On Monday night, the fam and I sat down to enjoy Family Home Evening (Remember: a fight between two prayers . . . tee hee!) We each had our assigned tasks, and it was Avery's turn to be in charge of the most covetous assignment: Activity. This has become a position of power in our household, and Avery, who was drunk with power by this time after spending the afternoon teasing the kids about what activity he was going to choose, was wavering between Pokemon and Clue-Do (From what we can surmise this is the British version of Clue. Derrick and I bought it in England and have not seen it here in North America before. Basically, it is the same game so we figure there must be a patent issue surrounding the name of Clue in the UK. Too much information? Yeah, sorry about that; I was just having an Angelina Jolie moment there. You know, we are both super hot mamas with super hot hubbies who love all things British. I know we could become best friends someday! But I digress . . .) Anyhoo, thankfully, we thwarted his attempts to engage the family in a ridiculous game of Pokemon, and he went with Clue, only after we promised him that he did not have to be on anyone else's team, and that he could do it all all on his own. Yikes! More on this in a minute.
Elliot was in charge of the treat, and his well-intentioned mom, me, spent the afternoon making cinnamon biscuits to surprise him with because I know how much he loves cinnamon biscuits. At this point, if you are thinking "wow, what a great mom!", you can just stop now because it turns out that these are Zoe's favourite treat and not Elliot's. In fact, Elliot doesn't like them at all, and had to have a pre-packaged Rice Krispy square while we indulged in the gooey goodness of homemade buns. I have some serious making-up to do!
Derrick was in charge of the lesson, and he presented a fantastic one based on a talk about strengthening your family. You can read it here! For the kids, this is when time slowed to a halt, and every passing second became excruciatingly unbearable. As Derrick talked about things we can do to strengthen our own family like eating meals together (score one for the Websters) to scheduling individual time with each child (FAIL!), Elliot hung upside down on his chair, Zoe laid on the table and Avery played with the napkins, while taking turns asking "are you done yet?". I just pray that some small, remote part of their brains allowed this information to nestle in and be safely stored for when they are parents. But, who knows, with my luck, they will only remember that mom does not know her kids well enough to remember their favourite treats and hey, our parents to do not spend quality, alone time with each of us . . . ugh! At least we try. That must count for something!
Finally, (said with the exasperation only a kid can truly master) Derrick said the magic words: "and I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen", and the kids bolted up from their lackadaisical positions, grabbed the game, and started setting up. It was amazing how much energy they displayed!
After a brief squabble over who was going to be who, the game was on!
It wasn't long before a recurring name and weapon kept popping up, and each of us were anxiously eyeing the centre room to make sure no one else got there first. Then all of a sudden, Derrick made his move. Phew! He did not roll a large enough number to take him there in one move. Zoe, Elliot and I started to panic. We needed to beat him! At this point, Avery appeared to have lost all interest in the game and was playing with his Playmobil action figures:
He played really well for only being seven and for refusing help. As soon as we saw him pull out his toys, we figured that he had enough. His turn came around again, he rolled the dice and, surprisingly, he went directly to the center. We were all shocked!
"I think it was Draco Malfoy with the portkey in the . . . ."
Oh, I think I failed to mention in my Jolie-like revelry that this is the Harry Potter version of Clue-do. AWESOME!
We gasped! Avery had actually been paying attention. He could win this! Derrick looked panic-stricken.
" . . . in the, in the, LIBRARY!"
Each of us frantically looked at our cards. Oh my goodness, none of us had the library. He did it!!
Then Mr. Level-Headed spoke up: "Wait a second, YOU have the library, Avery!"
Ooops! I guess there was a limit to how much he was paying attention to.
"Okay, then in the Room of Requirements!"
Again, we frantically looked at our cards. I should mention that we wanted to make sure Avery's guess was a valid one before he opened the envelope because he would need help reading the cards and then, even if he was wrong, the game would have to come to an end since one of us would know the solution. Yes, we take our games very seriously.
But no one had the cards he mentioned. He really did it this time!! Avery won!!
He opened the envelope to flaunt his victory, but much to his dismay, no, the Room of Requirements was wrong! It was the Great Hall.
Mr. Level-Headed squealed: "I knew it! But how could this be? Is there a card missing?" (Can a manly man like my husband squeal? I don't know, but that's what it sounded like to me)
We looked under the table, in the game box, and again at the cards in our hands, but the Room of Requirements card was nowhere.
Then I looked down again and noticed that I, in fact, was holding the card in question.
"Ooops! I guess I have it!"
"MOM!!!!!"
Tee hee!
So, lesson learned from this weeks' Family Home Evening: in order to build a strong family, you have to recognize that everyone in the family, particularly the parents, will make mistakes no matter how hard they try.
Forgiveness + Love = Strong Family (For Mr. Level-Headed and Zoe, who are mathematically minded!)
Oh, please, Websters, please forgive me for botching up our game the other night!
Tee hee!
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