Joys of Parenthood

We had a beautiful Saturday this last weekend. The weather was perfect, the kids helpful, I got to chat with a neighbor of my moms that I love dearly. The kids took long naps and left my mom and I to savor the wonderful flavor of our artichokes in silence. We snacked on guacamole and chips with out having the kids double dipping. We sat in the mild, cool breeze and smoked, chatted and just enjoyed the quiet companionship that we sometimes have. Then came the rest of the evening.
My mother, being a wonderful Omi, allowed the boys to talk her into taking them the Chuck E Cheeses.......Oh my! Then she roped me into it, promising me the long awaited and dearly needed haircut that I was supposed to get last weekend. After she said yes well both boys realized that they had been told we were going so they didn't need to be good any longer. With that thought, the serenity of the house flew out the window and caught the breeze to anywhere but there. They fought, they hit and they did it with passion and very loud voices. Now if it had been up to me we would have canned C-E-C's but my mom wanted to give them another chance. So she said we would run some errands and if they behaved they could go......
My mom's idea of errands you ask? Well let me start with what I thought we would do. Since she needed to go to the beauty supply, which is next to C-E-C's, I figured we would go through the little clothing shops and then hit Anna's Linens. Take a good 45 minutes or so. No. We went to CVS to pick up a prescription, the kids and I stayed in the car for the 7 minutes it took her to come back, ( last time took 45 min!) Then off to the beauty supply. Mom knew what she needed and it didn't take me long to see they didn't have my favorite color of nail polish so we were out of there in under 5 minutes. With the driving included it was a grand total of 16 minutes that the kids had to behave! Piece of cake! As we walked out of the beauty supply we took a deep breath, dropped the purchases in the car and walked over to C-E-C's.
The noise that comes out of that place is deafening! There were kids running everywhere, the games all have loud sirens and bleeps and screeches. Parents were wondering after there kids in all states of dress. Bedroom slippers, stained shirts, curlers in the hair. You could see some parents were really enjoying the experience, others, not so much. We got the kids tokens and ordered some of their buffalo wings and fries, (to disgusting to go into, just be warned if you have to enter C-E-C's, don't order the appetizers!) and sat down and let the kids run! They had a blast, they came back to check in, or in Deven's case to get another Token, he has a habit of losing them if you give him more then one. The tokens fall out of his pocket when he grabs one or he leaves it laying in the game console. Dylan was very happy running of by himself and coming back only for a sip of Cherry Coke or a couple of fries.
Deven couldn't stay in one place long enough to really figure out a game. He did however find the air hockey table. Now that is my game so I didn't mind getting up and, well then on my knees, it was a really short table, and playing a few games with Deven. He understood that he needed to get the disc in my slot but the rest was over his head. Blocking his slot was totally foreign to him and it took him a bit to understand he could use some force when hitting the disc. We had a great time and the smile that lit up his face was just precious!
Dylan was a very happy camper, until that is, we had to leave. He cried, whined, pleaded, stomped and yelled. He was not going to leave quietly, so we didn't. When we got back to the house we made them dinner, the C-E-C's pizza was to expensive and we knew the boys wouldn't stop to eat. Mom got her gear ready and I washed my hair. Dylan watched Ratatouille with Deven till the food was gone and then he kept popping his head into the kitchen to see how my haircut was coming along. When we were done and went out back to smoke he tried to come out, we sent him back in, he's come out another door, we'd send him back in, then he sent out his brother, so we sent Deven back in! Dylan's bad mood didn't lift till I went home and left the boys in the care of my mom for the night! Ahhh and what a peaceful night it was!
And if you think this post is long, you should have spent Saturday with us!!!!!