Mommy's Nights!

School starts two weeks from tomorrow!  Around here, that can only mean one thing - Mom's about to lose her mind!

Just kidding (mostly).  It means Mommy's Nights are in full swing!

Every year, I take each of the kids in school (which is all of them now, sniff sniff) out to dinner and to buy their school supplies.  The kids and I talk about these nights all year long and as they approach, they start deciding which restaurant they want to go to and who gets to go first and which folders and notebooks are the best.

And I get to eat well for a couple weeks!

Though that is certainly true, I love these nights for the one-on-one time that is hard to come by in a family our size.  We always work hard to carve out time with each of the kids and this is one of those great times to really get to spend quality time together.  In short, they're a highlight of my summer.

I have taken three of the kids so far, with the other two this week.  We are in a Budgetary Smackdown (perhaps I'll write about that later) which basically means we have put the kibosh on extraneous spending for a bit.  So I was in a quandary about what to do with these dinners out.  But my husband and I both realized that they are too important to skip, so we went forth with scheduling them all.  And I'm so glad we did!  We can scrimp on other things for a bit - this tradition is too important!

My eldest son went first, and we went to Golden Corral.  My husband calls these all-you-can-eat buffets "troughs" and he's basically right.  We ate too much and felt slightly miserable as we shopped for pencils and calculators, but we had a great time nonetheless.  My son said something to the effect of "I think I need to rethink my tradition of going to the dessert bar twice!"

Next was my littlest gal, K.  We had a Mommy's Afternoon, due to scheduling trauma.  We went to Walmart for her few supplies and had ice cream in the McDonald's there.  It might sound less exciting, but nothing with that girl is boring!  She smiled and hugged and loved me the whole time.  It was fabulous.

Tonight was my night with my seven year old guy.  He cracks me up at every turn, and tonight was no exception!  He chose a local Chinese place and begged me for Mountain Dew.  Because he has a very cute smile and it is Mommy's Night, after all, I let him have it.  I kid you not when I tell you that the child burped no less than ten times during our dinner, each one more hilarious than the one before (to him!).  It's 9:00 and I haven't attempted bedtime yet.  I may seriously regret letting him Do the Dew.

I have two more dates on the calendar and I can't wait.  These times together - talking, laughing, joking, burping - are fleeting!  I am soaking it all in.