Thursday's Dinner Out with the Family

You'll note I'm very trigger happy with the camera phone pictures lately. Part of that is a genuine joy at having the ability to visually document my day at any given moment. And part of it is because the rechargeable batteries on my digital camera seem to have come to the end of their life and I have yet to buy replacements.

On Thursday, to make up for his being ill on LuLu's birthday,  my father-in-law treated us to a dinner out at a nice Italian restaurant in the neighborhood.

The food was great, the kids were ok (on behavior I'd grade them a B to B+ actually) but I was wigging out. I can't count how many times we all seem to sit on the precipice, that frail little edge between good behavior and complete meltdown. I'm always surprised, and pleasantly so, when the kids pull it together we walk away with manners and sanity intact.

That happened here, but for whatever reason - lousy day at work, crowded table, bunions - I couldn't recognize that we were doing well until late in the game.

One funny moment: the restaurant was nearly empty at the start of our meal when the hostess seated a nicely dressed couple at the table right next to us. With my step-mother-in-law's encouragement I leaned over, pointed out my four kids, and encouraged them to select another table. They thanked me and did so.

On the way out I took the kids home while Lis stopped to chat with her Dad. Outside the door LuLu fell and skinned her knee and I had to carry her home, and Smiley NEVER likes being separated from his Mom so that was an issue, but it all went well in the end.

Oh, almost forgot. LuLu got a Barbie scooter from them for her birthday.

A very nice time indeed.