... the children play outside in the orchard and in The Tree while Mom is too tired to get out of the car and watches them from the driveway.
... older children are told to choose ANY two of the cheep Grocery Outlet microwavable frozen casseroles from the freezer and make them and SHARE with younger children.
... at least one child will turn her nose up at said dinner and declare that her older brother purposefully chose it because, "he KNOWS I don't like it." (exhausted Mom tries to interrupt to tell her she may have one of the nuked frozen burritos she loves so much but the child is too busy having a fit.)
... exhausted Mom actually lays down almost horizontal (truly horizontal would just clog her up more) and ignores the fact that children have again abandoned indoors for outdoors and vaguely hopes they don't get hurt, don't bring snakes home, don't wander off in the near-dark evening, and don't torture each other. She also vaguely seems to remember it is supposed to be Family Night (which is why they are home and don't have the usual trillion things they have to do on other weeknights) but she figures the kids are having it on their own out there.
... exhausted head clogged up Mom pulls a thick blanket up around herself and reads a little of one of her overdue library books ("Let's see, will it be Erma Bombeck or the Oxford Dictionary of Grammar?" obvious choice) and konks out after half a page.
... with complete darkness, the children come noisily spilling back into the house and LOTS of arguments suddenly happen and Mom's head will explode and splatter what's left of her mushy snot clogged brain all over the room (to which the children will probably just respond with "cool" and go on with their craziness.
... just in time though, oldest child puts on Toy Story and then sets to making a spectroscope from odds and ends from his pockets and desk drawers (bless oldest child), second child finally quits tormenting his sister and settles down to read his book (bless second child), third child actually curls up by Mom who she just moments before screamed didn't love her (bless third child), fourth child had quit bouncing like Tigger and curled up by Mom the minute the Disney logo came on the screen (bless fourth child), and Mom looks Heavenward, thankful for allergy meds, for soft Kleenex, and for the wonderful people at Pixar and Disney for peace. (please bless Mom)
Oh ya - and at one point, third child took a dixie cup size something out of freezer, licked it, immediately tossed it back in the freezer, rushed to spit madly in the sink, gushed as much water as possible, and sputtered "soapy" and "eeewww!" Upon inspection, Mom finds a dixie cup shaped chunk of ice (minus any dixie cup) with a bright plastic Easter egg frozen in it which must taste soapy when licked. Mom also learns from third child that second child put the last of the ice cream in the egg yesterday and froze it that way JUST TO TORMENT HER. Later, when Mom remembers and sleepily asks second child about it, he just does that grin and when Mom points out that the ice chunk apparently tastes soapy, he just grins more and snickers. Even later, Mom and oldest child are talking and she mentions the ice cream filled Easter egg trapped in the soapy ice chunk and HE just grins mischievously too.
