Great Game!

If you and your family and friends like to play games, then I highly recommend the game : Spy Alley!

 

From Amazon:

From Mata Hari to James Bond, spies and secret agents have filled our imaginations. Now, you have the chance to play spy and counter spy in a dark alley - SPY ALLEY. Deceptively simple and surprisingly intense, Spy Alley keeps you on the edge of your seat. Players become a spy for their given country and try to uncover their opponents' identity while keeping their own identity a secret. Players use deductive reasoning to expose other spies while attempting to complete their mission by obtaining the necessary code books, disguises, keys and passwords. You will be surprised how difficult it is to deceive your friends and family. A slip of the tongue, the blink of an eye, or even the twitch of a muscle may give your identity away. Players must be careful when entering Spy Alley. It is a calculated risk that only the bravest spies will take. The first spy to complete their mission or the last to retain their identity wins the game. For 2-6 players ages 8 and up. It takes about 45 minutes to play a game.

The four of us played and it was such fun! It is somewhat like "Clue" but instead of hiding who/what you know on a piece of paper, you mark all of your bought items on a peg board for all to see. So, if I am a Russian spy, I would have to buy a few things for the Italian spy or the American spy to throw the other players off.  

I was one space from winning the game...I was SO excited and my heart was pumping so fast! I couldn't believe it...I was going to beat the boys! I have yet to beat all three boys in one game! Yes!! Then Jason remembered he had a "free" guess. By this time, it was obvious which spy I was. And that quick, I was the first one OUT of the game!

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Well, at this point, Jason gets all my bought items and can continue to be his original spy or he can secretly switch and be my spy. So you have NO IDEA WHO IS WHO!! It is so much fun!!

Highly recommend for a family game or a holiday gift for friends or families that like board games!  

#TBT

#Throw Back Thanksgiving

Last year at this time, my thanksgiving turkey had busted out of the bottom of the bag and slid across the garage floor.

I guess it was all okay with my family, because they have put the thanksgiving prep into my hands once again. Wish me luck.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

24 Hours..

So the snow has come (darn it) and gone...no wait, it's still here (darn it.) I was SOOOO hopping that this would be one of the storms the weather people predicted wrong. It wasn't...the weather guy on channel 8 actually predicted the EXACT amount that we got! Hope they give him a huge year end bonus, because we know how often THAT happens!

Anyway, this is what the yard looked like Friday around 2:00pm...peaceful, a bit chilly, but good to go! Places are canceling events...I am thinking they are crazy! It's a great day!!

Here is the same shot at 9:00 am on Saturday.

 

Yep, that's Jack playing the snow already. While I am taking this picture though, he is actually complaining...loudly! 

"It's FLUFFY snow! You can't build anything with this!! You can't make a fort or a snowman or a... (on and on and on and on.)" 

"Well, come on inside then! Let the sun warm the snow and then it may melt a bit (in the 20 degree weather) and it will be more packable." 

(Like my science classes didn't teach me anything!!) 

But he believed me and thought it sounded like a great idea!

 Needless, to say when he went out for round two. The sun was still out. Nothing had melted and the snow was still FLUFFY!

Jason went out to plow the lane with the Gator. He came in about 10 minutes later. "Gators dead," he said. 

 

So, basically no one in our family was excited about the snow.

ew

We have another construction project happening at our house. With all the construction, remodeling, gutting, ect. that we have done over the years, we've never had one of these for the workers...let alone two! I must say though, that there aren't leaves on the trees, so they really can't "go" in the woods. But, couldn't they drive to Casey's? And why TWO? We figured one was for "number one" and the other was for "number two." Ew.

Well, the red one was gone at the beginning of last week, so our "number"theory was out the door. Then we had those super strong winds on Thursday...when I got home from work, this is what I saw...

 Ew.

I took this pictures from my car window. Jack was out and about in the yard and asked him if "checked" out the porta potty. He looked at me and said, "Yea." 

I asked him, "Ew?" 

He said, "Very Ew." 

EWWWW!!

Congrats, Jack!

In October, Jack's school had a fire safety poster contest. Jack came home and knew exactly what he wanted to create for his poster. He sat down, drew a smoke detector, smoke and the slogan,

 "Hear the beep, when you sleep! 

All bedrooms should have a working smoke alarm."

 

Well, wouldn't ya know it, Jack's poster tied for first place!

Congratulations to you, my son!

His winning poster was made into bookmarks and available at his school's library. Jack got a special laminated one. 

He also gets to choose one of the three options as a prize:

1. Have your family take a CPR class.

2. Have a firefighter come and eat lunch with you at school.

3. Have the fire truck deliver pizza to your house! (great birthday idea!)

"Wow, Jack! Those are some great choices! (decision, decisions) What do you think you will do?" I asked him.

He looked at me and said, in ALL seriousness,  

"I think I will do the CPR class."

"Oh. OK. Sounds like a good idea to me."

???????

It is his prize, not mine!

Vikings Game...

(For some reason, my posts haven't been going up!! UGH!!)
Anyway...
 
Last weekend, we all headed up for our once a season family football game in Minneapolis. It was long overdue for the four of us to get away and hang out together. 

On Saturday, we headed to the Mall of America for shopping (me) and riding rides (the boys.)

Jason and Sam are in the front row on the right side! Sam mentioned that he had never ridden in the front row before...check that one off his list!

Before heading to the game, we ate brunch at a fun little dive place in the city. We decided that Sam has been growing (again) because he LOVED the brunch and made his many trips worth the cost!

We catch the train to the game and then cab it back. Super easy!!

Lucky me to have this gentleman sit in front of me!

 And his wife sat in front of Jack!

 Yep, Sam is growing. Whine he packed, I asked him if his jeans still fit. "Yep!" he told me. Well, they still fit, but they are about six inches too short!!! He told me that his ankles got chilly a times because he could feel a breeze on them! oh my.

This weekend was to honor men and women in the services. It was really cool to hear stories and then see the actual people at the game. Well done Vikes! 

 Before the game, several players come down to the end zone to pray. Petersen is on the left and Teddy is on the right.

 AP

 Teddy prayed hard on this day. I was afraid he might miss the beginning of the game!

Jack thought the day was a success because he got to eat his favorite stadium snack...fried cheese curds!

It was a nail biter of a game. Went into overtime, but the Viking pulled it out once again! Phew!!

One of Us is Doing Their Own Thing

We recently applied for our passports and they just arrived in the mail.

Look at these handsome guys! And I though passport pictures where like driver's license pictures! Silly me!

And then I opened mine!

Sam immediately started to giggle!

Did they run out of toner? I am barely there!!

Passport pictures ARE like driver's license pictures!!

AWFUL!!

Uh Oh

Have you ever done something and suddenly you say, ''Uh Oh."

Poor Sam experienced one of my "uh oh" moments. 

I cut Sam's hair. It's super easy. I've done it so many times and I have a little routine down.

1. Put the #1 or 1/8" trimmer Guard on the clippers.

Doing this will cut Sam's hair 1/8 all around.

2. Take the guard off  to"shave his neck and trim his sideburns."

This goes all the way to the skin...like a razor.

So, Sam asked me to cut his hair the other night. No problem. We were talking when I started trimming his hair and suddenly I said "uh oh."

Sam immediately screeches, " What!! What did you do? " 

His face is red in panic!

"Ummm..I forgot to put the guard on. I shaved your head."

"WHHHAAATTT?!?!" His voice went up about 10 octaves.

Me: "Ya. I just shaved your head."

Here's what it looked like after I finished cutting his hair with the guard on...you can see the strip right up the middle of his head where I shaved it. He wanted me to take a picture to see how bad it was!  

In walks Jason. "What's going on?"

"Well," I tried to explain. But all Jason did was look at Sam's head and said, "Are you kidding me?" 

Me: "It's not that bad, I think I can fix it with scissors."

Sam: "Mom, no offense, but you are not trying to fix my hair. Dad, can you fix my hair??"

And so, Jason calmly picks up the clippers and spends about 20 minutes evening out the landing strip I created on the back of Sam's head.

In the end, all was well and extremely short with Sam's hair!

Will Be Back Next Week!

Life is pretty hectic right now, 

so I will be back next week sometime! 

Meanwhile, remember this very wise advice...

See you in about a week!!

Happy Halloween!

We had a busy weekend filled with all sorts of tricks and treats!!

Friday night we headed out for begger's night. Sam revived an old costume at the last minute...the dreaded clown, and headed out with his friends.

Jack found it quite frightening.

Jack was in full Halloween gear with his Bart Simpson costume!

The only draw back was that it was a bit difficult to see out of the eyes. His friend had to help Jack walk, especially up and down steps.  Oh! And the mask is solid rubber = hot.

Sam was suppose to walk in the Homer costume, but at the last minute he decided that going out with friends would be more fun! (Who wouldn't!!) A friend invited Jack, so Jason stepped into the costume to fill in for Sam!

 We piled into the car to find a neighborhood to Trick or Treat. (So no one would recognize us!!) We had a bit of an issue getting Jason in the car... he made it work, but it was a very snug fit!

Jack had a very successful night of trick or treating and sorted out his candy the next day. He had a pile of chocolate candy, chewy candy, hard candies, items and full sized candy!

 On Halloween, the boys decided to try our their very first Haunted House. Jack was soooo excited to go and couldn't wait to experience a real fright! Sam was ok with it.

 

Well, I think Jack's experience has scarred him for life. The first "room" was a girl and she was yelling, "JAAAACCCKKKK! Where's Jack?" She had an empty Jack-in-the-Box in front of her.  That was the end for Jack. He pulled a "Katie" grabbed the back of Jason's coat and buried his head into his back. At one point, a guy jumped out and scared everyone. Jason said, you could hear Jack yelling, "YOU ARE SUCH A JERK!" Sam wasn't sure what to expect, but since he went, he thinks he might be able to go again.  He thought it was scary, but doable.

Jack...he is never going into another one as long as he lives.