Zingo!

For Christmas, Sally got the kids a game called Zingo!

I put it away in our game cabinet (the game cabinet that has maybe 3 games in it) and promised the kids that when we got back from Mexico, we'd get it out and play it.

Well they forgot. And we obviously play games all the time, because it sat in the game cabinet until this afternoon when I walked into the dining room to see Jamie gnawing on the box, trying to open it like a dog.

Gross.

So I opened it up, took a deep breath, and decided I would play with them.

Oooooh, we love this game. It is SOOO easy for kids to get the hang of, isn't messy at all, and is actually really fun!

Jamie was very serious about studying his game board before the pieces were called so that he knew when he had to pounce on a piece...

It's as easy as sliding the Zingo box forward...and from there, the kids see which pieces might match the pieces on their board, and yell out the name of of, grab it, and put it on their board.

Jamie won the first game.

And boy was he excited.

He even rubbed it in my face and pointed at me yelling, "You lost!!" What a sweet boy.

But oh, how quickly our friend, Disappointment, arrives...

...when Maria wins game #2. There were tears. And cries.

He even went so far as to dramatically throw his head down on the table and sob. I'm pretty sure he has a bruise.

It was pretty hilarious and dramatic, but there is nothing worse than a sore loser so I quickly put an end to it. I'm pretty sure this mature mama said something like, "Oh, boo hoo, stop crying. Everyone loses sometime. If you're going to cry every time you lose, I'll just throw the game away." (No, I wouldnt' really throw it away because it's actually one of only a couple games we all enjoy playing...but he thought I was serious so he shaped up.)

The tears quickly dried, he pulled himself together and they were able to play for another 30 minutes or so.

Alone.

That's how awesome this game is. My 5 and 4 year old can play it together and alone without my supervision. Until, of course, Maria won 5 times in a row which led me to believe that perhaps there was some cheating going on.

Jamie yelled, "MARIA WON AGAIN!! I AM NEVER GOING TO WIN!!" We put the game away, and will get it out again soon...