Why Late Night Play Dates Are a No-No!

Our backyard neighbors are sort of our stand-in grandparents since our grands live in different states. They are a nice older couple who took an interest in our children back when our first was a toddler. The wife was from out-of-state and said that spoiling our daughter made her miss her grandkids out west a little bit less. Kind of a score on our part since our kids see their grandparents only once or twice a year. Who doesn't need some grandma-sized love?

Anyway, we went over there tonight to play games. We'd been hit-and-miss all day trying to get together, so okay, it's probably a bad idea, but let's try to get a game in before bedtime. Perhaps a nice Chutes and Ladders or Go Fish would have been a good choice. Instead, we played Farkle. Have you ever played it before? It's a dice game, lots of fun, and my neighbor amp-ed it up by letting my daughter roll over and over again at the end of the game. Oh, boy, were we excited!

Well, by the time we got home, my kids were wound up! They “HAD” to have a snack, even though we had just eaten dinner a half an hour before then. Get in pjs? NO WAY! They'd rather hide in their closet than get undressed for bedtime! And the cat? Well, it was time to hunt that beast down for some down right loving (or abuse, depending on whose perspective you're looking at).

Needless to say, all this led to an UN-happy Mommy right before bedtime. Then, to top it off, Dad was working late so a goodnight call was all they got, right before nighttime books. This caused such a hysteria that my younger daughter ended up rolling over on top of big sis, wrestling her to the ground, revving them up to wild giggles.

Oh, bedtime did not come easily tonight. A nice mix of correction and love had to settle this thing down, which thankfully it did. But Mom's done. No doing the dishes. No cleaning up the bedroom and putting laundry away, which means it's being put off for the millionth day in a row. Mom's just done.

By the way, we had such a short visit tonight that they neighbors invited us over for dinner and games tomorrow night, too. What can I say? I'm a glutton for games and a night out. And, hey, we're moving soon, right? May we be so lucky to have neighbors like this again. So, live it up and don't make it a habit. However, we'll make sure to get home well before bedtime tomorrow night so that our house, hopefully, doesn't look like Night of the Living Un-dead – Part II!

So tell me, have you had nights like these?

Written By: Lisa Liebling