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Another thing we do is role reversal. DD gets to play Mommy while I get to be the kid. I play while she does "grown-up things". I will admit that I have been sent to time out for not listening.
If the kids don't wake up when I first call them (and they never do) I send the dogs in to wake them up on school mornings - the puppy licks them all over while the Golden steals a stuffed animal off of their bed. The two dogs then do a bit of a tug-of-war over the animal until one wins. They then jump off of the bed, run out of the room and I send them into the next kid's room...
We sing really bad songs, off tune, just to annoy the heck out of each other...
My parents would crank up the speakers (not TOO loud) some mornings and play rock music. It made people energized when we had to get up and do chores. My family also has the silly nickname thing.
Being silly is a way of life in our family. We nick name anyone who comes to visit. All of our kids friends are named after some cartoon character that they resemble in some way.
All of our kids have sound names. One might be Whooop Schlup another blulblublublublublublu. (kind of hard to make sounds into words)
They also have nick names and we often just use the nick names instead of their names. On daughter is always saying "really dad, really? So we call her "really." "Where is Really? She is down in her room." We have Monkey, Really, Duck, Bat, and Super Q. Sometimes the names change based on what is going on in their lives. "Bat," might become "Teenage Angst" at times.
Usually we deal with moodiness and tantrums with silliness. Often by pretending to misunderstand what is being said. My wife and I compete to get "I hate yous" each day. If someone screams I hate you at us, we call out to the other "Ha! I got three I hate yous today, how many did you get? "Only one" (Victory Dance).
When the kids say "Oh God dad!" I reply in a deep voice "Yes? I hear your prayer, what is your request of the great and mighty GOD DAD?"
We have lots of singing games. The favorite is a game where each person sings a song telling a story and then designates the next person the style and the topic they they have to sing to continue the story "now Really will sing a country song about a troll eating a unicorn" On roadtrips we have played this game for hours. It is fun becuase most of our family except me are excellent singers. I get points for creativity, but everyone covers their ears if I sing.
We used to have a dance party in the living room every morning before school/work. We would crank certain favorite songs and everyone would dance crazy. Unfortunately most of the favorite songs were not real good dance tunes (e.g. "Boris the Spider" by the Who), but it would still be fun when someone starts trying to dance on the floor like a spider.
When we have pancakes, they are always colored green. Mashed potatoes are purple.
We have an odd tradition. We give clowns to drive through workers. It all started when I bought a box lot at an auction that had a large collection of ceramic clowns in it. We did nto want the clowns, so for the next few days, as we drove around, we gave them out to drive through workers. "That will be $5.15. Here you go and here is a clown for you." "Here is your order" "Thank you, and here is your clown" We got such a kick out of it that we watch for clowns at garage sales and keep a few in the car for emergencies. We even give clowns to the toll both people. (That reminds me, we need to find a stock of clowns for our upcoming roadtrip).
A card game might turn into an all out card war until someone picks up a Nerf gun, then it evolves into a nerf war. We have a crazy old house that has had lots of additioans and is a bit of a maze. There are eight exterior doors. There are two separate stairway to the second floor one into the basement and another going outside form the basement, you can run out a side door and run along the wrap around porch and into the front door, thus it is kind of ideal for a surprise attack running nerf battle. Sometimes guests are a bit surprised when the whole household bursts into an all out nerf gun battle. They either join in, hide, or just sit and look stern. There are always a few nerf guns laying around, so they can always find a weapon to join in.
Sometimes we enjoy acting like complete loons when we are out someplace. We even make a competition out of it. At Mt. Rushmore, we were jumping around and waving and trying to get the heads to "Look over here" My son went running through a school screaming "The bees the bees arrggghhh!" Since we are a good sized family and often have additional guests with us, we like to make our own spontaneous Flash mob events.
Silly is fun. If we did nto have silliness, life woudl be mostly boring.
We give clowns to drive through workers. It all started when I bought a box lot at an auction that had a large collection of ceramic clowns in it. We did nto want the clowns, so for the next few days, as we drove around, we gave them out to drive through workers. "That will be $5.15. Here you go and here is a clown for you." "Here is your order" "Thank you, and here is your clown" We got such a kick out of it that we watch for clowns at garage sales and keep a few in the car for emergencies. We even give clowns to the toll both people. (That reminds me, we need to find a stock of clowns for our upcoming roadtrip).
Forgot that we occasionally have disco party--I went to Spencers and bought a spinning colored light ball that hangs from our catwalk over the great room. We crank up concerts/videso on the tv and the kids like to try to mimic some of the dancing and sing along. I can't remember how many times I have heard the Black Eyed Peas boom boom pow
Forgot that we occasionally have disco party--I went to Spencers and bought a spinning colored light ball that hangs from our catwalk over the great room. We crank up concerts/videso on the tv and the kids like to try to mimic some of the dancing and sing along. I can't remember how many times I have heard the Black Eyed Peas boom boom pow
Cool. I want one.
How can we make a light ball fit in to our 1870s decor?
My parents would crank up the speakers (not TOO loud) some mornings and play rock music. It made people energized when we had to get up and do chores. My family also has the silly nickname thing.
When it was time to pick up toys when my son was toddler to early elementary school we used to put on music--such as Beach Boys, or Tommy and dance and swing the toys away.
My husband and I still crank up the music when it is time to rush around and pick up the house.
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Clean and Dance
