Thank You Nintendo!

As you know, Zachary's birthday was a few weeks ago. For days and days leading up to his birthday all he talked about was a big party with friends at Peter Piper Pizza - exactly what we did last year. A week before his big day, we sat down and discussed it. The invitation count was up to 14, plus cake, goodie bags, extra tokens, presents, etc. At $7.50 per child minimum, it was really starting to add up. I remember the price tag from last year and in my mind I was thinking, this birthday would cost almost as much as a Wii! (something he has been begging for for months and months.) So, we came to a decision. Andrew told Zachary he could have the big party with friends and that would be his big birthday present, or.........no party, cake, etc. and we would buy a Nintendo Wii. He made the obvious choice and the hunt began. We warned him it could be months before we track one down. I called all the stores and asked about shipments, checked all the websites....nothing. It felt like Christmas. I finally checked the GameStop website and found they were selling bundles, where they included extra remotes, games, charging station, etc. I realized I would have to buy all this stuff anyway and it was a good price, so I went for it.

It finally arrived Monday afternoon and the kids were ecstatic! The remotes had to charge so we told the kids they could play tomorrow if all their chores were done. They worked extra hard Tuesday morning before school and cleaned their bedrooms and the playroom. After school they played golf, bowling and Mario Kart Racing. (One positive is that the Wii will play all our Gamecube games, so we're not having to buy a bunch of Wii games that average $49.99 each!!) The kids were having so much fun and I enjoyed playing a little golf myself. When Andrew got home I told him there's a golf game he would like. Now you must understand that my husband is NOT INTO VIDEO GAMES AT ALL, but he actually liked playing the golf game with me. He didn't like that at the end of 3 holes our score was tied, so now he's determined to beat me!

The Wii has quickly become a big motivator for Taylor and Zach to keep their rooms clean and speak nicely to each other (two problems we've been struggling with lately.) The new rule: If bedrooms and playroom are cleaned up before school, they earn some time on the Wii. So far so good. They cleaned up again this morning without incident -- it's so nice to walk by their rooms and not cry out in disgust. Some may disagree with my parenting skills, but hey whatever works is good for me right now! I was so tired of telling them (yelling) everyday to clean up their rooms and the playroom, only to become trashed again the next day. I was out of ideas so if the Wii helps control this one little situation I'm all for it. Thanks Nintendo for helping me out!

P.S. Andrew is feeling much better. On Friday he spent all afternoon and night in bed and finally felt better by Sunday. On the other hand, Zachary ended up having a very bad "diabetic episode" early Saturday morning. It's a long story, but his blood sugar was too high, he was spilling ketones which made him throw up and his pump was malfunctioning. It wasn't until later that afternoon that it was finally under control and he was feeling better. Such a scary thing for me and another reason I was glad we stayed home!