Me and the Boys

I spent the entire day with my 2 boys, and it was gloriously more pleasant that I would have dared to dream! With Michael out of town for the weekend, and Morgann off to the beach with my sister-in-law for the day, I had prepared myself for what I figured was sure to be a really tough, long day. But, thankfully I was very wrong in my assumptions.

The morning started out earlier that I had anticipated since the kiddos didn't get to bed until midnight - yes, you read that right! It's a long story, but I went out with some friends for a spur-of-the-moment girl's night out and it was wonderful! Anyway, since the kids didn't get to bed until midnight, I assumed that they would be sleeping in a bit later than 8AM. Sadly, I was wrong. So, the day started a little earlier that I had hoped it would, but that didn't turn out to be a bad thing. We ran all day!!!

As I mentioned, my sister-in-law took Morgann to Galveston for a girly day of fun, leaving me with Alex & Ian. My original plans were to load the boys up and to head to a friend's house for a day of swimming and rough-housing as only boys can do, but when I made a slight modification to those plans, it ended up completely changing the course of the day for us.

We started by heading to a not-so-close mall to drop off Michael's iMac for repair at the Apple Store. Once I arrived, I had to sign in, then wait for someone from their Genius Bar to help me out. Thankfully it was slow today, so the boys had computers to play games on while I sat for only 20 minutes or so. I left the store Mac-less (it's being repaired under warranty - Hallelujah!) and took the boys to the food court for lunch. Of course, everyone wanted something different so simply ordering and gathering our food and drinks took a good 20-30 minutes! Once seated, we had a surprisingly enjoyable, and thankfully, un-eventful meal, followed by a quick ride on the carousel - Ian & I stood by and watched Alex. Once the ride was over, we made a bee-line to the inside play ground for a quick 20 minute play time. Within that 20 minutes, the boys were able run off enough steam that once back in the car, Ian passed out while Alex sat quietly writing his "I miss you daddy" letter in the backseat.

From the mall, we headed back to our side of town for a 3PM appointment at the kid's hair salon. After the boys were appropriately shaved and glued (hair glue, that is), we ran home to quickly empty out the car of all of the toy cars, kid's meal toys, papers, books, Legos and other miscellaneous items that seem to find their way to the van over the course of a few weeks. My next stop was the oil & lube shop that gives you a free car wash (and vacuum) with purchase - thus the reason for the quick clean-out of the van. While at the oil change place, the kids started to complain that they were hungry and came to a consensus that they wanted pizza. The first place that came to mind was the little pizza joint up the street that had just opened - it's run by a giant mouse by the name of Chuck, and has a ton of games and rides that are sure to tire-out even the most awake of kiddos within only a few hours. So, I promised the boys that if they would continue their 'good' streak of behavior, we'd head that direction just as soon as the car wash was complete.

Next stop? The pizza joint. We ordered and ate, then played for another hour & a half - it's truly amazing how long 25 tokens can last 2 boys! By the time we left, I was ready for bed!!! But were the boys? Of course not! They both started begging for a movie night. Ian was really pushing for Feck (Shrek) while Alex wanted Flushed Away. I pulled rank; we watched the Apple Dumpling Gang since we hadn't seen that one in a while.

I'm happy to report that 10:30PM, both boys were put to bed with almost no fussing. I'm hoping that I won't be too far behind them because I'm completely exhausted. Currently, I'm waiting on my sister-in-law to get here with poor Morgann who is, apparently, in desperate need of a bath. I'm thinking that she'll sleep dirty tonight, and will get a bath in the morning (as will her bed sheets). Somehow, bathing her at 11PM doesn't appeal to me right now; and, as Michael always tells me, a little sand never hurt anyone! Let's hope he's right.