Uno or Bust!

We had a classic moment occur on the Planet Pink last night.  I had just settled Princess #4 down for the night while hubby was in charge of getting the other princesses ready for bed.  I went into their room to find hubby and the princesses setting up for a quick game of Uno before bed.  Normally, the stick in the mud that I am doesn't look too kindly upon deviations from the bedtime routine.  But since hubby isn't often around for bedtime, I let the game slide this one time.

So all 5 of us sat in a circle and started to play.  Princess #1 is pretty good, and doesn't need any help deciding which cards to play.  Princess #2 needs only a *little* help, mostly just to keep her focused as she tends to get sidetracked easily.  Princess #3 was the keeper of the "rule" cards, laying them down on the pile whenever she felt like it and cheering herself on to her imagined victory.  I *thought* it was going to be a quick game, as it WAS bedtime.  So I was playing the game as such, you know, throwing it.  I thought that hubby had picked up on my subtle (ok, not so subtle) cues.  But no, he throws a Draw 4 at me right when I'm about to go out.  So the game drags on, and on, and on.  

FINALLY, hubby miraculously manages to win the game.  Now, we've talked alot about being a good sport and not being a sore loser.  The princesses know it's grounds for automatic game suspension.  Being that it was late, hubby and I began gathering up the cards.  Then it all happened so fast.  One second princess #1 was helping collect the cards, and then next second she was balling because we didn't keep going to see who got second place.  Princess #2 picked up on it and ran with it - crying and carrying on and throwing herself dramatically on her bed in a puddle of tears.  Princess #3 had been laughing and giggling with us, and suddenly stopped upon seeing her sisters' dramatic reactions and began to crying the biggest fake cry you've ever seen with the biggest crocodile tears.

Hubby and I sat frozen for a couple of seconds before bursting into hysterical laughter.  Seriously, it was one of those moments that is just so confuzzling that you can't do anything but laugh.  The overreaction by the princesses was so great it was comical.  We laughed for a good 5 minutes which of course ticked the princesses off even more.  We couldn't help it.  In all our sage adult wisdom, the whole scene was just too much.  Especially Princess #3, who had no clue why she was crying but was determined to not be outdone.  Maybe we shouldn't have laughed, but it was impossible not to.

We finally managed to calm everyone down and get them into bed.  I swear if being Your Majesty to this family doesn't prepare me for major crisis management, I don't know what will!  Next time, I think I might just hold firm to my stick in the mud standard and say no games at bedtime!  Unless I need a good laugh, of course.