A Broken Promise

A few weeks ago I did something I never do. I made a "cross my heart hope to die, stick a needle in my eye" promise to my kids. That means serious business in this household. Lately, we have not been able to do much as a family so Greg and I promised all of the little darlings that we would take them to see the new Wolverine movie on the weekend. In the meantime, news trickled in that the movie was in no way appropriate for children. So, now I was stuck. I mean... I crossed my heart. I don't want a needle in my eye. What to do?

Being overwrought with parent guilt I wracked my brain for things to do as a family. Trying to get eight people in anywhere will break most people's banks, so I began thinking of things to do at home and decided to surprise them with an at home special day.

When Saturday morning rolled around Greg and I cooked a large breakfast for the kiddos. Bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits, gravy (my mouth is watering just remembering it). This is a definite treat in this house considering that for one breakfast we went through 3 dozen eggs, 2 lbs of bacon, 3 lbs of sausage, 20 biscuits and 3 pks of gravy. Not to mention a gallon of orange juice.

After breakfast, Greg took the kiddos to our neighborhood park to ride bikes (their absolutely favorite thing to do). When they got back, they were greeted by a new slip and slide ($5.00 at WalMart!) and a kiddie pool for the baby. Somehow, slip and slidi ng (is that a term?) turned into waterhose trampoline jumping, but, whatever, they were having fun.

They paused only moments to eat their lunch and then were back at it. This time with the oldest chasing all the littles around with the hose. (Some had to pause to take a nap...)

He actually fell asleep on the trampoline! Isn't that too much?!


Anyway, my kids often see me prepare fun things to eat whenever we go to someone's house, but they are never treated to the fare. I thought that all the little snacky stuff would make a fun dinner, so we had a dinner consisting of buffalo wings, mozzerella sticks, potato skins, queso, andchips and salsa. The kids also got Dr. Pepper (gasp, I know, that NEVER happens around here).

All the children commented on how it was the most fun ever. Even the 14 year old- and she doesn't think anything is fun. And it cost a heck of a lot less than going to a movie!