Perfect Summer Evening

Last night at 6:00 the phone rang. It was a friend of mine:

"Hey, we're going to Decatur (that school near my house with the huge parking lot?) to go bike riding. Want to come?"

As many of you know, I am one of those psycho scheduled moms. Dinner is 5pm. Bedtime is 7. I fold laundry while they shower and put it away while they brush their teeth.

Even now, I can tell you ESJ's infant eating schedule: 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6 pm, 10pm, 2am. And I stuck to it. By the minute.

So this summer, I have been working reeeeaaaaaallllllyyyyyy hard to break my compulsion. We eat dinner anytime from 5-6pm. It gets me slightly twitchy but I cope. Bedtime? Anytime from 7ish until 8pm-depending on what time Benjie gets home and if they are watching a (stupid) Cubs game.

I've been making progress.

But this...why this was a major step for me.

Leave the house at 6:30? (we had just sat down to eat dinner at 6pm!!) We should be showering and doing the whole bedtime thing (Dovi's nebulizer, etc).

But as I said, I've been making progress.

So at 6:35, after we finished dinner, I loaded the kids' bikes into the van (I remembered what happened the last time I tried to get them to RIDE home from Decatur) and drove to Decatur.

Within 1/2 an hour, there were 5 families there. The kids ran around, rode their bikes, and ate snacks (Why? They'd just eaten dinner!). It was rather divine. Besides for the gnat attack, it was one of those perfect summer evenings. Next thing I knew, it was 7:45.

Back to the van, only 1 fall/collision on the way. When we got into the van, I commenced my lecture.

"Mommy gave you a big treat. It is very late. Very past your bedtime (at which point everyone had to examine the digital clock and proclaim the lateness of the hour). When we get home, we are taking showers and getting ready for bed. If ANYONE fights with me, we will NEVER do this again.

We got home. Everyone nicely filed inside, followed my prescribed shower order. Then I was so sweaty and sticky that I told them they could watch TV for another 10 minutes while I took a shower.

Everyone shockingly went up when I told them, brushed their teeth, and hopped into their beds.

Every once in a while, it works. This was one of those nights!

See, they're not always bad. :)