It's a niece day!

Newtown had some flooding last night and cancelled school for the day. What does that mean for me??? ...

It's a niece day!!!

It's rare that I ever get Gianna to myself (well, Nate was there too...). It was quite a day.  First we made dinner for a friend of mine whose mom just passed away. This was mostly a successful venture. However, you should know, as my friend puts it, that my domestic goddess is hiding (please send her back if you find her!) and this is what happened to the mashed potatoes....

Yes, I'm totally owning this. Gianna peeled 6 very large potatoes while I made a banana bread. Then I put them is some boiling water for 30 minutes (that's what the cookbook said!). THIS is what I poured out of the pot!!!!  Gianna thought it was hilarious. (Okay, it was).

Here's a steamy picture...

So instead my friend got salad, Annie's mac&cheese and veggies with her meatloaf (which came out really good, thank goodness!).

We brought it over and they were happy to get it :) So that was nice...

Then we played Taiga.

She won both times (by quite a lot...).

She took this cute picture of me and Nate:

I took these cute ones of G and Nate:

And this one of just Nate:

And it was a really good day!  Now I have to go bring her home.  I'm glad I got a chance for it to be a day just me and my niece!

One more thing...

Further proof of the domestic goddess disappearance...

More embarrassing than this picture is the fact that my family is really proud of me for this!!!  They ALL said, wow Mom, you're really getting it!!! So you can imagine my previous attempts if THIS is the one they are all so impressed with!  

But this really made my day!

Lots and Lots of NATE!

Today it snowed a lot, unexpectedly, and school ended up being dismissed early.  But it got so bad that I ended up dismissing the kids extra early. The roads were awful! I had the feeling this morning that I should just keep the kids home. As usual, I suppressed the instinct.  I need to stop doing that!  Nate stayed with Christina across the street and I picked up M&M and Nelson from school early.  Here's what we did before I went to get the kids, one of Nate's favorite pastimes, lying on the bed and chewing on both hands at once!

Eventually we made our way to the mobile and had a great time!

So excited I have to kick!

And a bonus pic of Mimi being a cute goose :)

Scenes from a weekend:

What a weekend, and it's only Saturday night!  Here's the scene at 132:

Too bad it's blurry, but the love is clear!

 Changing Nate on Mommy's bed...

Getting squeaky clean...

 Making golden tickets... Pa and I found our tickets from Maxwell in our pillowcases :) My prize was a snuggle and a story read to me by Max.

 Getting suited up for a visit with Big G, Mary, Mark and Gianna...

 Already ready to snooze on the ride...

At Big G's... She thinks I'm really cute!

Reading Mimi's library book, Thumbilina...

Nate is excited to hear a story about someone smaller than him!

Some floor playing...

Mimi wants to pretend to be a baby. Okay, Mimi, I guess I can play along ;)

Doing the laundry...

Having a happy day!

Okay, this means WAR. We've been playing war A LOT. It started the first day Max stayed home sick from school.  We played a lot of war that day, and even more the next day. Then Mimi got in on the action. I took these pictures after I lost all my cards to Mimi in a war. Now it's a battle of the smaller eggs:

Mimi throws down "the Ace of Space" :) Clearly very happy to win that 2!

Okay, this is the best series, very exciting: Maxwell throws down his ACE! Mimi reaches for her card, and...

It's the "ACE of SPACE"!!!!

THAT MEANS WAR!!!!

OH NO! Max wins with a King! But Mimi is quick to grab back her "ace of space" and declare "NO, YOU CAN'T HAVE MY ACE"!!!! But being the sweet Pip that she is, she did end up surrendering the coveted ace, also known to Mimi as the "mighty A plus" :) (In case you missed it, you can see Pa and Nate chilling in the mirror in some of these!)