My niece and nephew were off from school on Monday for President’s Day and were coming up for the day. My niece was going to be at my house while my nephew was going to hang out at his grandparents’ house until a little later on in the day when he’d be joining us. I think my niece has really begun to enjoy herself at my house after she spent a little time with me Superbowl Sunday. Fine with me! Six year old’s are fun! Especially ones who help you cook and clean your house!
We started our morning with a trip to Target. I had a list of items to check off and told my niece we would get either a game to play or something to make together. She made it easy on me and just wanted a coloring book and some markers. I used to mock mothers in Target who took up aisles with their carts, didn’t pay attention and held up checkout lines. I GET IT NOW. My niece behaved herself. She didn’t want to get in the cart at first, but with a little persuasion and trickery (sorry, kid) she got in without a peep. She didn’t grab things off the shelf or ask for a million things. I get that it’s not the kids at all. It’s the parents! I must have circled the store three times because I was distracted and forgot items on my list.
At checkout, I couldn’t get my Cartwheel app to power up fast enough and forgot to hand the cashier all of the coupons I brought because little miss was asking about putting bags in the cart. I wouldn’t have had a problem with her helping except I had a large laundry basket and heavy bottles bagged in plastic. We were holding up the line enough already due to the fact that the debit/credit card machine wasn’t swiping. But we both survived my first trip to Target with a child. Holy moly!
My niece brought her snowball maker with her and wanted to play with that when we got back to the house. Thankfully she wasn’t into pelting Aunt Jess with icy snowballs. She just really liked molding them and dumping them into a shovel.
When she had enough of the cold, she wanted to come inside and play with our tic-tac-toe board. The last time she was at my house, we must have played for hours! I may have let her win a few times, but she’s pretty good at kicking my butt at this game!
After a few rounds of tic-tac-toe and some Clifford sticker book activities, it was time for lunch. Thank goodness I stock pizza crust in the freezer! She had fun making the pizza with me, spreading the sauce and sprinkling on the cheese.
After lunch, we made chocolate chip cookies. I handed her the measured ingredients and she stirred them in the bowl. She took one baking sheet (can you tell I use them a lot?) and I took the other to scoop cookie dough onto. I couldn’t believe what I saw as I started gathering dishes for the sink. She had taken the sponge and started cleaning off the kitchen table all by herself! So cute!
We went back outside when my nephew showed up. We dug around in the snow, sunk into it, made snow angels and attempted a snowman. As the kids tried to sneak away from my sight, I yelled for them to stay away from certain icy areas of the yard. That’s when my niece asked me, “Are you a mom?” Ha! Then both kids willingly helped me take down my Valentine’s Day decorations. Love them! Their time was extended over at my house so I did something I wouldn’t normally do–we went to McDonald’s. I can’t tell you the last time I was there. They enjoyed their kids meals and I hate to admit that the sweet chili wrap I ordered was actually pretty good. I would like to recreate a healthier version of it for home. We had one more game of hide and seek before my sister-in-law arrived to pick them up.
My husband came home about a half hour after that and asked me about my day. As I recapped, I handed him a bag from McDonald’s and said, “So here’s your dinner tonight.” He laughed. After we compared notes about our day and cleaned up dinner, I treated myself to a glass of Malbec and plenty of cuddle time.
Lesson: motherhood is hard, yo.
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