Work and Play Day

We decided to take advantage of no school or work on Monday by declaring it "Work and Play Day." We made a deal with the kids that if we all worked hard during the morning taking care of housework and various projects, then we could have family playtime during the afternoon. When playtime rolled around we put everyone's name in a bowl. We'd draw a name, and that person got to pick an activity that everyone had to participate in for 30 minutes. Then we'd draw another name, do their activity, and so forth. It was interesting to see what we all chose, and we ended up having a really fun afternoon (despite our fair share of crying and whining).

First up was Joshua. He chose Lincoln Logs for his activity. We pulled them out and assembled a nice little village (which then was destroyed by a "tornado" and some monsters).

Caleb was up next. He wanted to play football so we headed outside to take advantage of the small non-snowy portion of our yard. I don't think any of us will be headed to the NFL anytime soon, but it was nice to get outside and move around for a while.

Caleb kicked the ball...

...right into Amanda. Fortunately she recovered pretty quickly and gave the kicking a try herself.

Joshua made up his own sport, which consisted solely of smacking the snow with a bat. This kid is very easily entertained.

For my activity we went for a walk and delivered some cookies to a neighbor.

Amanda was up next. She wanted to break out the Martian Matter. For those who aren't familiar with Martian Matter, you basically use a variety of molds and goop to create little aliens. I'm not really sure what the appeal of this whole process is, but the kids think it's great.

Bill had the final activity. He declared a family dart gun war using the guns he got us all for Christmas. The war got a little wild and resulted in some tears, so we switched over to target practice. I drew a target on the front window with washable marker and we had a contest. Much to my surprise, I ended up with the high score (take that Sergeant Sivert!). To give Bill some credit, he did land the only bullseye of the competition.

The kids are already asking when the next "Work and Play Day" will be.