toilet water dripping through the ceiling wasn't part of our royal wedding family fun night plan!
My plan for our royal wedding family fun night was all set. It was the picture perfect plan, and everything started as anticipated. We enjoyed our afternoon British "tea" (scones served on fancy dishes), and we had fun learning some British phrases. My children were content and playing peacefully after their treats, and I was living every mother's dream of a happy family.
And then I started dinner. I was in the middle of preparing our English-inspired shepherd's pie when I heard a frantic call imploring me to come to the bathroom. I quickly turned off the burner and rushed upstairs to discover a toilet that was rapidly overflowing! (My seven year old did not realize that one should not continue to flush a toilet when the water does not go down.) My husband was not home yet, so I attempted to unplug the toilet (in a very unskilled manner). I finally solved the initial problem, but then this germ-freak had the unpleasant task of cleaning up the mess. As I scrubbed down everything with bleach, I heard a call from outside the bathroom door: "when are we going to have some more family fun?"
It was not exactly my plan for our family night! As I got back to preparing dinner, I noticed the water dripping through the newly painted ceiling, forming puddles on the chairs for our royal dinner. Does this type of thing ever happen in Buckingham Palace? Would I be able to salvage this family fun night?
As it turned out, we were still able to enjoy some quality family time, just not according to my plan. My husband walked in the door just as the ceiling stopped dripping and the last of the mess was cleaned up. (Did I forget to mention that hubby also had to work a bit late unexpectedly?) I was dressed in cleaning clothes and exuded the scent of bleach (instead of a calming English lavendar scent), but that didn't seem to matter to my boys. I still managed to pull out some fancy dishes, and amazingly I didn't burn the dinner. We enjoyed dinner conversation that revolved around Britain and the royal wedding. We attempted to use manners and proper etiquette (and when my five year old forgot and licked the plate, my seven year old reminded him by saying "be a gentleman!") And yes, we were still able to have fun.
After dinner we watched some of the royal wedding footage, and we played "naughts and crosses" (tic-tac-toe). The boys marched like the royal guards, and loved having a contest to see how long they could be still (just like a real guard at Buckingham Palace). We ended the evening by reading some British poems and a bedtime story by Beatrix Potter.
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