Date Night With "Wall E"

I had the distinct pleasure of a "date" on Friday night. My three grandsons, Owen, Gideon and Silas all went "out" with me~~! We started by having supper at Bob Evans.



As soon as we ate supper, we went to see the movie Wall E. It was such a wonderful movie; one of those that tug on your heartstrings. I was sitting between Silas (age 5) and Gideon (almost 7). Silas was enamoured with Wall E immediately. He kept making precious little comments like, "Oh, Nonnie, I think that's his little house" - or "Oh, Nonnie, he's so cute". When the movie was over, I had told the boys we would go get ice cream and then when we got home, it would be time for them to go right to bed.
So, we headed out of the movie, intent on going to "Doozie's" for ice cream.

As we got near the foyer of the theater, I noticed we were walking right past the large cardboard display of Wall E. He was sitting on top of a large black box so that he was up high enough for everyone to see. I said, "Oh boys, let me take your picture with Wall E. Looking at the size of the box Wall E was on I knew Silas could not just stand by it because he is too small and if I got him in the picture, we would never see Wall E. So I felt the box to see how sturdy it was. Yup, it would hold his 34 pounds. The girl working right there, who took every one's tickets, said to me, "Do whatever you need to do. Wall E is going into the trash tonight, anyway." I said, "NO, you cannot put him in the trash~! How much do you want for him?" She said she would get a manager, so while that was going on, I took a couple of pictures. As you will note, in order to get the boys in it - I didn't get Wall E's head... The manager came and said, "If you take him TONIGHT and pay $20 cash, he is yours." By this time, little Si-guy was jumping up and down and clapping his hands. He was so excited he couldn't contain himself. I had the family van with 3 car seats in it and Wall E was very big. But thanks to a very kind General Manager and his Assistant Manager, they helped me take most of Wall E apart and we folded down some of the van seats and got Wall E in! During this endeavor, I heard Gideon say, "Hey, Owen, we can shoot our dart guns at him!" Silas didn't like that suggestion one bit!

Because Owen was not in his car seat and had only a seat belt on (don't worry - I called his mama and got permission), I had to take the back roads to their house and drive slowly. So, now, "Doozie's" was out! I even had to pray before we started for home because poor Owen was so nervous about being out of his "safety zone" (the car seat) and being a first-born, he is all about following the rules (usually)~! So I prayed for protection on the way home and for Owen to feel peace. It worked! He calmed down and we had a safe trip home. The boys helped get Wall E into their house and we got right back into the van - now with seats opened back up and all car seats in the correct spots.

We drove to downtown Shepherd, stopping at our local icecream shop. We sat outside on benches and ate our ice cream. Silas was not able to eat ALL of his little scoop of ice cream; at least he chose not to. I said, "Are you going to throw this away?" "No", he said, "I'm saving it for Wall E." So I took it to the van with us and put it in the freezer as soon as we got back to the house.

I told the boys to all go get into their p.js. and brush their teeth. Silas could hardly keep on task; he wanted Wall E put back together. I told him I would work on it but didn't know if it would get done b4 they were in bed or not. The next thing I knew, he was in the living room with me, clad in his p.js. and with freshly brushed teeth. He had gotten a flashlight from somewhere and was looking through the openings in Wall E's sides and telling me how far I needed to shove the cardboard pieces that held Wall E's wheels on. About that time, in walked Jeremy and Nichole. They were laughing and Nichole looked at me and said, "Where do you think the boys are going to keep him, mom?" I told her that he could go right out under the pine trees, and they would help shelter him from the weather, etc.

Jeremy began to help me and in just a little bit of time, Wall E was sitting in the middle of the living room and taking up a large part of the "space". Silas, especially, was having a hard time wanting to go to bed because of Wall E being there. Finally, Nichole picked him up and told him it was bedtime and to give Wall E a hug goodnight. He hugged and hugged him and I think even gave him a kiss. Of course, Wall E was so big, Silas stretched his arms as far as they would stretch and they didn't quite make it across the front of Wall E.

Three little boys hugged and kissed me and told me how much fun they had that night (several times) and finally went to bed. As for Wall E, when Silas woke up the next morning, to his delight, daddy had put Wall E in his bedroom! Do you know of any other children who have seen the movie this summer that can say they actually took Wall E home with them???? Happy, happy boys - that is all I can say~~! As for Nonnie, she went home, not just happy, but very excited that she had a GREAT night with three little boys who love her so much and she loves them back even more!