Movie Night!

The other night, when Chris had plans, I decided to let Andy and Alex stay up late.  I called it a "sleepover" and really hyped up the opportunity that I was presenting to them: a chance to come downstairs after bath time and watch a movie with Mommy instead of going to sleep.  They would be up past sundown for the first time since daylight savings began!  And yet they would probably still end up in their beds by the time other kids normally went down, as I know that my strict bedtime of seven-fifteen is probably, especially for Andy, a little ridiculous. But who are you to judge until you've spent all day with these hyper little monsters. I would, however, totally let Andy stay up later every night if not for the fact that Alex won't go to sleep without him.  And so, as history does dictate, the little, more annoying sibling ruins it once again for the older one.  Sorry, Andy.  I can't have that cannonball of a toddler bouncing around the house past seven fifteen.  I do have my sanity to maintain.

I gave Andy the choice of three movies I had found on Netflix streaming.

One:  "The Nut Job."  Animated.  Some squirrel steals nuts or something.  Eh.

Two:  "Free Birds."  Animated.  Time traveling turkeys.  As time traveling is my number one favorite fictional device, this seemed promising, except for the fact it looked incredibly lame.

Three:  "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids."  Please pick this one, Andy.  Non-animated, some CGI.  Haven't seen this one in over twenty years.  Come on, come on, come on, come on....

"Honey, I Bunk The Kids!"  Andy proclaimed after reviewing the three choices.

I was a little worried that "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids" would prove a difficult storyline to follow, but I guess I wasn't giving Andy enough credit and was perhaps giving Walt Disney, Rick Moranis, and friends too much credit.  Andy totally understood what was happening, shrieking out after Rick Moranis swept the shrunken kids into the trash bag and hauled them out TO THE VERY END OF THE YARD.  "How are they going to get back?" Andy demanded.  "Did you see this before when you were a little girl?  Tell me, WHAT HAPPENS?"

Andy remained very concerned the whole movie, his eyes glued to the screen while expressing serious concern over:

When would they get big again!?

Whether or not the kids would be sucked into the lawn mower and chopped to itty bitty pieces during that pivotal lawn mowing screen.

Which kid would get to eat the gigantic marshmallow creme cookie found in the yard.

When would they get big again!?

Could Andy and Alex one day sleep in a giant Lego?

Whether or not that ginormous ant is going to hurt them.

But seriously, when would these kids get big again!?

At the very end, Andy seriously proclaimed to me, "I don't EVER want Daddy to become an inventor."  As if Chris would invent a shrinking machine.  Chris is still working on his "Quesadillas By Mail" idea; this is clearly not the mind of someone who wants to shrink children.

I made popcorn for the kids for our sleepover, and we brought their blankets downstairs to the couch to create a "sleepover" like atmosphere.  Andy and I cuddled and Alex, after shoveling in as much popcorn as possible, decided to walk around throwing his ball, which was mostly fine.  By eight thirty, the movie was over, and the kids looked out the window and into the darkness, shocked by how late it was.  Meanwhile, I'm sure just about all of their friends were still probably awake.  But that's how other families roll.  Around here, we have rules.  Serious rules.  And a lot of wine that can't be responsibly consumed around wide awake children.

I tucked my boys in, and they were out in a matter of moments.  I marveled on how much I had truly enjoyed our evening.  It was something fun for the kids, but I had a great time, too. We will definitely do "sleepover" movie night again.  I vaguely remember a sequel to "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids."  Either that, or we can do my first favorite Rick Moranis movie of all time, "My Blue Heaven."  Andy is ready.  The kid has good taste in flicks.

He did, after all, pass over "Free Birds" and "The Nut Job" without a moment's hesitation.