Friday Nights

If you saw my Instagram post today, you know it was just one of those days; If you didn't, here's a quick recap... (also you can pop on over to the main page and click on the Instagram link!) 

Jesse had somewhere to be tonight, but before he left, he took the kids to pick out their own jumbo sized candy, and then he left, leaving complete candy coated chaos in his wake.

Dads.  Always the heroes.  

Rarely are Dads the ones dealing with the aftermath of an unthought out decision that a Mom made.  

Moms just tend to consider the fallout of every. single. decision.  Every "promise" (see also: Blood Oath).  Every activity.  Every single event and how it will potentially affect bed time.  Dads tend to think about having fun in the moment.  (At least that's been my experience) Both are good and necessary and right.  It's just... we're different.  That's all. 

This is why Dads are notoriously fun and Moms are notoriously mean. 

I had to lock myself in my room for a bit to gather my bearings and avoid turning into "Monster Mom" while the sugar rush subsided. 

After hiding in there for a little while, I mustered enough gusto to load the kids up and take them to the park.  I wish I could say I did it because I realized I needed to be a better mom, but really I just knew bedtime needed to come sooner rather than later, and that was the fastest way to wear them out. 

Before driving to the park, we picked up some pizza and a box of Capri Suns for dinner, which cost a grand total of $8! 

Side tangent:  When I ran into Little Caesars to grab the pizza, I (naturally not wanting to drag five kids in to the store) left the kids in the car, and when I came back out Ruthie was sitting in the drivers seat.  They unlocked the door for me, and I told her to move back to her own seat and asked why she was sitting on the drivers side, telling her that it could be dangerous and to not do it again.  Then Elliott said: “She thought she saw someone looking at us funny, and she didn't want you to get arrested, so she sat there so she could pretend to be the mom.  She was even pretending to drink that diet coke.”  I don’t even totally have words for this.  It was just maybe one of my favorite moments ever.  Nine year old brains are awesome.  

This duck by the grass is like the Kramer of ducks.

At the park, we found a perfectly shady little spot (I did not plan well enough ahead to bring a blanket, so we did it old school and sat right on the grass.  Crazy, I know!), we sat down together on this perfect June evening and ate our dinner; chatting about Ants, and Pokemon cards, and Halloween costumes (which my kids spend most of the year planning for).

The whole evening ended up being exactly what we needed! 

The weather was perfect, the kids were so happy to be outside, and so was I.  I didn’t even mind eating Little Caesars because of it!

The kids played while I relaxed in the grass, we fed the ducks, walked the hills and then the kiddos raced their way back to the car (my last attempt to tire them out even more before heading home).

Their "Ready, Set, Go!" poses.  Josephine!!!

And, bonus!  The only moment I wanted to throw a rock at someone, was when the couple who, as they followed their one kid around the small play structure (leaving no more than a foot or two between them the entire evening) kept looking over at me with disapproving scowls as I sat relaxing in the grass while my kids played all of TEN feet away from me.  It didn’t help that every time one of the kids hurt themselves, I shouted “You’re fine!” and went back to reading my phone.  It was celebrity gossip, so naturally I was not to be disturbed- I restrained from rock throwing though!  I was really proud of myself. 

Even Fiona's crying couldn't make me grumpy.  And, thank you portrait mode for clearly (and accurately!) showing how sad Fiona was to lose the race. 

I’m not gonna lie, I tend to dread the park; it’s usually hot, always dirty, and thoroughly exhausting since I often need to worry about where Fiona is running off to (or what she's rummaging for in someone else's stuff!) and what Josephine is eating, but tonight was perfect.

We were able to come home, (having already eaten dinner and with zero mess to clean up) put jammies on, brush teeth, do a quick wash of the feet and then it was off to sweet, sweet dreamland. 

Turns out all I needed to get through tonight, was a little vitamin D and a warm breeze.  

When Jesse came home from his night away, I was able to smile and welcome him home without even mentioning his candy sabotage before he left earlier.  Life was good! 

This is just proof that difficult days can sometimes be transformed into some of the best ones.