Mom, I'm Bored....

School is out. And now comes the challenge of what to do with our days when we are home all day. If I let them, the kids would play computer all day. For Family Home Evening, we came up with a list of our Have tos and our Want tos for the summer. There are some duplicates on the list because we were all writing things down at the same time on a poster for the wall. We set a time limit for computer each day, and now they can just refer to the list when they don't know what to do.

The have to list is pretty short:
Brush teeth
Brush hair
Shower
Chores
-rooms: clothes, books, bed, toys
-family job
-dishes
-backyard
-vacuum
-dust
Scriptures and prayers
Journal
Practice music
Spanish lessons (Courtney requested that we put this on the have to list)


Our want to list, a.k.a. Mom, I'm Bored! list:
Swimming
Make anime (computer program)
Visit/call relatives
Play with friends
Board games
Write a book
Bubbles!
Have a playdate
DANCE!
Play at the park
Beyblades
Catan (board game)
Eat!
The nameless game (something the kids do together outside)
Service
Practice Japanese (computer program)
Write a story
Movie night
Scrapbook
Dominion (card game)
Wii
Yardwork for neighbors
Pictochat (computer program the kids do together)
Ride bikes/scooters
Blacksmithing (Ben is building a forge in the backyard)
Scrollsaw
Scout merit badges
Take a nap
Read a book
Paint a room
Racquetball
Basketball
Pop Island (another computer program the kids do together)
Bicycles!
Go to the Library
Gardening
Draw Something (iPod app we do as a family)
Go camping
Farmer's Market
Go for a drive
Spanish lessons
Photography
Email friends and family
Read scriptures
Camp on the patio
Projects with Mom
Take a shower (here's hoping this can make it to the Want to list for the kids someday...)
Crafts
Put on a performance (music, acting, poetry...)
Write a letter to grandparents
Practice instruments
Go on a hike
Pick weeds (the kids have actually done this for fun before!)


We all wrote on the poster, and now it is on the wall to be added to when ideas come. It was great to let the kids come up with the ideas, so they have more buy in to doing them!

Johnny's strange brain

Johnny was just making up verses to I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus:

"I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus..."

"I saw Santa give us some Thrive food, hiding it in the storage cabinet just now..."

"I saw my puppy biting Santa Claus..." my puppy a.k.a. Max (his stuffed dog from the Grinch)

"I saw the oven burn Santa Claus..." because he was hiding some reusable macaroni and cheese for us....when we eat it then go to the bathroom it appears in the oven again...I hope it doesn't come out through our privates, I hope we eat it and it goes down into our stomachs and then it appears back in the oven...

Whoa. That kid is something else!  Side note...he says a.k.a. all the time. Hilarious!  We sure hope Santa doesn't try to bring us that mac and cheese. I don't think I could eat it...

Our musical kids

Our kids were born with their father's love of making music. They all sing and dabble in piano, guitar and recorder. Ben plays the saxophone. Ben and Courtney, but mostly Courtney, play the violin. Now, they have a new instrument to add to their musical resumes. The handbell chime something or other.  We went to pick up Ben today in the band room and while I talked to the music teacher, the kids picked up the chimes and without any discussion came up with this melody. The music teacher said he doesn't know any other kids that would come in and just start playing music like that. Improv handbells...I wonder if it will catch on?