Family Togetherness

$150,000,000. For a party for himself. $150,000,000.
The last guy to spend anywhere near that much on an inaugural bash was partier Bill Clinton, and even he kept it under $60,000,000.
People, we just put a teenager in the White House.

Enough of that.

I would like to tout a game. I am very pleasantly surprised with our gift from Santa this year. We asked for something that would bring our family together in a fun, carefree way, that would draw us from the corners of our home, and would also further us in some way as growing individuals.

The answer: Rock Band II on the XBox 360.

I know, I know. But, really, we have never gathered together in our family room so often, busy Dad included, to unwind and pound out a few songs. Never have there been so many words of encouragement, high fives, smiles of achievement, then after a few sets of Fleetwood Mac, Bon Jovi, and Foo Fighters.
Sure, at first, there were some discussions about who got to play what instrument and which song, but that seems to have settled into a groove, as it were.
Even Maren, 6, has evolved from strictly singing, to quite a good drummer, and was proudly telling us this morning at breakfast how she doesn't have to pound red and blue at the same time, but can keep the rhythm of blue and hit red every other beat like she is supposed to.
Dad has his band, Bio-Hazard. He plays bass.
Mom has her band, Persuasion. She rips on drums.
Jacob has his band, Brokin Bridgez. It is misspelled on purpose after true rock band form. He sings and plays lead guitar.
Chelsea plays guitar and drums.
Braeden will rock on all four, wherever we need him.
We all play on each others bands and try to help on our tours, gaining fans and money so we can buy cooler instruments and as modest apparel as we can afford (fortunately, the modest stuff seems to be cheaper).
Sure, it's all fluff. But we're together, and we're smiling, and feeling really good about learning to play a fake instrument.
Kind of like the Partridge Family. Heh, heh.

And, now we have something really good to take away as a punishment. It's heartbreaking.

Woohoo! Let's rock!