The Princesses visit my Holladay Haven

For the last several months, my 5 year-old nieces have been intermittently asking to come to my house. They have various plans -- usually to watch a movie or have a sleepover. I finally invited them over last week for the first time. What followed was a hilarious, activity-filled night!

Lindsey and the G-unit dropped Breezy and Zonks off at my house along with a Little Cesars for dinner. Right off the bat, the girls were very interested to know if I owned everything behind "all the doors [in my apartment building], and Breezy ran around to check out my bedroom and such. While he was there, I loaned the G-unit my copy of Racso and the Rats of NIMH because he'd liked the copy of Mrs. Frisby I gave him for Christmas. Then Breezy asked if I got her and Zonks presents, too... I knew I forgot something! Breezy was more than satisfied with the loan of one of my tiaras, but Zonks declined the invitation, requesting we start a movie instead. I let her choose the first - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (which I highly recommend) -- and they watched while I set up the dinner table, and while we ate... and a little after, too.

Dinner consisted of pizza and ice cream
(chocolate sauce for Zonks and sprinkles for Breezy).
I offered them sugar snap peas, but both said they didn't like them.
Not to worry: I like them enough for all of us!

It was funny to really pay attention to the way the girls eat. They are different in so many ways. Zoe ate with gusto and fairly tidily; she ate everything and was the first to finish. Breezy ate slowly and often forgot about spoonfuls on the way to her mouth. I had to laugh at one point when the ice cream dripped off the spoon, she tried to mop it up with her napkin (still watching the t.v.) and then realized that the rest of the contents of her spoon had splatted onto the table cloth. She apologized, but this is not my first rodeo, and I just giggled and helped her wipe up.

I got my only cuddle as we watched the second half of the film together on my couch. When it was over, Breezy wanted to choose the movie, and asked that we watch The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea*. We had a small makeover session where I put some glitter on their eyelids and some lipgloss on their mouths.

No eyeshadow, a different tiara than the one she wore for dinner, and pink lip gloss

Lavendar eye shadow and purple lipgloss

Breezy got a little bored about halfway through the second movie, and was disappointed that I don't have any toys. I had some dress-up things that fit her, and she was very curious about my jewelry. Then she spotted the photo I have of "Bring on the Men" from Jekyll and Hyde. She wanted to know about the play and my character. Have you ever tried to explain the story of Jekyll and Hyde to a 5 year old? I didn't want her to have nightmares so I downplayed the scary things as much as I could. Thank goodness I had a fairly extensive character sketch to draw from. She was disappointed I didn't get to keep my costume, and asked a lot of questions about why the hat had so many weird things on it. Breezy is spunky, and simultaneously girly and messy.

Zonks was fairly content to watch the movie, though she moved from location to location, and had some fun with my umbrella. She's such a little lady. She's stylish and blunt and logical and patient and she knows what she likes.

We had time to watch a third movie before their parents came to get them, and the girls picked Mulan 2. For this one, they wanted to dress up like Mulan, so I grabbed long cardigans and scarves and bound them up as well as I could. They thought the long sleeves were funny. I was thrilled they wanted to dress up as the butt-kicking princess! We ate popcorn and peanut-butter M&Ms and chips and salsa. At one point, Breezy asked for a piece of paper and wrote this for me:

"I love you Megin. Pllez hav uanuthur prte."
Translation: I love you, Megan. Please have another party.
Yeah, like I can say No to that!

Towards the end of the movie they were both getting restless. I was glad Adam and the G-unit came just as it ended, because neither girl was interested in a book, and as I said I don't have any toys. Well, I had a few Happy Meal toys from McDonald's. Breezy asked if she could take one home and I said OK. She knows she is more likely to get something if she asks for it (over and over) and she isn't shy about asking! Adam started to protest until I told him it was a Happy Meal toy, then he and the G-unit relaxed. When Breezy asked about one other thing a minute later, the G-unit said in exasperation, "You can't have any more of Megan's things!"

Oh, how I adore those kids!

According to their mom, Zonks and Breezy had glowing reviews for their night with Aunt Megan! That's so nice to hear. I loved having them over. I think that next time I'll take them and their brother on one-on-one dates so they get to do what they want to -- they don't often want to do the same things at the same time. Plus, even though the girls are twins, they shouldn't always have to do everything together. I'm going to get to work on that this summer.


*Fun fact: I mentioned this movie ONCE about a year ago, and she has never forgotten, so it was fun to finally watch with the two of them.