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Games Galore

I managed to organize the games cabinet. This means I put all the random pieces back in their correct boxes, and I threw out the ones that have lost too many pieces (except Blokus, which will never be the same after Eleanor broke the pieces so she could spell her name). It doesn't look all that different, frankly. I did make the lowest shelf for games the kids don't need to touch, the top shelf is for games they could (theoretically) play by themselves, and the middle is for games they can play with a grown-up. Most of the games on the middle shelf are there because there are so many pieces in them that I don't want them gotten out at random: Candyland, puzzles, dominoes, card games, etc.

Luke, Amanda and I tried paying a few games. Amanda really enjoys playing games at school, and is especially good with shape games. Hmm, I should pick up some tangoes for her... At any rate, we played "Cariboo" which involves matching cards to pictures on doors, using the key to open the door and checking to see if a ball is behind the door. You then put the ball in the "tumbling tidepool" until you've found all 6, at which point the treasure chest opens. Luke had a hard time matching the doors, so finally Amanda was playing the game and Luke was just opening random doors (unless he peeked, in which case he found the doors with the balls behind them).

We also played go fish, which involved trying to get Luke to put his pairs down and give us the things we ask for, while Amanda and I actually played. There is quite a bit of screaming "no no no no!" involved while we are playing these games, and it is quite high stress. I'm hoping the investment will pay off in a year or two when I can say to Luke and Amanda, "Go play a game!" Until then, I think I'll put away the games with too many pieces.

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