The Purchase

Fall seems to be a busy season for us, as I'm sure it is for most families. Weekdays are filled with school and whathaveyou. Weekends are filled to overflowing with football, church, family time, birthday parties, and more whathaveyou.

By Sunday afternoon, I can think of nothing more than a nap. Jack and Garrett take a nap seven days a week and will continue to do so until they're ten years old. Liam's days of napping stopped sometime last year, and I have mourned that loss ever since.

However, every once in a while, I can see an inkling of fatigue creep upon him in the late afternoon, and I seize the moment, oh yes I do, and put him to bed. Yesterday, was one of those days! Hallelujah!
He must have learned in church how God rested on the seventh day. We do teach him the importance of obeying God and parents. And this moment of obedience was cause for a photo.

I wanted this post to share about our weekend, but I've already gotten out of order in all my excitement over Liam's nap.

Before the day of rest, there was Saturday, which was definitely not restful. Rick and Garrett went to the Aggie game, and I won't even pause to discuss the game, because we are not surprised one bit by our loss.

Those who are left at home on game day are very sad. And the boys are forced to wipe my tears and entertain me all day. No, I mean, I scramble to come up with fun ways to pass the time until Daddy returns home.

We had a birthday party to attend Saturday afternoon, so I only had to fill the morning hours. In a moment of insanity, I decided to take the boys to buy bean bag chairs.

Actually, to say it was a moment of insanity would be a lie. This plan actually came to mind about nine days prior, which means that I must have been insane for the past nine days.

My mother-in-law bought my two nieces bean bag chairs recently. When she told me about them, I said, "Oh that sounds so fun! I should get the boys some, and they could read in them or take catnaps in them."

All of you sane people out there are already laughing at my stupidity, but let me continue my story before gratifying you with applause.

When my mother-in-law heard my excitement over the bean bags, she immediately wrote me a check for the cost of three chairs. She's very generous like that.

Anyway, back to Saturday. When I woke up Saturday morning, I wanted Liam and Jack to think "What a fun mom we have!", instead of "Gee, Dad, thanks for leaving us behind with this old hag again." So I knew that bean bag shopping would do the trick.

And I was right. As soon as we walked into the Heavenly Sleep Shoppe, they were in heaven. (No, I am not kidding about the name of the store. I wish I were that clever.) The boys immediately began hopping from chair to chair and telling me exactly which ones they wanted.

"I WANT THE BLUE ONE, MOMMY, THE BLUE ONE, THE BLUE ONE!"

"I WANT THE SOCCER BALL, MOMMY, THE SOCCER BALL!"

"GARRETT WILL WANT THE BASEBALL ONE, MOMMY, THE BASEBALL!"

"BOYS! If you don't stop this SCREAMING, we will walk out of here without a single bean bag!"

They did quiet down, but the noise level should have been another moment where I snapped out of the insanity and realized that this idea of buying bean bag chairs for my boys was not such a good idea after all.

But purchase I did. I did talk the boys out of the soccer ball and the baseball chairs, because their quality didn't seem as durable as the solid colors. We settled on red, yellow and blue.

Now, when we bought them, I imagined that their main residence would be the game room upstairs, but have they made it up the stairs yet? No. Sigh.

When I bought them, I imagined my boys reading books in them. Has that happened yet? No. Sigh.

When I bought them, I remembered taking catnaps in mine as a child. Has that happened in this house yet? You guessed it. Sigh.

In the nine days of insanity, I forgot one minor detail.

I am a girl. My nieces, who read in theirs daily, are girls. My children are not.

Maybe that's 3 details.

And the fact that I've been the mother of BOYS for five years didn't seem to cross my mind. Clearly, I've lost my mind.

Do the boys love their bean bag chairs?
Of course! But this photo of them SITTING in them...that was posed. I'll bet you never guessed it.

This is more like it.
And this.
Or this.
And I haven't caught any of it on camera yet, but the bean bag chairs have provided quality entertainment along the subjects of jumping platforms, boxing matches, sliding, as well as games called "Bury the Brother".

Now, go ahead and applaud yourselves for seeing what I could not imagine for myself prior to the purchase. Clearly, I was not in my right mind.

I was really hoping for more of this this afternoon:
It isn't meant to be, because he is busy making a train of bean bag chairs and calling me to join him. I better go see how much fun this purchase really is.