Games and games and games and games and games and games and games

The song is going down into DeJong folklore.  The "inlaws" wrote a song for Hilary when she joined the family to explain what she was getting into.  One of the verses is, "Games and games and games and games and games and games and games...."

Well, I'm hear to tell you that a new generation is joining in.  Jon who use to play with cars every other hour of the day is now obsessed with games.  Just walking around the house I found

Yamslam in the kitchen...


and Monopoly in the living room.


For the first year, he begged to write a Christmas list.  My kids have never been into this before, but Jon was so excited this year.  He got out pen and paper and sat down and carefully sounded out Ticket to Ride.  Then he paused.  and thought.  and called his brother and sister over to help him come up with more to add because he was stumped.

Homework

Now that both Jon and Michael have weekly homework for school, one of Jon and Becca's favorite games to play has been "homework."

They get out a notebook and go to work.



When I asked them what they were working on Jon said he was writing notes and Becca said she had made a maze.  :)

Hot Chocolate and Settlers

Over Thanksgiving weekend we tried to get the kids out to play a couple of times but it was pretty cold.  And of course, every time they go out in the cold they want Hot Chocolate - Michael's and Becca's with marshmallows in it and Jon's on the side.  Since we have had Aunt Katherine with us for the weekend we were also playing a lot of games.  So what could be better than having both hot chocolate and a game of Settlers on a cold day?!

More Pictures from Boston

Besides celebrating Christmas, we spent a week just having fun with family in Boston.  Here are some highlights.

We got about a foot of snow one day which was perfect for sledding.  Jon and Becca didn't last long, but we all had a blast!








One of Becca's favorite things to do was to help Aunt Sarah make coffee each morning.  She decided that she likes the smell of coffee but not the taste.


As games were a common Christmas present this year, we did a lot of game playing.  Michael and Jon are even able to play some games on their own now.  This is an old stand-by game of "go fish."


And this is one of the new games we got called Six Nimmt!



On our last day in Boston, Jon and Becca and I got to spend the day with Grandma.  We shared a huge muffin treat, took a trip to McDonalds, and made Christmas cookies.




Michael got to spend the day with Tim, Grandpa, and Aunt Katherine learning to ski for the first time.   He was so proud of how the day went and said he liked it even better than Disney World.

Daddy weekend

Last weekend we had amazingly almost nothing away from home to do.  So we enjoyed a very peaceful family Saturday.  The boys especially had so much fun hanging out with Daddy.

Reading Bible stories


Playing video games


And following along with a chess game.

Sarah, Anne, Andrew, and Katherine

As I mentioned in the previous post, Tim's siblings all came out for a few days before Christmas. We had a blast! Here are some highlights.

We did a family Christmas together. The three kids loved both the presents and the attention from so many adults.


Stockings for the aunts and uncle.


All the kids got puzzles.




And of course we enjoyed fun reading times.


The boys got some outdoor toys that included a balloon helicopter and snow ball launcher. Since there was no snow yet, we improvised with tennis balls.


Another winter present was this adorable hat from Grandma. We went for a walk one evening in downtown Holland and Becca loved showing off her new hat.


And this was a super fun memory game from GGPa and Great Sandy that was an immediate hit!

The Jon/Michael compromise

So what do sports loving Michael and cars loving Jon play together?

Let me introduce you to matchbox football: