I had the best weekend that I've had in a while. Relaxing, not rushed, and I actually enjoyed it! I wasn't too exhausted or sick to do so. (The fact that I finished my synopsis didn't hurt either!)
The highlight of my weekend was time spent with Drama Queen last night. I taught her to play UNO. For those of you who don't remember or have never played, UNO is a card game with a huge deck of specialty cards. She's only six, so we played several open-handed rounds before she was ready to go it alone.
It's been a long time since I've been with my daughter while she's learning something new. Seeing her eyes sparkle with fun... the aha moments when she grasps a new concept... actually doing something together that doesn't require me to reprimand or threaten... her snaggle-tooth grin (she's lost 2 front teeth)... Wonderful warm fuzzy feelings that we haven't shared in a while during the rush of school, work, homework, and would you please behave!!! episodes.
I guess moving into the month of November has me thinking about family. I can remember playing a lot of games with my family growing up. My father worked a lot. We lived in the middle of nowhere on a farm, so my sister, mother, and I filled in a lot of time with board and card games. UNO was one of my favorite, along with Rummy. We played a lot of Yahtzee and Life too.
My husband and I have attempted to have game nights in the past, but that's hard to do with little ones. Someone is always too young to play, bored with being cast out of the limelight, and in constant need of... well, all kinds of things. Kind of hard to enjoy yourself when you are constantly getting up and down for juice, snacks, changing a video, etc. I'm really hoping this is one step in the direction of those nights returning. Of course, Little Man still isn't old enough to do anything more with the game pieces besides put them in his mouth, but one day...
What was your favorite board game/card game growing up? What special thing do you do to bond with your family?
We'll be announcing the winner of the weekend contest later on today. And don't forget that one lucky commenter will win a book from me!!!
Angel
19 comments:
Monopoly was the big thing when I was growing up. That and blackjack. My daddy taught my sister and me how to play blackjack. It's really good practice for adding and subtracting. ;-)
We played UNO with our kids when they were younger too. And now we play a lot of Scrabble with them when they're home at the holidays. It's great fun and of course there are the inevitable arguments over words.
Now that it's just the DH and me, we bond over "Dancing with the Stars" and "Survivor." *g* We did take ballroom classes earlier this year and that was tons 'o fun. I hope we can do it again.
PM
I love UNO! That was the game we played the most of growing up. This past summer when I was visiting my grandmother, my aunts, cousins, and I stayed up really late playing it.
I also taught my nephew how to play (he is 7) and look forward to playing board games with him. It was hard to get my family to play board games growing up...even though I always got one at Christmas...in fact, I still have many of them. My brother was real competitive so it is not always fun playing with him. My mom and dad were busy...and my sister just didn't want to play that much with me.
I love Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture Edition now...I get to put my useless knowledge to use...of course, I kind of need someone to play with me...LOL
I played checkers and the Star of Africa when I was a kid. And Monopoly and UNO. Those Monopoly games I played with my friend could sometimes take more than one day.
Our family played Monopoly and I can remember friends coming over and joining in.
UNO is one of the games we played a lot of with our kids. Of course, there was Monopoly, Scrabble etc. My dad taught my kids how to play poker (never for money)! lol We had a lot of fun with that! When I was a child I played Checkers with my dad.
My brothers and I often played Uno, Rummy and Monopoly.
My mom and I lived with my grandparents for a while so I actually played a lot of dice games when I was little. Yeah, I had monopoly, clue, life, uno, etc., and I played those with other kids, but being an only child, dice was what I played with my family. Crazy Dice is the family favorite. We also played a lot of Yahtzee.
These days, most people won't play games with me, especially trivia games. I have waaaayyy too much useless knowledge stored up.
SP
I bet you would be great at Trivia games, SP.
We played board games a lot growing up. Being part of a military family, we moved frequently and didn't have many friends at first. Board games were the glue that held my brother and I together back then. We played a lot of Monopoly (by candlelight, just like Maven Linda Winstead Jones), Trouble (my favorite), Uno, Battleship/regular and electronic (another favorite), Risk (seeking world domination), and Dominos (a family favorite).
We try to have game nights here but our lives are so hectic right now. Towards Christmas, we like to put together puzzles and when the power goes out, we bring out Monopoly (Star Wars or the regular version). We bought our #1 son Air Force Monopoly last year and I hope to get Pirates of the Caribbean Monopoly soon. (Thanks SP for the tip).
Kathy
I love game nights! My favorites growing up were playing Life, Monopoly, or card games.
With my oldest, we began game nights when he was about 5. And we played games intended for his age but also games that we liked and thought he could learn from while playing -- Monopoly, Battleship, Chess, Checkers, Uno, etc. Each Christmas, we'd add another family game to the bunch. We used to carry the Uno cards on trips and play to determine the order in which we got to take a shower. (Loser went first!)
Now with two youngest under 5, it's been hard to play board games. Occasionally we try, one on my lap and one on my husband's as our "partners". Games are shorter but still fun. In a few years, though, we should be able to start up full-fledged again.
I love UNO, but I have not tried playing it with the kids yet. My daughter still loves Candyland, and we also play concentration a lot. My son loves Chutes and Ladders. The kids also help me bake cookies, and we have family day on Sunday. The Sunday before last we went to Disney on Ice. This past weekend, my son was not feeling well so we rented movies and stayed in. I think it is great that you have something just for you and your daughter. My daughter and son both love the bookstore, so that is something special between us.
I had a great post...and my computer ate it :-) I'll try to recreate but it just won't be the same.
Growing up my sister, brothers and I loved to play games. I think my parents loved when we played games too :-) Monopoly, Trial Pursuit, Life, Hotels, Risk... As we got older Canasta and Push Rummy became favorites.
Now, whenever the family gets together we usually always get a round of Texas Hold 'Em Poker in :-) We love the Cranium games too, although my brothers can't be on a team togehter. I swear, sometimes you'd think they share a brain. They have a special language all their own and complete each other's sentences.
We haven't really played games with the girls, although we have a couple. I think maybe I'll add that to the Christmas list.
Instigator
I'm such a geek--I love board games.
We try to play games with AC a lot; you know, family bonding and all. She's an UNO ace--doesn't need any help at all to beat me. (We're still working on good sportsmanship, though. She's not a gracious winner or loser.)
We have some good friends that come over once a month. The kids play togehter and we play board games like Scrabble and Cranium. Hopefully, as the kids get older, they'll play too.
Monopoly and Uno were my favorties growing up. Now my family plays Monopoly and Uno together. Actually it's the exact same mononpoly game and uno cards that I had as a kid. When I had my kids, Mom started passing some of my childhood things down to use. The things that were still in great shape like the games. Maybe it's just me, but I think that's kind of neat.
My husband and I have game nights. We play trivial pursuit, both the 80's and 90's editions. Also we play the board game Battle of the Sexes, it has male and female questions. The guys have to answer a lot of questions about the show Friends and because the husband sat through the epiodes so many times with me he usually wins. I watch some sports, but not that much and the female questions are mostly sports I think.
My dad used to play checkers with me all the time when I was little. I loved monopoly too, but didn't get to play it all that often.
SP said:
These days, most people won't play games with me, especially trivia games. I have waaaayyy too much useless knowledge stored up.
That is something we have in common Smarty Pants!!! I have a hard time getting people to play trivia games with me because of my useless knowledge.
Ah, useless knowledge...can there be such a thing? Isn't all knowledge useful? Don't we all find useless trivia stimulating? What if the only way you could do something would be to have to answer some sort of useless question first and get it right, kind of like a Simon Says game. Wouldn't that make life a hoot?
Red rover, red rover, let useless trivia spill over.
Kathy
We played cards, UNO, sorry, spades, hearts, and just about anything we could get our hands on! Isn't it wonderful to see them fall in love with the same things that enthralled you as a child?!
I love any games. If I could play every night I would. When young we played Sorry, Monopoly, Canasta, Rummy and Tripoly. Uno is a favorite of my kids along with lots of others. I belong to a card group and right now the game is Sock and Shoe - very addictive.
Speaking of useless knowledge, my husband is full of it too! He always beats me at trivia games. I figure if I need to know it, I'll look it up in a book. :)
He loves to play Mad About Movies and a movie trivia game we have. He beats me at them unless I just get a run of really easy cards (like the answer is Grease!). He's a fanatic about movies like I am about books.
I love Monopoly, but no one wants to play it with me because it takes too long. Ooohh, book lover's edition trivia... that sounds great!!!
Angel
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