Parentheticals

Last Sunday we had a game day with The Wilsons. We played the Goose of Grillner Grove , a rules light RPG where you try and dissuade a newcomer in your town from messing with a dangerous and troublemaking goose that has been terrorizing the place for 20 years. It was fun. We also played half a game of Mike's RPG and had a fun time with that too. The kids played with the Waters family kids multiple times this week. We are really glad that they moved in right next to us since they seem to be really fun for our kids, and Alison and Mike also enjoy spending time together with the parents as well. One thing that Timmy wanted to add to the blog is that they have a chameleon, and that Timmy was able to get some of its skin and look at it in a microscope. This week Gideon earned a goal-day party when he read through the half way point in one of his reading workbooks. He had us go to ride the ponies at thanksgiving point and then make pizza for dinner with fruit pizza for dessert. It was fu...

On Monday Sara made brownies and decorated them with candy and colored frosting. The kids also were sitting at the table, and decided to act like they were bored during school, so Alison took pictures of them doing it. On Tuesday Sara cleaned up the new wheat grinder that we got from Grandma Yoder, and she posted it to KSL to try and sell it. We already had one, but thought that this one might work to grind peanuts into peanut butter, but the intake hole was not big enough, so we are going to let another owner have it. Wednesday we went to the Brown's house to mow the lawn and Rea and Sara worked on sewing Christmas presents with grandma. They gave us ice cream, and the kids played around a lot. Timmy mowed the front all by himself, and Rea mowed half the back yard because she was having too much fun with grandma to mow it all. Thursday Mike went to Board Game Design Guild for the first time since Covid. He had a fun time playing a game where you are a dreamer who is trying to rese...

On New Year's Eve, we had a one-shot role-playing game day. Sal and Caitlin came, and we played Lasers and Feelings. It was very fun. We were a group of spacefarers, an Android, a diplomat, an engineer, and a pilot, trying to stop the bad guy from building a machine to destroy the universe. We planned to blow his machine up in multiple ways (in case one failed) and then discovered that his machine was on a holy site where the natives were gathered for a ceremony. So we tried to undo those things to keep from blowing up the natives but still stop him. It was ridiculous and we all laughed a lot. That's the best sort of one-shot roleplaying game. We continued working on Organized Simplicity this week. We did the shed, the bathroom, and the hall closets this week. All that is left is the spare room. Every time we do this, we find that we do have enough space in our small house after all. Mike went to Board Game Design Guild on Thursday. That was valuable. He's getting ...

Last week we failed to click the post button, so even though we wrote a post, it was never published. Two sundays ago we had a game night with the Fords. We played The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Nefarious. Both games were fun, and the kids had a fun time as well. That Tuesday Mike went to the Board Game Design Guild meeting, and talked about games mostly. Also on Tuesday we also went to nature group at 2:00 for the first time this year. We picked some feral plums, apples, pears, and we also saw a fox. It was fun. Timmy found bones - they looked like fox bones. Rea read a historical fiction book called "Naya nuki: Shoshoni girl who ran" for her history and geography lesson. She then made a sheet cake, frosted it, and decorated it as a nap of Naya nuki's journey. Wednesday afternoon she told us the story and then we ate the cake. Homeschool book reports are the best. For our Thursday date night, Alison and Mike played "the Perfect Moment" - it is fun...

This week was a busy week. Monday was labor day. We went to the lake in daybreak with the Rogers and Poulsons. It was fun. In the afternoon we had a barbecue to which the Plastows and Gutierrezes came. We played Small World, and had a near disaster with the hotdogs. It was fun. On Tuesday night Alison worked on getting ready to write a blog about homeschooling as a possible type of alternative income. If we can get our alternative income up a bit, perhaps in a few years Mike will fully retire instead of just working till 2. On Wednesday Rea put on with her friends a play that she wrote. It is called "Hamlet: Not a Tragedy" She has been writing it since Alison and Mike went to Hamleton and told her about it. It is based on Hamlet, but Ophelia is a more important character, and no-one dies in the end. Also, Ophelia has a sneaky brother named Demetrius. Here is the recording. On Thursday we went to the library, and Mike went to BGDG, and got a lot of amazing feedback a...

We did not have a baby this week. We did, however, get everything packed up and ready for when the baby does decide to come. Alison is betting on the week after next. On Sunday, for Family Night, Rea wanted to visit the temple grounds. So we drove to the Draper temple and walked around. It was very beautiful and the kids enjoyed seeing the flowers and walking on the wide edge of the oval flower bed in front of the temple. It was a good family night. Thank you, Rea! We actually had nice weather most of the week, finally! There were still some storms, but mostly at night, so we could play outside a lot. The kids spent lots of time in the backyard. They are really enjoying the new tree fort. Some day this week Mike ran a 5k. He had a fun time running beside one of his coworkers, and his new shoes fit so well that his feet didn't hurt afterward. Mike signed up to be a playtester for the new version of High Frontier. It's supposed to take only 2 hours, but it's taking hi...

On Monday we built a blanket fort for our family night activity. The kids loved sitting in it. While we did that Mike started reading the Hobbit to the family too. We have been playing Pokemon Go a lot recently. The kids like to catch the pokemon, and are willing to walk around so that we can play. This week we tried to catch a ditto, but we didn't catch it. We also tried to defeat a raid boss, but we couldn't win because we were not powerful enough. They still enjoy the game a lot. We also just found a story that we had written down a while back: Mike stands up, and walks away from his seat to get something. Timmy quickly sits down in his seat. Mike: I stood up for a minute, and Timmy usurped me Timmy: I'm gonna surp you again next time Gideon: Get away Daddy from Timmies surpies! Sara shoves timmy off the seat Sara: I de-usurped him Mike sits down, and timmy jumps on him and yanks his hat off Timmy: I surped him again by taking his hat Rea and Sara have a st...

On Monday we had a family night activity, which was making fudge. We hadn't made the expected fudge during christmas, so we did it then instead. Wednesday morning we had an amazing snowstorm. It was about 9 inches of snow, and Mike took three times as long as is usual to get to work. He came back home a bit early, because it started snowing again. Also on Wednesday Rea made a nocturnal animal museum in the playroom. It had books to read, and Sara ran a snack stand. There was a nocturnal animal petting zoo, and the stuffed animals were on a green mat that was partly folded up. They were arranged in the same order that they came out at night - sundown to midnight to morning. There was also a "drawing nocturnal animal" station with a chair at it. Wednesday night Timmy threw up in the middle of the night. He was surprisingly self sufficient: he changed into new clothing, and found a new place to sleep. Thursday morning he told Alison, who was surprised. We assumed he ha...

For New Year's Eve, we attended a large family-and-friends party at the Stake Center. The girls had a wonderful time playing and dancing with their best friend Marissa. Timmy and Gideon had fun running around with other kids, and Mike and Alison got to play Mike's Christmas present Small World: River World. Small World is an excellent game and the expansion was lots of fun. We left at 10, which was as late as Alison could make it to celebrate the New Year. Usually we stay at home New Year's Eve and put together a big Lego Elves set. Since we went out this year, we spent New Year's Day putting it together. The kids loved playing with the pieces while Mike and Rea put it together and Alison kept Gideon out of the way. They really enjoyed playing with the final product and it kept them happy most of the day. We did some more Twelve Days of Christmas activities the rest of the week, including inviting the Dalyais over for a hot cocoa party, making gingerbread houses ...

We got to see Becky's family twice this week. They joined us at nature group on Tuesday and then came to our house to play afterwards. Ellie loved being around Rea and Sara, and Aelfric, Timmy, and Gideon all had fun building with blocks with their moms, if not with each other (they're a little young to play together yet). Then Wednesday we drove down to Springville to go to the splashpad with them. We had a lot of fun both days. On Tuesday night Mike went to the BGDG meeting, and played the Citadel of Madness there. It went well. He got some new ideas and is currently working to implement them. Wednesday night Alison went to League of Utah Writers and learned about different ways to name characters and then critiqued some interesting chapters. Maybe soon she will have enough written in her novel to bring a chapter to critique group herself. Sometime Wednesday the electricity in the master bedroom went out (and also one outlet in the spare room). We were so busy all ...

The kids have loved riding their bikes this week, but they've all outgrown their own bikes. We need to buy Rea a bigger one, put training wheels on Rea's for Sara, and move Timmy from the trike to Sara's bike with training wheels. Alison also wants to put a handle on the back of the trike so she can push Gideon. The kids are not too excited about the changes. Sara was OK as long as the doll seat moves to the back of her new bike, but Rea was very upset about losing hers. Alison finally had to tell her that she could only keep her old bike if she bought Sara a new one with her own money. Then she started fighting with Sara about the name of the bike. Rea insisted it keep whatever name Rea gave it, and Sara wanted to transfer her old bike's name to her new one. Finally they agreed that if Rea paid Sara $2, Sara would keep the bike's name. So we hope that's all settled, and this week we'll get Rea her first geared bike and another set of training wheels, and th...

On Monday, Mike started his new job. He is now working at DealerTrack - a company that offers services to car dealers. So far he has helped plan for the next iteration, set up his computer, and written a small website using Angular 4 and Firebase. Dealertrack is only 3 miles from the our house, and Mike found out on Friday that they have a place to charge his car, so he is pretty happy with the new job so far. On Tuesday Mike went to BGDG, and played an Oregon trail game. It had a cool core mechanic, but too too long, and was too complex and random for what it was. Next week Mike is going to bring his own game, which should hopefully be fun. On Wednesday, Alison went to writers group, and heard a lecture on creating magic systems. It was a little bit interesting, but the info was very basic. Hopefully the next time that she goes, it s more fun. Friday we went to the Little Miamaid at the OBT. It was a play about a little mermaid that wanted to marry a human. Eric Jensen played ...

We missed posting last week, so this post will cover two weeks. Last weekend we went up to Silver Lake for a hike. We saw a moose in the wild, climbed on rocks and trees, took a nap in the woods, and generally enjoyed ourselves. Timmy really wants to go canoeing on the lake. I can't imagine dragging a canoe up there, but maybe one day... The kids did really well, and they hardly complained at all. After going to silver lake, the rest of the week we had a lot of meetings - Alison's calling, Mike's Board game design guild (BGDG), and Alison's writing group each claimed a weeknight. Mike tried to get his "Grab the Loot" game played with 6 players at BGDG, but there were not enough people there for that to happen. He has been preparing this game for submission to a publisher, and it wants some more playtesting at that player count. He is also trying to fit the game into a mint tin for the mint tin design contest. So far it is fitting, but he will perhap...

This week in Family Meeting we decided that Alison would speak French with the kids when Mike was home. We have been trying it. The kids complain sometimes, but they're getting better at figuring out what Alison means. Mike had to translate a lot at first, but less as the week went by. Sara also really enjoys getting a French lesson every day. Rea and Alison saw an ad for a collection of books called the Herb Fairies. They are very excited about the idea of learning about medicinal plants in fun stories, but the company only opens enrollment for one week a year, and Alison bought an expensive music program this month, so we'll have to wait. Rea read the free sample and now is eager to collect and use medicinal herbs. She regularly gets a collecting bag and gathers supplies for her herbal shop. Tuesday we got lots of exercise. We walked about half a mile to playgroup, then Mommy and Gideon walked home and rode the bucket bike a mile to the grocery store and a mile home. Then...

Gideon has been sleeping at night better, but not taking good naps. Alison needs to figure out a different time to exercise if he's going to only sleep for 20 minutes at a time during the day. Timmy got a robot car from the DI and is very happy about it. He has not been very obedient this week, although usually when we stand up to implement consequences he suddenly obeys, while wailing. But still sometimes not, and then he goes to bed and screams. Sara has been incredibly helpful and obedient this week. Apparently there's a balance, because she's just leaving a year of a not-very-helpful phase, and now Timmy's starting. But now we have two very helpful kids to run errands and clean up, which is amazing. Rea is growing up. She really enjoys being with friends and is figuring out social things. She is very responsible. She also has amazing biking skills. It rained a ridiculous amount this week. In about 10 years in Utah, we've never seen rain like this. It...

This week for FHE we talked about what we learned at General Conference. Wednesday we went to Wheeler Farm for Timmy's date night. The kids loved seeing the animals, and playing on the play structures. Thursday Mike went to the BGDG meeting, and the kids and Alison watched a movie. On Friday we went to the new sushi place for a date. It has really good prices, and the sushi was also pretty good, so we are excited that they opened the place up. We also got a large quantity of cooking oil, which we ordered from a website which had qite reasonable prices. At the rate that we use oil for Mike's bread making, it was a good thing to get. Saturday Mike spent some time getting Storybook weaver up and running on Alison's computer. Alison remembers playing it all of the time as a kid, and it seems that the kids quite like it already. Mike made a story for Timmy, and this is a page of it: Saturday night we had the church easter egg hunt, and made toothpick-marshmallow ge...

Last Monday we had family night. Sara gave the lesson, and then we went out and hunted for morels. The soil temperature was right, however there hadn't been any rain, so we weren't expecting any mushrooms. We had fun, however we didn't find anything. Tuesday Mike went to the Layton Board Game Design Guild meeting and presented some games to a guy who works for Mayday Games. Mike doesn't think that any of them have a large chance of success, but it was useful because he learned more about the current direction that Mayday Games is going, so he can tailor a game for their company. On Thursday Mike had a goal day party for finishing up reading the Book of Mormon with all of the footnotes. He had pasta and pie. The kids were really excited that he had finished his goal, and kept wishing him a "happy goalday!" On Friday Alison and Mike went to a play. The play had an interesting moral dilemma in the first half, and then during the second half of the play ever...

On Tuesday Mike went to his first Board Game Design Guild meeting. He played a game, and had a fun time. Before he can join officially, he has to attend three meetings. They meet twice monthly, so hopefully he can get in enough meetings before the next Ion Award deadline to gain the benefit from joining it. Sara's date night this week was delayed to Wednesday because of Mike's meeting. She ended up picking watching My Little Ponies as her date night. The kids ended up with a lot of movies this week, because on Thursday Alison was feeling rather nauseous in the morning and canceled Forest Kindergarten to let the kids watch a movie while she took a nap. Three movies in one week is unusual for us, but they really enjoyed it. We also came up with the idea of bribing Timmy to stay in bed all night with the offer of a YouTube clip in the morning if he does. It's worked on about 50% of the nights this week. Mike is getting very tired of getting up with him. While we were hom...