MISSION: Impossible (aka Date Night)

They look cozy together don't they? They look happy. They are reading "the Stinky Cheese Man" story, a favorite around here. Basically, anything with the word "stinky" in it has them rolling with laughter. In reverse, the minute mom and dad say to them, "you have to stay home tonight while dad and I have a date" the comment we most often hear is "Without us? That stinks!" No more happy family.

Most weekends are spent at the two oldest children's extracurricular activities. Normal activities are something like marching band performances, dance events, slumber parties, someone's birthday celebration, or preparing for a holiday. No dates for me. Not usually anyway.

It seems like every time we plan a date, there is something else going on that we didn't count on. Sometimes someone gets sick. Maybe we have someone come into town and stop by. Sometimes a house full of kids who live across town come hang out and don't have rides home (grrr). Sometimes our sitter age kids are tending for someone else (and getting paid, which puts the free sitting for mom and dad on the back burner). The best is the, "but I was gonna go to a movie with my friends". Right.

This week my husband and I have been reminding the kids ALL week that THIS WAS OUR weekend to go on a date. No plans! No complaints! I even went a bought a cute top to wear. Unfortunately... my son walked home from school to some obscure friends house whose phone number I do not know. Did I mention that the boy has broken his cell phone so getting him home might be a little tricky. Our 12 year old was invited to a movie. She also stayed home with a stomach ache today (which means in my eyes, FAR too sick to see a movie). Somehow, Chloe has ended up with a friend from school getting dropped off and no pick up time was specified to her, she's also asked if she can stay for dinner. NO NO NO.

I am not a push over mom. I am a fair parent, tough when I have to be. Why does this just seem to always happen? Tell me we are not alone in this frustration. Why is life so much more complicated with older children? I thought having built in babysitters was gonna be awesome. It's handy when I have errands to run but not so much for date night. It gets better, keep reading.

The kicker is... are you ready.... My husband has been up all night (running on 2 hours sleep while yet again trying to meet another deadline). He just informed me that he is now going to go on a 5 mile run and then shower and have the energy to take me out. (That is if he will get off this conference call that is going on and on). Now, he is gonna be a lot of fun don't you think? I'm getting a bad feeling that once again, this may be another non-date friday. At this point, I'll just take myself out. To quote my kids... "this stinks!"

UPDATE: It happened, it was a short one, but we escaped for 2 hours! Yippeee! I feel like a new mom.