Did I Mention That We Went to Indiana? We Did.

There was a time when I cared about basketball. There was a time when I cared about the Pacers. That time could be referred to as Before Players Started Beating Up the Fans, or Before Everybody Forgot How to Play Team Offense. I think both things sort of happened simultaneously. Regardless, while I once eagerly awaited Thanksgiving weekend's customary trek to watch a basketball game, I have now passed that eagerness on to Alexis.

She could not wait to go. "Is it time for basketball yet? How about now? Now? NOW?" was the soundtrack of our day. The kid just plain loves sporting events. Period.

To demonstrate that we are all-around insane when it comes to sports, this was the crew we escorted to the game:

I'm sure if the Mavs had known we were coming, they wouldn't have bothered to show up. Bigfoot (the monster truck) saw us coming and shrunk in fear:

The good news is that the adults outnumbered the kids. The really good news is that all of the kids were pretty good. It helps that they sort of like each other:

Also helpful, the fact that the Pacers hired Santa to make balloon creatures for the kids:

Even if it was the big kids who ended up stealing the balloon things:

Just don't steal Alexis' butterfly because she will cut you:

Down on the court, there was something that vaguely resembled basketball:

And I do mean VAGUELY:

I think the moral of the story is that we should have let the five kids go down on the court because they probably would have played better than the Pacers.

I Have a Question

An interesting side effect of Christmas Crazy for Kids is that I have been paying an unnatural amount of attention to what toys actually get played with everywhere I go. I've already started acquiring toys for the massive drop-off that will be taking place the evening of November 30th, and I'm totally eying stuff that I've seen get lots of use.

At home, Alexis has three toys that she plays with pretty much every day. She looooooooves her dollhouse, she cannot be kept from banging on her toy piano, and she has been playing with her kitchen for nearly three years now.*

Thanksgiving was spent with more kids than I could possibly count, but they were all about the play kitchen as well. Boys and girls, toddlers to almost-tweens, they were all little chefs in training. If what kids play with today is an indicator of what our future will look like, we're all going to be drinking broccoli-flavored iced tea and eating a heck of a lot of M&M cookies. We probably won't be wearing any clothes while we do it, by the way, because it seems like my kid isn't the only one who feels the need to rip the clothes off of every doll within reach.

I still have a lot of toys left to acquire, so tell me, what gets played with a lot at your house? I'm especially curious about older kids (i.e. the tween set) and boys.

Those Eyes Get Me Every Time