Yesterday afternoon we decided to take a family trip to Lowe’s. We needed some lights and smoke detectors, and we are still looking for a mutually acceptable green paint for the house.
We got our stuff, went to Grandma’s house, and I fixed her screen door. By this time, it was fast approaching dinner, and neither Leah nor I really wanted to go home. Solution? Go out to dinner! With two 15 month old babies and a 3 year old!!
Misery loves company, so we called Gina and Grandma (neither of whom was home). Grandma never answered any of our calls. Here’s how the conversation with Gina went:
“Hi”
“Hi, we’re going to dinner at The Olive Garden by the Galleria. Do you want to go with us?”
“No, but you can go with me. Joe and I are already there.”
Weird.
We called John & Esther, and they decided to come as well. That makes a total of 10 people – me, Leah, Sam, Noah, Aidan, Gina, Joe, John, Esther, and Julia. The Olive Garden gave us our own room – just like the commercials!
The babies each got a plate of spaghetti, some broccoli, and pieces of breadsticks. Sam got a bowl of soup, a plate of pasta, and most of the breadsticks on the table. Everyone else had appetizers, a salad, and an entrée. John had the bottomless pasta bowl. Remember that.
Every time Sam decided he didn’t want something, he would lean towards Aidan and throw whatever it was onto Aidan’s plate.
Every time one of the boys did something that was funny, but really not, John would bury himself behind a menu to try to hide his laughter, except the menu would bounce up and down, making it that much more amusing.
The babies ate their dinners. Sam at bread and drank lemonade. We ate our appetizers. Leah took Sam for a walk. We ate our salads. I took Noah to the car to change his diaper as John couldn’t breathe anymore from the stink. The twins got toys to keep them busy. We ate our dinners. I took Sam outside to get some fresh air.
The craziness was winding down, and we were deciding what to wrap up. John had a large plate of noodles to take home. Until the twins decided they were still hungry. We all sat and watched as Noah and Aidan sucked down John’s entire plate of spaghetti. Their mouths were so full of noodles, pieces were dangling out. It was like a vision of what dinner will be like in 10 years. We are going to be so poor.
