Game Night

Besides candy, nothing propels my kids into action faster than the promise of playing, Settlers of Catan. Just mentioning the word "Settlers" mobilizes them into a flurry of, "Hurry, you clean that room, I'll pick this up, etc." I love it! Time together as family with the extra bonus of a clean house. Can life get any better than that? Some friends taught us this game while we were in Guam and we were immediately hooked. When we moved one of the first questions we'd ask people is if they knew how to play. Not that that was a prerequisite to becoming friends. If they didn't we'd just have to teach them.

I've always enjoyed playing games, board games, card games, whatever. Growing up it was mainly a card game we called Aunt Margaret (named after our Great Aunt Margaret who taught it to us-I don't think any of us have any idea what it's really called) and Sorry with my dad. When I married Jason I found out his family liked to play Scrabble. Let's just say the Scrabble dictionary quickly became my friend, especially the Qu section. Early in our marriage it was Rook (just don't put us on the same team) and Acquire, a game of hotel acquisition. I know sounds boring but don't let that fool you. It's an intense fun game. Probably 2nd on our list. Now I get to play games with my kids. Monopoly Jr., Sequence for kids, Sorry and Pictionary are a few of my favorites. The only one I really don't like to play is Life. If I do, I must be in a real generous mood. It's all that stopping for marriage, picking careers and buying and selling houses. In my opinion, it takes too much time and interrupts the flow of the game. Which is kind of funny because come to think of it that IS the game.

So last night after straightening up from the Sunday bomb we sat down with some of Kelsey's cookies (if it makes it that far in the process, it's usually just cookie dough) to play Settlers. When we introduced this game to our kids Jason and I would stop them, talk them through their move and show them different strategies, etc. But last night, after our favorite spots were being taken and our roads were being blocked, Jason and I exchanged glances across the table admitting it was now EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF! GAME ON