Smashed Potato Picnic

It's been a long week. And tonight I really didn't have any energy to make dinner. These two weren't much help either:

So it was time to break some rules. I made smashed potatoes (why bother peeling!).

Mmmm. Boil, mash, add hot milk, butter and salt, and serve with more butter . . . that's easy enough.

And then I realized I had stuff all over the dining room table. Fabric. Paint. Craft junk. To avoid having to clear it all off, I thought it would be fun to have a picnic in the family room. I put in my all-time favorite Disney movie, Swiss Family Robinson.

Confession: I had a crush on Earnst. I know that Fritz was the hunk but Earnst was so funny and dorky.

Because we can all appreciate a man who can dance with a monkey and ride an ostrich.

Look at all those bowls of mashed potato goodness! And watching the kids watch Swiss Family Robinson was so fun. First there was major concern on everyone's part about the safety of the Great Danes swimming through the waves at the very beginning. Then when Svea saw the tiger creeping through the brush that is supposed to be so scary and threatening, she said, "Hi, tiger! Hi, boy!" That girl is just not afraid of anything. When the treehouse made its appearance Viggo said, "Wow! They built that all by themselves!" And then, "Are those real pirates?"

Yes. Those are real pirates.