How competitive are the Stafford/Legas mix?

A little bit of background information...
Rick and I started dating while attending UAA in Anchorage. Rick played basketball, and I played volleyball. After about 4 months of dating we were engaged to be married in another 4 months. The 4 months following were filled with advice from our experienced married friends. One I remember the most was "Marriage is not a competition". I've laughed at that one many times in the past 15 years. I remember people being worried that two extremely competitive people were going to try to make a go at eternity together, but I think they were most of all concerned about how crazy our kids would be.
Rick has played sports since the time he was little, and has always had a very strong desire to win. This attribute has pushed him forward to some amazing successes in his life, but has also caused him many frustrations when he has occasionally lost a competition. One of my personal favorites was when we were newlywed. Rick taught me how to play chess. We lived in a little 1 room apartment in Germany, had no computer, and only had 3 black and white channels on our 12in t.v. So we tried to keep entertained with games. Rick killed me in chess every time, but I personally think I'm a much quicker learner than he gave me credit for at the time. So after taking my licks in chess for days, I finally won one. (Please keep in mind this is how I remember things happening) Rick was not happy about losing, and said something to the effect of, "Oh, I played so bad, that was a stupid move on my part. Not that last one, but two moves back." Effectively robbing me of winning with my unmatched cunning prowess. So of course we had a rematch, because the incorrect outcome had occurred. Now, we know what happens next because I remember it so well. Of course we had a battle of the brains, and because this is my favorite story, I came off conqueror yet again!!!! Much to my delight. Although I don't remember gloating at the time, I was pretty excited. My declaration of "Check Mate" was followed by one of Rick's shining moments of his competitive spirit. I'm not sure of the words that came from him, but I am sure that the chess board took flight off of the table and the pieces followed scattering around the room. We have not played chess since.
I have a different desire to win. It is just as strong (maybe), but different. When I was a kid my brother Tad invented the "beat game". While on family trips we were rewarded for good behavior over a period of time. We usually got Twinkies. Tad would scarf his down as quickly as possible, and I was usually still fumbling around with the wrapper by the time he was done. Then with his twinkly squinty eye and in his convincing way he would say "Maren, I bet I can beat you in the 'Beat Game'." OH YEAH! The challenge was on! So the way the 'Beat Game' worked was both people would try to eat their Twinkie the fastest. You might think that Tad had already won, since he had scarfed his down long before mine was open, but you'd be wrong. I was much more clever than to lose a game before it had even started. So knowing I would dominate this game I would split MY Twinkie (and give him the bigger half just to secure the competitive advantage). Ready, Set, Go! I would shove my "third" of a Twinkie in my mouth and throw my hands up in the air in victory!!!! Yes!!!! I was undefeated in the 'Beat Game', how silly could someone be to even think they could compete!? Tad would say, "Darn, you won again." and act really disappointed. Adam caught wind of the game, and then they fought to have a chance at competing with "The Master"!! I am still reigning undisputed champ.
So in short you could say Rick and I are competitive, to a fault. Those are just a couple of examples in our long history of competitive exploits. ( or should I say competitive expletives?)
Back to the present.....
We now have 7 amazing kids. They love to play games.... but don't like to lose. They are not yet to the extent of their father's disdain of losing, but they are quickly surpassing their mom's level of gloating and trash talk. It is entertaining at times, and often times a little much. I could give a run down of each kid and what they have done, but that would take forever. So we will leave it at Abe dunking on his little friends proclaiming "In Your Face!" and swatting them "Get that outta here!" At 6 it is pretty funny to watch. Luckily, his friend Charlie is tough skinned and just keeps taking it back at him.
The most recent example I have though, is of Hy. My sweet 3 year old. The dude gets after it, and we are trying to get him to not pout when things aren't going his way. But just like the rest of us, he enjoys a win. And, like his mom, he enjoys letting others know he is winning. Case in point, two days ago I took Hy shopping with me. We went to a store that had the shopping carts/cars for him to ride in and stay entertained. Another mom was packing up her car/cart with 3 little ones and entering the store at the same time we were. Hy leaned out of his car when we passed them and said,"See ya, Looo-zaas!" I heard him say it a couple more times before it dawned on me what he was saying and doing (refer back to 'beat game'...I'm a quick one!). I told him to talk nice, that we don't call people "losers", and that he should knock it off. He did. Until we passed another unfortunate kid whose mother was checking nutritional labels instead of paying attention to what really mattered.... Winning the grocery cart race! "Looo-ZAA!" Hy would next be found doing 10 push-ups in the deli section of the store. The trash talking ended there for that trip, but when I told the story to the rest of the family later, they all found it quite entertaining, so I doubt we've nipped that one in the bud.
So in conclusion, any of you who would like to compete with us in any type of 'Beat Game' ....
BRING IT ON!!!! LOOO-ZAAAS!

Danja's Room!!!!!

So these are the original pictures of Danja's room. We changed some walls and stairs downstairs, so that resulted in this room being changed around. We had to change the direction of the door and the closet. I give credit to Rick for that idea. I wouldn't have figured that one out on my own.
Then along came Aunt Tonja and her sister Cari (and her daughters).... they came up with a master plan, and I got to try to make it happen. Here is the result of their scheming, my building, and two days of a joint effort to get it all put together. Danja loved it.





My mom is still working on the bedding, which is also really cute stuff. So I might have to update these eventually.

Love you Dani-girl.