The Buttercup Neighborhood Game

 We played a lot of board games over the holidays--including Wingspan, Telestrations, Codenames, Coup, Nertz, Trash, Magic the Gathering, 10 Days in Europe, and Dixit.  We enjoyed the more laid-back time to play together and only had a few grumpy moments when the competition got a little fierce.  Haha!  

But there was another game we played over the holidays that I haven't mentioned yet.   It involved the whole neighborhood and some equally tense competitive moments, and also some very silly moments.  

It was all about this cute little Christmas inflatable named Buttercup. 

Basically Buttercup was purchased by the H family in our neighborhood and was introduced as a sort of reverse hot potato.  But instead of trying to get rid of it, the goal was to steal it from a neighbor's porch and see how long you could keep it inflated on your own porch. 

 

   In order to be an official participant in the game, you had to join the Buttercup GroupMe and follow along with the updates and rules.  That GroupMe was one of the funniest things I'd been a part of in a long time and it was quite humorous to see the silly {and competitive} side of our neighbors.  

We didn't even try to attempt any heists until Adam arrived home, but once he was home, the game was on!    He had a few unsuccessful steal attempts where he was caught before escaping, but I thought it was quite funny that the first time we actually managed to steal her was just after attending the temple together...

We took a little drive around the neighborhood on the way home and Adam snagged her in his church clothes.  Haha.  

We were quite proud of our conquest and guarded her pretty fiercely until we went to bed. 

  Guarding it meant playing games while sitting on our stairs just inside the door, then opening the door and yelling "we caught you!" to the would-be thieves.  

We caught a few and met a new neighbor in the process.  Much to our surprise, Buttercup actually stayed put overnight and was stolen while on our morning walk the next day.    Once we'd experienced the "thrill" of capturing and guarding her for ourselves, we didn't try too hard for a few days.  But then Kristina's family came to town and all that changed.   The second the boys heard about the Buttercup game, they were excitedly all in!  

Honestly it was a fun excuse to get out on neighborhood walks with the boys...

and the boys were far more diligent Buttercup guardians than we had been.   They literally sat outside waiting to yell at anyone who dared attempt a heist.   At one point in the final couple days of the game, the games keeper had  to change the rules to only allow an hour of "puppy guarding", because there were a whole lot of eager young boys out of school and willing to even sleep outside for the cause.  

It was a sad moment when Buttercup got stolen on New Year's Eve night and the boys'  final attempts in the last hours of the game (New Year's morning) proved unsuccessful, despite their coordinated efforts with fellow-would-be thieves to outsmart the conquering family.  

All in all, it turned out to be a fun distraction over the holidays and I 10/10 would recommend, as long as you get everyone on board with understanding the rules and the idea that it's all in good fun!   

Catching Up!

We are trying to take the reins on our house this summer, which means that this blog is taking a backseat for a while.  I'll try to get a little catching up done through June 30, so I can at least say I made it half-way through the year on the picture-a-day.  After that though, you can just assume that every picture would be about the same---either  reorganizing a closet, scrubbing something, or just in general delving into some forgotten corner of 15 years of accumulated stuff.   Either that or a picture of bucketloads of kids, since Cami is currently watching my brother's four kids while he and his wife are adventuring in Australia.    Life is good.

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June 18:   Today Glen, Emma, Adam, and I  hiked from Carderock to Great Falls, via the towpath and  Billy Goat A.    We estimate that it totaled about 8-miles.

I really enjoy pushing myself on these kinds of hikes....

If you were to ask me what an ideal day would entail for me, there would definitely be a family hike included!  

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June 19:  Emma made a delicious Father's Day breakfast for Glen....

We went to church which included Cami's roommate and BFF, Katy's, mission farewell, as well as musical numbers by the primary kids and the youth ("Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy").  

After church we went for a pleasant stroll around the neighborhood...

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June 20:   The beginning of our house projects begins by getting a dumpster delivered in front of our house.     We are cleaning out the attic and garage.   Oh joy!  

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June 21: Attic cleaning has commenced.   It's HOT up there, so we are trying to get most of our time in the attic done early in the day, then spend the time in the AC organizing and determining what belongs in the cavernous dumpster in front of our house.    

I also decided it was high time to get some mission shopping done, so Cami and I headed to the mall and had a great day at Sears and New York & Co.   

The girls made chicken mango rice salad for dinner! 

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June 22:   Today we cleaned and sorted stuff from attic....again!   Then I started selling things that we didn't need anymore.    And Adam and I played Scrabble.   He beat me.   

Acing the Algorithms

Here's a quick glimpse of what's been occupying Adam's spare time lately...

After working on it for the last few weeks, he can now consistently solve the Rubik's cube from any position in about a minute, sometimes well under.    In other words, he's aced the algorithms and is now working on perfecting  his speed even further!

He also bought himself a few other puzzle cubes (some of them not very cube-y) and is working on solving those as well.   So far he's aced the 2x2, 3x3, and the silver crazy cube.

Adam's also been teaching Glen a few of his tricks and  Glen can now solve a cube, although not near as speedily as Adam, for the first time in his life.

Way to go Adam!  

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The Best Sunday of All

Today was my favorite Sunday of the year!

No, I didn't transport myself back to vacation.   Or skip church to eat bonbons!

It's the Sunday when all the boring adults got to take a back seat and let the kids do the entertaining gospel teaching during church!   It was our ward's annual primary program and literally the kids did almost everything in sacrament meeting.   They gave the talks, shared how they were living  the gospel, and best of all did all the singing too.  I've always had a soft spot in my heart for children singing and I would love nothing more than to  make the entire primary  bonafide members of the ward choir.   My favorite was their rendition of "The Family is of God".   I also liked "Follow the Prophet" where  Ellie sang this verse as a solo and Adam held up a picture of Adam and Eve during the first verse.

   
It was a great program that was filled the usual giggle inducing moments, like the kid who kept holding his off-key notes louder and longer than everyone else.  And the other kid who bragged about his dad keeping him away from dangerous things--like bears.   And the little girl who  kept kissing and snuggling up to the boy in front of her.

This year's primary program was extra special for Glen, because up until a few weeks ago he was the primary chorister.  He was absolutely glowing while watching the children sing.   Thanks to his excellent instruction, the kids knew all the words and totally rocked the songs.

After that extra-cute start to church, lucky me, I got to experience more cuteness in Young Women!   My Laurels (and all of the YW) are beautiful and stalwart and a joy to work with each week.   I also love our new Laurel adviser,  Sister W., who is a fun, energetic, and  fantastic teacher.   I feel inspired leaving her lessons and I love watching the girls respond to her humor and sometimes unconventional teaching methods (like having the girls relax on the floor while discussing about the Sabbath).  

I also couldn't help but giggle when Sis. W's husband  interrupted the lesson and brought her a Slurpee, which they had bought the night before and frozen.   It was the perfect comedic relief while talking about keeping the Sabbath day holy.   

Now I am enjoying a quiet afternoon while Ellie, Adam, and Emma play "Ticket To Ride " with Glen and Cami is playing the cello in the basement.  

I love Sundays and the time I get to renew my body and spirit!

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Christmas Guessing Game

All of the following statements about our Christmas are true, except one.  Can you guess which one? 

1.  I made Ellie and her doll matching dresses.  While Ellie is absolutely in love with the idea of matching her dolly, the whole sewing process reminded me why I don't do it very often.  

2.  Adam got a Lord of the Rings Lego set, a present which has already been well-loved and much compared to the book and movie. 

3.  Spence was the happy recipient of his first smartphone!   

4.  One of my kids drove me to tears on Christmas morning because of their ungracious responses to a couple of the gifts they opened. 

5.  Emma knitted Cami a super soft scarf in just the color she wanted.      

5.  I got a microphone and stand to help me prepare for some upcoming auditions I have.

7.  Emma got some stylin' new clothes! 

8.  We ended Christmas day with a trip to the theater to see Les Mis.  It was spectacular and despite the criticisms about the singing/acting I keep reading about on Facebook, we absolutely loved it. 

9.  Glen considers Christmas 2012 to be one of the most peaceful ones in his memory. 




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