A Day of Activities

I wrote different activities on strips of paper and put them in a small paper bag. The kids took turns picking out a strip throughout the day and we did whatever activity was picked. I let Eleanor pick first since she is a middle child and she doesn't get to go first very often. We started out watching an episode of "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody". Then The Very Hungry Caterpillar game was picked. The older girls didn't want to play at first, but after I reminded them that I was playing, too, their attitudes changed and I think we all had a fun time playing. Bella Dancerella was picked next and we all cheered along with the video. We then watched an episode of "The Suite Life on Deck". Legos were then picked and there was some more mumbling, but we all had fun once the legos were out and we were playing. We ate a snack and then we made a marble run. Then we watched an episode of "Pink Panther". Zach loves watching "Pink Panther", so after he picked Read a Story, he whined that he wanted to watch another episode of "Pink Panther", so I let the kids watch another episode. They ended up watching several episodes while I toasted English muffins for lunch. We read "The Magic Hat" after lunch and then the kids each made a card to send to someone. Zoe read an Arthur book to everyone while I talked with my sister, Donna on the phone. Then the High School Musical dance mat was picked. I ended my call with Donna when Kate insisted on getting on the mat when it wasn't her turn, which created chaos. Kate was a challenge during many of the activities. We played Jenga, Attack Uno, and Go Fish. I let the kids watch 3 more episodes of "The Suite Life on Deck" and then I put our Netflix account on hold. The kids were not happy about this and actual tears came out of Emily's eyes, but it had to be done. Picking activities out of the bag just wasn't appealing anymore knowing that they couldn't watch any more shows. Emily played with her Hannah Montana video game and Eleanor got on the Nick Jr. website. I was tired and was actually ready to be done playing, so I was happy to let everyone veg out on video/computer games. Zach had picked "Don't Break the Ice" out of the bag and Zoe wanted to play it, so the two of us played one game. It was fun to have a balance today between tv and games. The kids had fun playing the games once we were playing them, but the thought of playing them at first wasn't too appealing. Zoe enjoys playing games more than her siblings. It was a long day, but I'm glad we had a plan and we did a lot of activities together.