Life. Love. Family. Our Perfect Imperfection. Living life as a Catholic, homeschooling family with three amazing, unique boys, a too-oft serious, frustrated and anxious but also loving momma, and a fun-loving, hardworking dad.

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Family Game Night and Birthday Plans


We played a couple of card trivia games last night which both fit in perfectly to the history time period we are going to be starring to focus on! Professor Noggin's Medieval Times covers 1066-1453, and our history syllabus this year covers 1066-1700. We also played Professor Noggin's Explorers, which obviously many explorers were during that time period as well. 

I always find it amazing what my kids know and what they learn from simple things like this. I bought the games originally to reinforce history and science topics for Ethan as well as to help him with his communication skills and executive functioning. I never thought about that added benefits it would have on the other two (similar as Ethan) but also the potential to help our family dynamic. 

Something this simple brought us together last night - and trust me, it wasn't that perfect togetherness you see in old photos and movies, but it was our version of togetherness, complete with laughter and yelling, some crying from the little dude, silliness and seriousness, Jason doubting my explanation, and me being right 😂, the boys each surprising in turn with some little known fact or tidbit of knowledge.

I will never again doubt that reading a random book will instill knowledge. Ethan, who is 15 today, knew the answer to the question "What Norwegian explorer was the first to reach the South Pole?" In surprise, I asked him how in the world did he know that, as none of us had ever heard of the person. (The answer by the way is Roald Amundsen.) He matter-of-factly stated, " Oh, I read it sometime on the Guniess Book of World Records."

While everyone else guessed a country, Alex knew that Marco Polo wrote his book The Travels of Marco Polo in prison! He told us he remembered because of a report he had written way back in 3rd or 4th grade at his old school.

Jackson knew some of the answers, but was really enjoying reading the questions and answers aloud. Some of the words were really difficult but he tried his hardest and did very well.

I'm so glad we let the boys stay up later than normal and had a family game night.


Today we get to celebrate the oldest boy's birthday. Ethan asked to go spend his birthday money from his grandparents on a new 3ds game and some clothes, and also to pick out what he would like from us. For dinner, he asked to go to a local Italian/pizza restaurant with some close family friends. 

The perfect end to his day? He asked for a chocolate crazy cake with homemade dairy-free chocolate "buttercream" frosting. I used this recipe for the frosting, but substituted Earth Balance buttery spread for the butter, and water for the milk. 


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