Do you...Uno?

The day these Uno cards came into our house was the day I began to question my sanity.

The kids are old enough now (they're 8 ½, nearly-7 and 5) that simple family games are within their scope of understanding. These cards, and a 'map of the world' puzzle hubby and I took over and completed, formed the basis of their Easter gift so for the last week we've been a Uno-crazed family. It's one of the few card games that all five of us can play with moderate success. Watching Miss Moo trying to hold the cards in a fan and failing miserably is quite funny. And Boofah is having a hard time accepting the concept of being a 'good loser'. I remember having difficulty with this as a kid as well, and from what my mother-in-law has told me, the poor kid's other parent had his fair share of dummy-spits during childhood as well, LOL. He just gets so frustrated that he works himself up (this is Boofah, not his father!) and it all explodes in a massive overreaction. So we're working through that.

But it has been a good experience. We're having Uno Tournaments (I won five mini Easter eggs today, *grin*) and the kids are slowly getting cluey with tactics. We particularly enjoyed the triple Draw Four card stack we slammed onto Daddy yesterday. The kids were beside themselves, LOL.

In other games news, Master J has been dutifully saving his 'spending half' of his pocket money and I recently managed to secure him an Australian DVD-game of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Oh my goodness, that child loves that show/game. It went off air last year in Australia to be replaced with 1 vs 100 (which is hosted by the same person) which has been the new obsession, but he has yearned for the Millionaire game ever since we rented it from Blockbuster a good year and a half ago. I'd warned him that (as it is no longer showing on TV) I'd probably have a hard time finding it, if it still existed at all. Imagine my surprise when I found a revised edition which included both Junior and Adult questions :) You can set preferences so that Mum or Dad can play the kids at the same time yet the questions are geared toward the appropriate level. Best of all, it was half price (the original game at the time of renting, cost $40 brand new...this one was just $13).

The problem lies in the fact that Master J, due to his disability, has the propensity to become obsessive with his various 'things'. Game shows are the obvious one but when he becomes attached to a game, or a toy, or an activity, its all he wants to do. It's the same with his Tamagotchi, something else he saved up for himself. There's only so much Millionaire a parent can smile through though, LOL. But, I did 'win' a million bucks today so there's something!

Hubby and I started a continuous Scrabble tournament a good couple of years ago and amazingly, he's beaten me forty-something to, oh, THREE...very embarrassing for a student of writing! Hubby also has this freakish ability to beat me in Monopoly. And these darn Uno rules! When I played it as a kid, we obviously played by 'unofficial family rules' (LOL) and I've had to 'retrain' my acceptance of what cards can be played when - it makes for a very interesting argument discussion over who is right! I keep trying to get the upper hand by forcing him to start with a fifteen card hand instead of the usual seven - LOL - and he still manages to beat me!

I think I'll stick to playing the kids :P

Cheers,
Lizzie