my new friday night ritual

By friday nights I am pretty tired out.

We are required to work on building the houses Tues, Wed, and Thurs nights from 4 to 9:30 - I don't stay that late though, I leave at 8, because the boys need to go to bed. I had tried to stay later, but by the time I had picked the boys up, they were both in meltdown mode, and it was really tough on all of us.

I wish I could go out and work earlier, but since we had to put Thomas in the afternoon class at school, he doesn't get home on the bus until 3:30 - which is right when I need to be leaving just to get there by 4. I hope that he doesn't feel unwanted, poor kid. The second he gets home, I wisk him off to stay with someone else. I barely get to even talk to him.
I am so grateful that my kids like to go to Tracie's. Her little boy Nicky, who is also 4, and Thomas play pretty well together. Grayson used to cry when I dropped him off, but I think since he has become mobile, he is getting along much better. Yesterday, Tracie says to me, "I admire you". And I gave her a funny face and asked WHY? - and she said "Because Thomas has SOOOO much energy, I don't know how you keep up with him." I laughed and said "Because I have no choice." She assured me that she loves having the boys come and I am just glad that I have such a wonderful person that I can count on. It is good to not have to worry, so that I can get the hours we need working on the houses. * The more we work - the sooner we move in. *

SO on Friday nights, I have very little motivation to fix dinner, so I started taking Thomas to Burger King, his favorite place to get hamburgers (since our MacDonalds doesn't have a play place - and thank goodness, becasue I HATE MCD's anyway). The first time we did it, I even ordered him those Apple Fries - and if he ate all his hamburger I would let him have some chocolate milkshake. And with Thomas's personality, it was Friday the next week, and he again demanded hamburgers for dinner, and I gave in. Now it is just something we do. I love that whopper jrs are only a buck. I stopped getting the apple fries, even though they were cool - it just isn't reasonabl to pay $1.50 for a few slices, when an entire apple only costs a few cents. And while the chocolate shake at Burger King, just seems to taste exactly like a vanilla shake, I get it anyway, to motivate him to eat.