Rowe Family Weekend

The Rowe household got a visit from the VT Rowes this weekend, which meant lots of grand-daughter time with Nana and Gramps.  While the girls spent two hours outdoors on the snowy playground with Nana, their time with Gramps was primarily spent around the dining room table playing cards.  We had a long, two-part Hearts game that took place over both weekend days.  Among those playing were Julia, Madeleine, Gramps, Ethan, and I.  Also in attendance, playing their own game of cards were Madeleine's Ever After High dolls:

I'm not sure who won in the dolls' game, but in the Rowe game, the score was ever shifting.  Julia remained low for much of the game, seeming ready to take the win.  She dumped the Queen of Spades on me at one point, and at another, gleefully dumped it on Gramps, who had been out to get her due to her low status.  Unfortunately, a couple of bad hands put her out of the running.  Madeleine was inching closer and closer to 100 points; the first person to go over 100 points ends the game, and the person with the lowest score is declared winner. 

Let me tell you a bit about Madeleine as a player.  She can be as vicious as the rest of the table, EXCEPT when it comes to Mommy.  Instead of passing me three of her highest cards, most likely to cause me to take points, Madeleine always hands me things like 2s and 3s of clubs and diamonds, gazing at me lovingly across the table as she gives me her benign pass.  So while she will scream and cheer with delight when Daddy, Julia or Gramps take points, she is in my corner whenever it's my turn.  Therefore, I had many opportunities in which to unload my Queen of Spades (worth a whopping 13 points), or other points, on her throughout the game, but I just didn't have the heart to do it to the kid who puts her own game at risk in order to give me a helpful pass.  Near the end of our game, Madeleine had reached 99 points.  The game would either end with her as loser, OR, if she was able to score EXACTLY 100 points, she would drop to the same score as the lowest-scored player, ending the game but winning it. 

I had only one spade in my hand: the Queen.  It was a no-pass, hold hand, so I wasn't able to pass my Queen away when I saw how short I was in spades.  If a Spades trick went around the table even once, I would most likely be forced to take the trick with my own Queen as the high card.  Opportunity seemed to come unexpectedly for me, however: Julia played a card in a suit I was completely out of.  Perfect time to dump my Queen, as I had nothing in the suit that was led.  However, Madeleine followed suit with an extremely high card that would likely take the trick.  If I put my Queen down, then Madeleine would take the 13 points.  Here was my chance to NOT eat my own Queen.  But I instead played a heart; hearts count as wild cards and are worth one point a piece.  Madeleine got her one point.  The next round, Spades were led, so I ate my Queen and took the 13 points she's worth.  Madeleine succeeded in taking no other points throughout the round and had her perfect 100.  She dropped down to low score and tied with Ethan for winner. 

Madeleine was ECSTATIC.  She could not stop talking about how amazing it was that she managed to hit 100 exactly.  I'm not sure she realizes how instrumental I was in that arrangement and how differently things would have gone if I didn't play with my Mommy guilt.  Nonetheless, Madeleine was prancing around the house, delighted with herself, exclaiming, "I can't WAIT to tell everyone at school tomorrow that if you get 100 points EXACTLY, you drop to the lowest score, and I had 99 points and I got ONE MORE POINT and I was tied for winner!"

You're welcome, Madeleine.