Currently on our Playlist

We've decided that the evenings between dinner and bedtime are now designated "Family Time." Having Miss Becky stay while we get dinner on the table means the parents are much less frazzled, and the boys are reaping the benefit. Jonathan pushes away his plate, shouting "Family Time! Yay!"

We don't watch TV on school nights, but by common consensus, playing Beatles Rock Band doesn't count. Chris plays guitar, I sing, and Jonathan and Alex take turns on bass and drums. We don't plug their instruments in, but you have to be careful sitting next to Alex, who gets pretty enthusiastic with the drumsticks. Our scoring chart looks kinds of strange. We have super-expert level high scores on "Yellow Submarine," "Hard Day's Night," and "I am the Walrus." But lots of the other songs have never been attempted, because the boys request their favorites over and over again. We're all excited for more songs to be released so we can try "Love Me Do" and "Lady Madonna."

Duck duck goose is another favorite around here. We make it a rule that the basement needs to be picked up before we start, so it is useful in that regard. Alex is so sweet as the ducker - he gets up behind someone and a huge grin spreads over his face. He reaches out and says "Goose!" Then he stands there and giggles, waiting for the goose to get up. Jonathan routinely asks Alexs "Pick me!" and Alex always obliges.

Jonathan recently taught us how to play "Doggie, doggie, where's your bone?" We had to explain that three chances to guess who's holding the bone doesn't work well when only four people are playing. Jonathan will hide his eyes and Alex will say "Here! Put the bone in my pocket!" Then he'll stand there trying to take it out of his pocket, or out of our own hiding places, so Jonathan's got a pretty good track record, even with only one guess.

Sometimes we want a quieter form of play. That means it's time for tea. I got Jonathan a small china tea set at the Korean store. He keeps it on a special low shelf. He has a big selection of herbal teas, his own honey bottle, and a hot plate. I boil the water and pour it in the pot. He picks out the tea bags and drops them in, setting the timer for six minutes. He pours tea into cups and drops in honey with amazing restraint. Alex isn't fond of the fruity teas, although they're Jonathan's favorites because they are such pretty colors. And Alex doesn't care for any honey in my tea. But he's happy when Jonathan makes brown Chai tea and I stir in some milk. We all sit around and sip our tea, then head off for bed. Jonathan's planning on how he'll brew hot cocoa with marshmallows as the nights get colder.