Keeping Up

Ever decide to save money on a child’s birthday party and just throw the party yourself?  Year after year our parties graduated from hiring clowns and magicians to renting the go-cart range.   This year we wanted to put all the money into his present (a new computer since the old one was driving US crazy), and just have a nice at-home gathering of his friends.   The biggest problem- and I can see that now- is that I put myself in charge of planning it.   Stephen still wanted a cool party and...wait for it.... I am competitive.   Challenge Accepted! (I am also jonesing for the next How I Met Your Mother, if you hadn't caught onto that!) As I tried to decide on a theme, my soon to be ten year-old came up with the theme for me.   He wanted the Percy Jackson books to come to life.  Yay! Then I spent nearly two weeks coming up with Camp Half-blood ideas, scouring the internet for patterns and creating the items needed.  ...

Sometimes, as the weather turns chilly and my drive to do anything turns ‘off’,   I wonder why I have to come up with activities for my child.   He's  the one who is bored, why am I the one going crazy for a solution? It often ends up as disappointing as suggesting ideas for dinner.   Lasagna, anyone?   - EWW!   Straw Hat Casserole?   - Gross Mom.    Aside from pizza, any suggestion I come up with is a failure.   On days like these I am happy to turn the reins over to those who have mastered the word "bored": the board game industry.   Ever play the board game Malarky?   In Malarky, “you don't need to know the answers, you just need to make people think you do.” It’s a great game that teaches the skill of quick thinking (or lying, call it whatever you want).   But it’s the kind of thinking our sweet, innocent kids will need in their future lives.   Like when filling out a resume.   Or when asked if ...

After cleaning up all the wrapping paper and candy-cane bows, Stephen's gifts still littered the floor. There was moldable clay, remote cars, an iPod…and among other things that scared me just a little, a bow and arrow set.  Since Legolas took the silver screen, the bow has been a popular, ah, weapon.   There, I said it. Weapon.  We gave our son a weapon. For Christmas, no less.    Along with the bow, we also gave Stephen five rules: The arrows must stay off the floor; the bow must never be dropped; there was to be no target practice in the back yard; there was to be no target practice in anyone’s back yard; and in fact, the bow should never be used at all.    Ever. We all know a parent can make up five rules and one of them will always be broken.   It’s best to simply decide in advance which one you want it to be and stick it in there.      So, yes, I knew he was going to have to shoot the bow at so...