tale, I'll summarize by saying that we also got some great deals at Kohl's, Target, and Wal-Mart. If you've never been to Wal-Mart on Black Friday, it really is a must-experience. At least once. If you have a shopping cart, it's like Rush Hour traffic. Seriously. You can't move. It's a little easier without a cart. Sort of like being a motorcycle in Rush Hour traffic; you can weave in and out a bit. So I stood on the edge of the traffic jam with the shopping cart, and, using the cell phone, guided Mark to a couple of end caps I could see from my vantage point, which contained various items I can't name here because occasionally my daughter reads this.

And that was it. The end of another Black Friday. See? Sometimes I can be young. Ish. And, no, I'm not going to 'fess up to an afternoon nap because that would just make me sound old.

Pallets, Leaves, and Garbage

Although our recent weather might fool someone into thinking it is spring, it clearly is not. I wish it was spring because then it would be time to start my first Square Foot Garden. I've gotten a little mini-start, however. Even now in November.

I didn't know I should start my compost now, but my friend Sharon said I should, and she knows stuff. So I decided it was in my best interest and that of my future SFG if I got the compost composting.

A few weeks ago, I was driving Alex back from a birthday party (her third in so many weeks--she's so unsocialized!), and I happened past a home with a backyard stacked high with pallets. (Note: the backyard was open to the busy street, so I was being completely safe.) So I pulled over and had a brief conversation with the owner of the backyard and of the stacks of pallets wherein I found out that he just lost his job and was making ends meet by collecting pallets, disassembling them, and selling the "parts". I asked for three. He offered them to me for free. I paid him a few bucks anyway because how is a guy supposed to make a living giving away stuff for free?

Anyway, those pallets have been sitting in our backyard since then. This weekend my dear husband attached the three pallets, attached wire mesh to the sides, and Voila! I have my compost "bin".

In addition to making my compost bin, he also did the final grass mowing of the season. Those clippings went into my compost pile. And so did the veggie scraps from dinner last night. Which he also cooked. (I do really do stuff around here!) Don't worry I won't be reporting each and every scrap or grass clipping that goes into my compost, but since this was the beginning, I thought it blog worthy.

Hats That Don't Fit

I wear a few hats around here: the Mommy Hat, the Wife Hat, the Teacher Hat, the Friend Hat. And I've worn lots of other hats over the years. Today I've put on a few hats that don't fit so well.

This morning I found myself in the 3s and 4s room at Sunday School. Alone because my husband was at home in bed (I'll get to that in a moment). I was in the 3s and 4s room by myself because I made a rash deal with a friend. We'll be on vacation on Sunday in a couple of weeks (if my husband is not still in bed, but like I said, I'll get to that in a moment) when we are supposed to be teaching our K-2nd grade class. Since I'm such a great volunteer, I decided to get a replacement instead of leaving the leaders hanging. So I traded weeks with a friend whose gifts obviously differ from mine greatly.

I know I've mentioned before that I am not a little kid person. I've never felt more strongly about this than I did this morning. There were only 9 of them. I've had 27 high school students in one class before. I even had one high school student who came in sporting his house arrest ankle thingy. But these were 3 and 4-year-olds.

It took a good 15 mintues to get them all sitting at their little mini-table. Once I would get two of them sitting and turn to round up the other 7, the two would escape. I finally got them all seated and tried the ol' "Let me see your listening ears" thing that works beautifully with my kindergarteners. Blank stares. And lots of fidgets. And noise. I passed out paper to dutifully complete the Bible lesson. They were supposed to draw stick figure disciples, but before the words "stick" and "figures" could escape my mouth, most of them had already scribbled all over the paper. I tried in vain to get them to flip the paper over for the stick figures. More scribbles. I told the Bible story very loudly to myself. Then broke out the Goldfish. Magic. Quiet for a few minutes.

Until the potty breaks began. I sent the first one in to the bathroom. A few minutes passed, and then I heard, "Will you help meee???!" I went in to the bathroom. "Can you wipe me?" "Can't you wipe yourself?" I asked, while my head voice said, Please, oh please, can't you wipe yourself?? "But it's poo-poo!" Oh. No. Not. Poo. Poo.

OK, confession time. In my whole life, I have only ever changed one poo poo diaper that was not my own kids'. With other people's kids, I don't do poo poo. I can't do poo poo. PLEASE don't make me do poo poo. It was indeed poo poo. I gritted my teeth, took a deep breath, tried to only look well enough to wipe and went in.

I made it. Then the same kid came up to me a little later on. "I have a booger." Are you kidding me??! I handed her a Kleenex. She stared at me blankly. I wiped her nose.

NOW do you see why I chose to go into secondary education? Please, please don't ever make me wear the 3s and 4s hat again.

The other hat I tried to squeeze into today is that of the Real Wife. You know, the wife that provides healthy meals everyday for her family? My husband is in bed. Flat out due to a herniated disk which has almost completely debilitated him. If you'll remember, he's the cook in the family. Really, I can cook, and I do cook when he's traveling. But to provide meals for him too? Well, mac and cheese just doesn't cut it for him. It's a little intimidating to cook for him. There I said it. There's nothing else about my sweet, wonderful husband that intimidates me but that.

So I've been planning meals for the week, always thinking in the back of my head that his brother may show up for dinner tomorrow night. Which is even more intimidating. I may cook gourmet pizza a la Little Caesars just to get out of it. I'm hoping and praying his back feels better soon so that I can hang the Real Wife Hat up. And so we can go on our planned Florida vacation. Oh, and so he's not in so much pain anymore either.

Wii Tricked 'Em!

I have nosy kids. Especially around Christmas. Of course it doesn't help that we leave receipts laying around. Alex found a GameStop receipt and proudly told the boys she had discovered their Christmas present: a Wii. So I told a story, a Life Embellishment or a Santa Lie if you will. I told them that one of their friends was getting a Wii (this is actually true), and we were just buying a couple of accessories for it. The truth is that we got the Wii for free courtesy of TravelDaddy's Marriott points, and, yes, the accessories were for us.

Even though they seemed to buy the lie, we decided to have some fun with them. Last night after the kids were in bed, we got the Wii set up (or, rather, my husband got it set up). Then we snuck into their room, stole the GameCube, and wrapped it and some old games in a huge box to be discovered at the end of a scavenger hunt.

Much to the kids' dismay, they had to wait for Daddy to complete a conference call this morning before the scavenger hunt could commence. But they were soon on the prowl looking for clues.


Along the way they collected a couple of small gifts which they were to leave unopened until we gave them the go-ahead. These were the Wii accessories. Finally, they ended up at the big box. Their looks of absolute glee as they tore into the box were priceless. Their looks of confusion when they discovered their old GameCube and old games were priceless.

Thankfully there was another clue on the bottom of the box which led them to their final final destination where they discovered the Wii. As can be expected, the Wii has been the event of the day. And the Presents of December continues because the Princess was about as enthralled with the new gaming device as I am at the thought of making a new sheep costume. So we decided she should have an early present, one for which she will appreciate some extra playtime before we head to the North Pole. And that she did. She has played with her new Polly Pocket Cruise Ship for hours.

And as for Mark and me, we had our first Wii tennis tournament while the kids were in the shower this afternoon. He creamed me. But guess who travels and therefore doesn't get as much practice time? Oh, there will be payback! I think in his absence I may work on mastering the Boxing as well...all part of my evil genius plan.