Sleepover Success

Last Friday Steve and I thought it would be fun to have my brother's kids over, and we were right.  It was so fun.  We started the night by getting dinner, everyone wanted something different and I indulged them.  Maci had Panda Express, J.J. had McDonalds, and Tyson went with a spicy chicken from Chick-fil-A (boy after my own heart).  Maggee wanted their food ;)

After dinner the boys went to work on making a fort and Maci and I went to work on dessert.  Thin Mint ice cream with lots of sugary mix-ins, I know how to woo 'em.  We turned on Iron Man and watched it from our fort.

Disclaimer:  Our fort looked way cooler in person.  the top part rolled down to close you in and we had christmas lights along the back of the couch.

JJ's little corner nook looked so dang comfortable.  We had a love sac and tons of pillows.  The kid zonked out by 9:30.  I don't blame him, I probably would too if I were him.

And zonked out he was.  That kid could sleep through a fire alarm.  We sat near him and played games past midnight, he didn't even budge.  Steve and I taught the kids a non-traditional way of playing Apples to Apples.  We use only the green cards and we play to the person.  So for instance, if it was Steve's turn to judge, all of us would pick an adjective from our hand of green cards to describe Steve.  It's so much more fun this way, and it usually ends up being slightly insulting, which really is more fun.  I think by the end of the night I was described as cold, heartless, senseless, wonderful, zany, global, and desperate.  Awesome.

The next morning I had to get up super early to go take some pictures (I'm taking a photography class this semester).  When I got back the kids were just waking up so hopped in the kitchen and got to work making them "gourmet" cinnamon/fruit pancakes.  

After breakfast we played a few more rounds of Apples to Apples (we got them hooked on our way of playing it).

And sadly our sleepover fun ended.  Steve and I decided that we're going to make this a semi-annual event and start inviting all the other nieces and nephews (are we crazy?) who are old enough to sleep through the night.  I used to have an annual sleep over with my cousin at my aunt's house and it was the highlight of my year.
Being an aunt really is one of the greatest pleasures life has to offer.