When the Cat’s away…

Ryan won’t be home until late so the boys and I decided to break the rules tonight. We had French toast and eggs for supper (Daddy isn’t a big fan of breakfast foods. Fool!) We watched a movie on a school night. A whole movie, and not a Scooby Doo. And when I say “we” watched a movie, I mean the bigguns. I, being the crafter of ingenious plans that I am, caught up on my blogs (they’re like the “soaps” of the 21^st century!), started on house chores, and watched American Idol in peace. I don’t need to tell you that there’s a big difference between watching Idol on your own and watching it with three boys who alternately wrestle and impersonate singers – and when I say three, I don’t mean Max – he’s the one who alternately grunts for Mama and impersonates the Hollywood hopefuls.

Moms everywhere must be dying to know how I accomplished such a glorious evening all by myself and all before bed time. My plan? Movie in a tent. I think I’ll patent it and sell it to desperate mothers. Here’s how to execute:

1)      Get boys in shower. Tell them when they’re clean, dry, jammied, and all of their toys are picked up there will be a showing of their current favorite movie…in a way cool tent.

2)      Hang a blanket from the top bunk to create the way cool tent.

3)      Set up the portable DVD player that usually only makes its celebrated appearance on super-long car trips.

4)      Hang the player from the top bunk for its safety (and in hopes that maybe the baby will want in on the movie-away-from-mom gig.)

5)      When boys have washed up and picked up in record time, pop in the movie.

6)      Watch what you really want to watch on the real TV.

7)      Pop popcorn for the peanut gallery to ease your guilt.

It was brilliant. I even got Fussbutt to snuggle in there for a few minutes while I cleaned up the French toast mess. Then he waddled out of the room, searching for his favorite hangout – my leg. So I let him “help” me pop popcorn. By help, I mean, render me a 1-armed wonder. He was back in the tent with a little popcorn for a quick photo-op, then joined me for a Mama’s boy date and an early bedtime. I was back to peace. The only flaw to my plan? Apparantly, I skipped the step where you make the kids go to the bathroom before you start the movie. That way, if they have to pee, but don’t want to miss any of the movie, they won’t just pee their pants and crouch over the wet spot until you happen to peek in, notice their dirty deed, and get seven different kinds of angry.