I might be crazy. Nick invited a couple of boys to come for a sleepover tonight. Whew! Jack's mom just asked me why they call them sleepovers when no one sleeps! I don't know. She also called me brave. Two boys are easy to control, but three sort of run their own show.
Adrian came right off the bus at 1:45 pm. We had to run the dog a bit, but the party really started at dusk when Jack arrived a couple of hours later.
Add to that the fact that we lost power at 11:00 am when a tree in the neighbor's yard split and fell across the lines. It didn't come back on until about 7:30.
First, they exploded all the Pop Its leftover from New Year's eve and lit the smoke bombs we had after the Fourth of July. I started to think the guys fixing the power lines by the road might be worried about what was smoking. The boys were rolling the smoke bombs down the driveway and pretending they were fighting in a Revolutionary War battle. They were the colonists. I shouldn't have worried since the yelling probably alerted the power company guys that boys were causing the smoke.
Just as we lit the last smoke bomb, Mike drove up the driveway and the game changed to some outdoor battle with headlamps, flashlights and Mike as the enemy.
Then there was pizza by candlelight. Mike lit a fire in the wood stove and we left them alone for a bit. On my way up the stairs, I said, "Let me know if you need anything."
"I need fifty dollars," Jack said.
"I just need twenty-five," Adrian said.
After pizza and another outdoor battle, they came inside and insisted that we leave the lights off. Nick decided we had to have a black-out Nerf battle, parents against adults. Mike and I were doing pretty well, holding the stairs, until the boys discovered the strobe setting on the headlamps and stormed us.
With three boys and two controllers, video games didn't last long, though I give them credit for passing the controller to the next guy with every death.
Mike pulled out the Dread Pirate game and Jack yelled, "Popcorn!" I had two orders of dirty popcorn and two of clean popcorn. Dirty popcorn is something I came up with when Nick couldn't eat the Scout caramel corn because of the 'traces of nuts.' I make popcorn on the stove in a stockpot with a heavy bottom. I can't tell if it changes the flavor, but I use olive oil. The boys came into the kitchen, grabbed pot lids as shields and demanded that I take the lid off and let it pop all over. Teddy loved that, gobbling up anything that flew onto the floor. He also liked the melted butter part, but I made him wait until I'd finished and delivered the bowls to the game before I let him lick the bowl I melted it in.
You want to know what dirty popcorn is? Really?
Okay, it's simple. Melt your butter and pour it over the popcorn. Sprinkle three packets of Splenda (or three teaspoons of sugar) over a large bowl of popcorn. Then sprinkle a heaping teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder over it as well. Stir until it looks pretty even. The clean popcorn was just buttered and salted.
They're starting to bicker over the game. Mike's fading. Teddy's asleep under my chair. I think we'll send Mike to bed soon and set up the sleeping bags. Then I'll have them pick out a movie and leave them to their own devices. Oh, I worry a little about leaving three ten-year-old boys in my living room by themselves, but am I going to stay up until they fall asleep? I don't think so. I'm too old for that. Besides, these are good boys that I can trust, for the most part. I might pop up before I go to sleep and see what they're up to. I have the mom's prerogative.
Thank you for listening, jb
Adrian came right off the bus at 1:45 pm. We had to run the dog a bit, but the party really started at dusk when Jack arrived a couple of hours later.
Add to that the fact that we lost power at 11:00 am when a tree in the neighbor's yard split and fell across the lines. It didn't come back on until about 7:30.
First, they exploded all the Pop Its leftover from New Year's eve and lit the smoke bombs we had after the Fourth of July. I started to think the guys fixing the power lines by the road might be worried about what was smoking. The boys were rolling the smoke bombs down the driveway and pretending they were fighting in a Revolutionary War battle. They were the colonists. I shouldn't have worried since the yelling probably alerted the power company guys that boys were causing the smoke.
Just as we lit the last smoke bomb, Mike drove up the driveway and the game changed to some outdoor battle with headlamps, flashlights and Mike as the enemy.
Then there was pizza by candlelight. Mike lit a fire in the wood stove and we left them alone for a bit. On my way up the stairs, I said, "Let me know if you need anything."
"I need fifty dollars," Jack said.
"I just need twenty-five," Adrian said.
After pizza and another outdoor battle, they came inside and insisted that we leave the lights off. Nick decided we had to have a black-out Nerf battle, parents against adults. Mike and I were doing pretty well, holding the stairs, until the boys discovered the strobe setting on the headlamps and stormed us.
With three boys and two controllers, video games didn't last long, though I give them credit for passing the controller to the next guy with every death.
Mike pulled out the Dread Pirate game and Jack yelled, "Popcorn!" I had two orders of dirty popcorn and two of clean popcorn. Dirty popcorn is something I came up with when Nick couldn't eat the Scout caramel corn because of the 'traces of nuts.' I make popcorn on the stove in a stockpot with a heavy bottom. I can't tell if it changes the flavor, but I use olive oil. The boys came into the kitchen, grabbed pot lids as shields and demanded that I take the lid off and let it pop all over. Teddy loved that, gobbling up anything that flew onto the floor. He also liked the melted butter part, but I made him wait until I'd finished and delivered the bowls to the game before I let him lick the bowl I melted it in.
You want to know what dirty popcorn is? Really?
Okay, it's simple. Melt your butter and pour it over the popcorn. Sprinkle three packets of Splenda (or three teaspoons of sugar) over a large bowl of popcorn. Then sprinkle a heaping teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder over it as well. Stir until it looks pretty even. The clean popcorn was just buttered and salted.
They're starting to bicker over the game. Mike's fading. Teddy's asleep under my chair. I think we'll send Mike to bed soon and set up the sleeping bags. Then I'll have them pick out a movie and leave them to their own devices. Oh, I worry a little about leaving three ten-year-old boys in my living room by themselves, but am I going to stay up until they fall asleep? I don't think so. I'm too old for that. Besides, these are good boys that I can trust, for the most part. I might pop up before I go to sleep and see what they're up to. I have the mom's prerogative.
Thank you for listening, jb
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