Ringing in the Weekend with Nanny McPhee!

Friday night my kids and I rang in the weekend by staying up until midnight, yes midnight. I know it doesn't sound like me. My kids have always had a strict 8 o'clock bedtime. I myself do not function well on little sleep. I have a hard time ringing in the new year let alone an average middle of the year night. Last year the city of Meridian started to host a "Movie at the park night" during the summer. This year we had considered joining in but figured this kind of activity could wait until the kids got just a little bit older. Well my sister-in-law, Tiffany, lives near us with 2 boys my kid's ages and one a little older. Both of our husbands were up working on the cabin for the weekend and she invites me to join them at the park for a movie at dusk. I stuttered for several seconds which I'm sure seemed more like minutes to poor Tiffany. I thought about how I would be getting them up early the next morning to go garage saling (I know that isn't a word) and about how we would make up the much needed sleep the next day. Then finally throwing caution into the wind I tell her we'll be there at 9 so the kids can play a little before we settle in for the movie. The park was packed, it was insane. Luckily my other sister-in-law, Emily, was there with us so we had 3 adults to the 5 kids. And since Logan and Alex pretty much stuck together and Johnny and Ethan hung together it wasn't too hard to keep an eye on them all. I did feel a great need to talk to Alex however about all of our emergency "what do you do if you get lost" scenerios. Finally around 9:45 previews start to pop up on the gigantic blow up movie screen and the masses of parents and kids make their way to their saved little sections of grass. I figured the night would be crazy enough so I didn't bother to pack my camera. There was one shot however that I wish I had captured. At one point all five kids were sitting shoulder to shoulder on a grassy hill with their backs to me watching the screen for the movie to start. It was adorable. Johnny seemed to have caught a second wind because although he was plenty tired and rubbing his eyes on the way over there, he showed no signs of fatigue the entire night. Near the end of the movie it was hard enough to keep him from bouncing around, disturbing those around us and wanting to go back to the now deserted slides. Although as soon as the car started rolling out of the parking lot Johnny was out like a light. It was a good memory and one I hope to do again some time so that my kids can say some day "remember those late summer nights when we'd snuggle up under a blanket and watch a movie at the park? Good times!"