Lights Out!

One of the many joys of staying home with my kids is coming up with new and fun ways to entertain them within four walls. Yikes. Now let's not go crazy, k? K.

Ever so often, my husband has to work late, so the boys are all mine, all day long up to the minute they are asleep. To put it lightly, my boys absolutely love stories, the dark and popcorn. So what do I do? In our playroom, we make a tent made of blankets, chairs and some jump rope. Now, if you've ever tried constructing a tent from blankets, you'd probably understand the use of jump rope in all this. lol I pop some popcorn, grab our favorite books, some small votive candles (enough for light, but not enough to fry a blanket) and we sit under our makeshift tent in the playroom and read stories before bedtime. If I'm feeling extra nice (could be tough after an all-dayer), I'll let them sleep there. But both of them are restless sleepers, so moving around constantly could pose a problem. I could just see the two of them moving around, kicking a chair, jump rope snaps, blanket falls down, and I get a middle of the night scream: "Mommy! Our tent is ruined! My blankie fall down!" And then you have the 2am ultimatum of "Do I fix the tent and go back to bed or do I fight them to get in their own beds and sleep?" Yes, I know. The dilemmas you face as a mom.

So I'm preparing the blankets, getting out my candles, setting aside the books, all in preparation of our Lights Out Night. No TV, no movies, no video games. Just pure, uninterrupted Mommy-Boys time - did I say uninterrupted? Ha.

If you're a parent, I highly recommend this activity. It doesn't make for a huge clean-up and the kids really do have a great time. We'll take some pics and I'll post them on my next blog.

Maybe we'll hit up the 99cent store for some flashlights this time. :)