DPP 2016 Day 6 - Under the Boardwalk

The names of the first 4 posts have been updated.  The two people I thought would play along, did not disappoint and I think they came up with great ideas!  Thanks to Kevin and Ken!  :) 

Today's Song Title was picked for a variety of reasons, one of which is that I deliberately didn't take a lot of pictures today.  At one point, Rich said to me, this kids all went downstairs to play if you want to go catch some pictures.  I politely declined.  It was a VERY long day of clinic today with some complicated cases that left me with hours and hours of charting to do.  So I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time for editing and blogging.  And in addition to that, I am tired from the late nights of writing our stories.  I loves this doing this blog once a year.  I am always surprised by the positive feedback and I am thrilled you enjoy it too.  But there isn't a lot of space in the day for this, so it is always a late night project.   Typically posting between 11:30pm and 1:00am.  So as the song says, it is short and sweet because "under a blanket with my baby, is where I'll be."  This mama needs some sleep! 

When I arrived home tonight, I walked into a fierce Monopoly battle.  I knew the moment I saw it that it would likely be the picture I picked for my post for the day.  So here are my boys, playing for Boardwalk. 

We play a lot of Monopoly, Clue, Sorry, Chess and card games around here.  I love any activity that takes a screen out of the hands of my kiddos.  That encourages eye contact, negotiation, fairness, and some sort of brain skill.  Things like math, logic and reasoning, strategy, etc.  It was SO refreshing to come home and find this fun activity going on without them being without their screen time.  They chose this over screens.  Yes!

As I walk through the door, my brother Kevin had just Face-timed me.  He said something about being bored and that made him think of me.  Gee, what a compliment!  He said I could choose between him associating me with boredom or him associating me with entertainment.  Well, he has been my big brother for a long time and nothing gives him greater joy than to needle me - so we all know it is the former.  We had just finished this exchange when THIS happened. . . .

 That little stinker swooped right in.  She LOVES to Facetime with her Uncle Tev.  They have a huge repertoire of games they play over the phone.  But tonight, I am pretty sure she only gave Kevin motion sickness.  Do you see that wild look in her eye?  She was walking all over the house with him jabbering a mile a minute.  I heard Kevin at one point say, "K, I am gonna have to go!  You are making me sick!"  Silly girl. 

I would title this picture "Command Center".   Working away, in the middle of the evening.  Despite feeling sick and out of it, Rich's work day started early this morning with an overseas call and wasn't over until after midnight.  You can see here that he is chatting on the phone while doing some work on the computer.  I have never known Rich to take time off for being sick - at least not willingly.  He works all the time which you would think I would hate.  Daytime, nighttime, weekends.  He never complains and most of the time, neither do I.  He loves what he does and takes pride in trying to be better each day.  There are days that it bothers me but most of the time, I feel so lucky to have a husband that works so hard for our family.  That he has work that he loves and the freedom to do that job anywhere.