Shhh - don't tell

Today I'm playing hookey. (Is that how you spell hookey?) Anyway - took the boys to have dinner with friends last night. They ran around and played, yelling and screaming and just having a great time. The baby, too. And I got a chance to talk with a friend of mine. Perfect combo.

Jay had this CRAZY idea earlier in the day. My cousin, Luke, who's on leave from the Army (mentioned him at the birthday party) and his girlfriend, and another cousin, Suze, and some of her friends and boyfriend were going out to have some drinks before he heads back to Iraq. Two of my brothers were going to be there, too, and Jay had this great idea that he could use two hours of PTO and we could go join them. At 10:30. PM.

Now, I haven't left to go out at 10:30 in years. Let alone ever looked for a sitter who could watch our kids at 10:00 on a Thursday night. And given that most of my family was going to be there, well, that left me with some pretty limited options.

So I called Mom. I felt pretty bad, knowing that she has to work two jobs today, but she said it was no big deal, that it was worth it to go hang out with a cousin I so rarely get to see. Tom came, too - I'm always at a loss to explain who Tom is - "Mom's boyfriend" is too simplistic, and really, boyfriend isn't the right word. My Mother's keeper? Babysitter? More like, "the-one-who's-there-for-her-at-any-time-of-the-day-or-night-regardless-as-to-how-my-mother-treats-him-or-what-she-says". Sound like there are some issues there? There are. Mama drama. May God strike me down if I ever do the same things to my kids...

But I digress. So Mom & Tom came over together and got my two rug rats in bed. Because, see, at 10:00, they were still awake. The baby slept all the way home from my friends' house. It's nearly an hour drive. Nick talked the whole way home, a sure sign that he was super-duper tired and that he'd fall into a coma-like sleep the instant he stopped chattering. Will woke up when we pulled in the driveway, as most kids do, and when I got them in the house and got their coats off, they were wide awake.

Then began Gigglefest '08. Part 1 - I'm sure there will be others. But after trying to get them quiet for 10 minutes, I figured "screw it" and enjoyed them laughing and giggling and hugging each other. Its a new thing they do. One grabs the other and they giggle and hug and shriek and generally act ridiculous. Its lovely.

By the time Mom & Tom got here, Gigglefest was winding down, but they were no where near ready to go to bed. What did I do? High tailed it out of there, of course! (They were fine, really.)

We only hung out for two hours and had one drink a piece, but it was worth it. I pray that my cousin will return home safely - I pray all our soldiers will come home in one piece. But we got to have a good time and a few laughs before he heads back to that hell hole.

Another one to pray for today? Tom. His son was killed in August, and the man who stabbed him has final pre-trial today. Actually, pre-trial's probably over already. There will be more info on that subject sometime soon, I'm sure.

So a-hookey I will play. I have the PTO time, and really I wasn't feeling well when I first woke up this morning. Not hung over - just didn't feel well. Could be all this drama making my stomach queasy...ya think?