Hubs' birthday is this Sunday, and over the past few weeks I'd been thinking about surprising him with a video gaming system, since we didn't already have one and I knew it could be a fun thing for our family (in moderation of course). After conversations and consultations with a few family & friends on the subject, I decided to take the plunge and purchase a Wii. (I know, Jake, I totally didn't follow your advice.)
I took all four kids with me yesterday to get it, so they would feel like the present was also from them, and throughout the afternoon we had SERIOUS conversations about keeping secrets, how presents are better as surprises, and how none of them should even bring up the subject of Dad's birthday when he's around. They did pretty well... except last night Molly & Hubs had the following conversation:
M: Hey Dad, what do you want for your birthday?
H: Oh, I can't think of anything.
M: Well Mom said you might want a Wii.
H: Nah, probably not; they're too expensive.
After which Molly played it cool and didn't give up any further info. Treading into dangerous territory, but she did okay.
Today, we decided to sweeten the deal by renting a couple of Wii games from Blockbuster; a fun family one and a more "grown-up" one for Hubs to enjoy, it being his birthday after all. Since everyone was so excited about the giving of this gift, I suggested to the kids that we gift it on Saturday, since Hubs' birthday is Sunday, and as a rule we don't play video games on Sundays.
Fast forward a couple of hours... Hubs got home from work, and not five minutes had gone by before my sweet Zoe said, "Hey Dad! Your birthday is on Sunday, but we were thinking we'll go ahead and give you your present on Saturday, since we don't play video games on Sunday."
The little cutie had no idea she had just given it away; Hubs chuckled and looked at me, the older kids stared at me with wide eyes, and the jig was up. A few minutes later we did an impromptu presentation of the gift, unwrapped, two days early... but it sure has been fun already! I have a killer backhand in tennis, let me tell you.
7 comments:
we love our wii. my favorite "game" is My Fitness Coach. it's more of a workout video, but it's changed my life. have fun!
My backhand sucks!! What's your secret?
Wii've since limited our play to only Friday and Saturday. Gabe can ask to play the Wii about a million times a minute. Addict.
Ohh, and Happy Birthday to AP! (Because that's what it's all about.)
Jacob and I have always been against video games.Then we heard about the Wii fit and we broke. As of december we owned our own system. They are a lot of fun. I am sure you guys are going to have a lot of fun with it
Happy Birthday to Aaron and welcome to the Wii club! Our boys' playing time is limited to after dinner (when Kevin is home) and on Saturdays. It's worked pretty well and kept it in moderation. They know not to ask on Sundays or in the afternoons.
I've been secretly wanting a wii lately. I haven't bought one because we already have 3 game systems plus rock band and guitar hero. Do we really need another one? (But kind of, we do, because that's just different than all of them and pretty fun for everyone if you ask me.)
We have a Wii term around our household called "Wii-bow". Like tennis elbow, but for the wii...
I'm sure your family will come up with some catchy phrases too! Have fun playing!
Happy B-day to AP!
We have a Wii and it is the greatest peacemaker and chore getter done in the house. Every night (part of our bedtime routine) the kids get to play 2 games if they 1)did their chores that day, 2) were peacemakers, 3)obeyed mom and dad and 4) used kind words. It works like a charm and we have had if for more than a year.
Andrew can have some really nasty meltdowns, and I can usually tell him, it is your choice to control yourself, but if you choose to not (do chore, obey mom, whatever) than you will lose a game on the Wii tonight. Wow, that stops it.
We don't play on Sundays. We still have just 3 games, Wiiplay, WiiSports, and Mariokart. The kids love Mariokart and it has really helped them with fine motor and hand/eye coordination. With WiiSports they are getting better too. AnnaLisa has developed an awesome homerun hit in WiiSports-baseball.
Hope you all enjoy!
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