Power Outage!

Many years ago the power went out during a big storm.  We played board games and had a lot of fun.  I stored that lil nugget in my brain for use at another time.  Well, the time is now!

While my husband took my daughter to her orthodontist appointment, my son and I concocted a plan! 

New RED rubber bands.

I got out a BIG basket to hold all of our electronics:  My iphone, my ipad, my laptop, Nicholas's ipad and ipod, Summer's ipad, laptop, and iphone, and Shawn's ipad(s), laptop, tablet, and iphone...as well as some random chargers and other tempting electronics.  Nicholas kept saying, "Why am I doing this?  This is never going to work!!!  But the power isn't really out.  My electronics are fully charged and will work without power."

Then we got the candles ready and made a sign for Summer and Daddy.  Nicholas (11 years old) was having a hard time grasping the concept of what we were doing.  He was perplexed by the fact that they could use the garage door to enter the house (as usual) but the power was "out".

Welcome home! 

Just in case anyone forgot, the light switches were all rendered useless...  Nicholas said, "But this isn't going to work!  All you have to do is lift the sticky note."  Ugh... Have the kids grown up so much that they have forgotten how to pretend?!

The lights are officially useless.

After we got drinks, a snack, and some games, we retreated upstairs and waited for the plot to unfold. Then, played a riveting game of checkers!  I am a product of playing checkers with my grandpa who NEVER let me cheat or slide and I have kept up that proud tradition with my own kids.  It took about 45 minutes but Nicholas beat me fair and square.

And then Summer and Daddy came home! 
Nicholas, ever the thinker, announced that we should hide!  He was so confused by this whole thing.  Hey, Buddy, hiding doesn't have anything to do with pretending that the power was out.  So cute and so naïve.  I'm not sure if I should be proud or slightly embarrassed.

Summer was FAH-REAKED out!  "But, I need my phone!  It still works!  You can't have it!  I don't want to put it in the basket.  I'll just put it in my room so I can check on it every once in a while.  I won't use it, but I just want to look at it to see if someone is trying to reach me!"  Nicholas and I had to wrestle the phone from her talons!  Then she locked onto his shirt!  Eventually, Nicholas was able to squirm out of his shirt and go streaking down the stairs with the contraband.  Needless to say, Summer bolted after him.  "My PHONE!"

Shawn very kindly put up with the shenanigans, but announced that he would like a waiver to run the dishwasher, laundry, and vacuum.  So as to keep the peace and not get behind on the household chores, we granted the request.

Then...
The kids went CRAZY!  Summer put make-up on Nicholas.  (Strangely, he allowed it.)  That led to a wig extravaganza!  Followed by playing dress up.  And there are NO PICTURES of any of it!  Shawn and I tried not to laugh since that would just feed the frenzy.  But at one point Nicholas had on Spiderman gloves and a Spiderman mask, stuck a wig in his arm pit and announced, "The villain was stunned and confused by Spiderman's strange arm pit hair."  I burst out laughing!  I couldn't hold it in any more.  I literally cried and snorted and couldn't catch my breath and worked myself into a giggle fit that lasted for a few minutes. 

They continued on acting like kooks for about an hour or more!

Once the mess was all cleaned up we played Monopoly in Nicholas's room until about 10:30.  The dog took it upon herself to walk all over the game board, announcing that it was time to total up and declare a winner.  Surprisingly, Shawn was the winner.  (I suspect that the banker may have palmed a bill or two.)

In the end, my sweet sweet little critters wanted to sleep in our room.  They brought in every pillow they owned, set up a blanket on the floor, a battery operated disco lava lamp night light and CRASHED!!!

What I woke up to.  XOXO

And an invitation for more games!