Scary Fun

This winter we spent a lot of time indoors.  At first, there was plenty to do...school work, playing with toys, reading books, even housework.  But winter lasted several months here, so after all of our regular thrills, we had to get a bit creative.  We learned to sock skate on the kitchen floor, play scoop ball between the living room rugs, and cooked up all sorts of fun recipes (a favorite was snow cream).  One of the most popular past-times the kids came up with was "Scare Mom!"
"Scare Mom" is this wonderful game where children hide out in a place they know mom is coming to, and then jump out and frighten her to the point of almost causing a heart attack.  At the beginning of the winter months, I thought it was funny to hear the little footsteps run ahead of me, or the muffled giggles right before one of the girls jumped out.  But as the months tolled on, the little ones became masters of strategy, and I became less fond of this game.
One morning I took a shower and got ready for the day (by myself and yes it is marked on the calendar, thank you:-), as J had the kids downstairs.  As I hummed away blissfully selecting an outfit with leisure,  I thought I heard scratches coming from near my bed.  Being that we had recently suspected an unusually large rodent was camped in my room, I looked around several times.  Finally deciding it was my imagination, I went on with my lolly-gagging.  Suddenly, a large head pops out of the laundry basket, growling, "I'm a rat who is fat!"  My dear daughter, Josephine, had been hiding out in my room, in my laundry basket, for who knows how long...just for the purpose of terrifying her mother to the point of hysterical screaming.

Another day, the house was unusually quiet, which undoubtedly means someone is up to something they should not be up to.  In calling to the girls, I went about my constant cleaning, picking up clothes off the floor, shutting open drawers, and pushing storage boxes back under the bed.  One box wouldn't fit under, so I gave it several kind taps (okay, hard kicks), while politely reprimanding (okay,hollering) to the kids that they needed to clean their room better..."There's so much junk under your beds these boxes won't even fit anymore." With that being said, I got down on my knees to do the junk sweep myself only to discover a bruised up Adela lunging out at my face.  She was proud of her battle wounds, for she had once again won the game, "scare mom" nearly to death. 

Even little Thessaly has mastered the game.  While changing Eben's clothes, I casually open the closet only to be attacked by a knee-sized Thessy with her pink blanket over her head, shouting, "Me scare You!"

Not to worry, Eben is surely making notes for his future roll in the game.  For now, he is usually present, jumping nearly as high as me, but not sharing in the petrified screams that come with this fantastic game.

Now that summer is finally here, I look forward to the new games that are created, and hope for a little reprieve from "Scare Mom" for my poor heart's sake.
p.s. I have my own version of this game, on occasion...and you know what, scaring kids is just as fun :-)