Who Are These Children Coming Down?

In case I haven't talked about them enough on this blog - and who can ever say too much about the members of one's own family ? - I have seven nieces and nephews. They are great kids who never cease to amaze me. Sometimes, I sit back and ask myself the question inspired by so many viewings of Saturday's Warrior: Just who are these children coming down, anyway?

Over the past week, I got to spend a little bit of time with all seven kids. On the weekend that was, I was up at Mike and Jana's house with their four kids to watch one of the sessions of general conference with them. (Mike and Jana are currently spending time in England, visiting Mom's family with Mom and Ben. Jana's parents are taking care of the kids during the week, while Biz and Jeff are tending them on Saturdays and Sundays.)

Anyhoo, between sessions, Kylee, Dallin, and McKenna turned on the Nintendo Wii and kept us all entertained by playing a game called Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. This is a game I didn't even know existed until then, but my eyes were certainly opened to the endless hours of entertainment that could be provided by it.

Random may be the best word to describe how this game is played. It was practically custom-built just for these kids. It consists of several small tasks that the player(s) must accomplish, such as (I am not making these up): directing several people with very full bladders to the correct restroom, before they have an accident; clearing away the smoke (by shaking the Wiimote) after someone has passed gas; shaving an elephant; reaching out to a girl who has fallen off of a ledge and pulling her up to safety (which is most amusing when the player fails to get a hold of her); using a Samurai sword to chop a strawberry off of an opponent's head; and so on.

Dave and Jessica invited me over to their place Wednesday night for dinner. It was good to spend some time with their gang. Jessica cooked a great meal, including spaghetti and breadsticks, after which Dave, Jenna, Luke, and I played several rounds of Mario Kart on the Wii.

Yes, the Plowmans bond by playing video games. I can think of worse ways to spend time with people.

As we played Kart, I realized that three-year-old Luke still knew the chorus to a song I accidentally taught him about a month before. He happened to overhear me singing the chorus to the ABBA song "Money Money Money" - from the Mamma Mia! soundtrack - and learned the words for himself. And, Wednesday night, he still knew them just as well.

Who are these children coming down?

We also celebrated Jenna's sixth birthday and Jackson's first birthday over the past week. Jenna has become a star student in her Kindergarten class this year. Jackson, meanwhile, is now walking like a champ and is beginning to talk like one, too.