Dining With The Lil' Darlings

It was decided that the girls will have a "sleep over" night at Nana’s house. Tpot & TheBrawnyMan are going out to dinner. It is easier to have a sleep-over than to get them home at 10pm. They slip easily into their beds here as soon as the "elves" turn their light off. (Another story for another time)
We bundle up and are on our way to see Papa~

I called MyHero to tell him I was on the way to our house with the girls & we decided that we would take them out for a bite to eat. We asked them where they wanted to go. Now, wouldn’t you think it would be McDonalds or Chuckie Cheese or Happy Joe’s Pizza Parlor? Nope! No such thing here. They want to go to the Golden Corral! They’ve been there a couple of times and the highlight of the whole place is that when you are done eating there is an ice cream bar. Imagine that! A place where any ice cream concoction you can dream of is right at your finger tips. All well and good, but here’s the rub~ first you must get through the meal.

We find a spot in the parking lot. We are one car amongst about 150 others. We go in the door and find the line is snaking its way to the counter. Not to be held by any barriers our SweetCheeks goes to the head of the line and says she’ll have some iche scream and mulk. Uh-huh~and I can tell by looking at the cashier that she not only hates her job-she hates kids too. SweetCheeks is quite discerning -she looks at the girl and says, "Hers mean". Lord love us~ this kid is smart & we are off to a fine start for our big night out!

We finally get through the line and find a table. No one wants to sit by SweetCheeks because, basically, she is already a mess and we have just arrived. I think she stuck her hand in the jello on the way to the table-at least I’m hoping it’s jello. We are seated so that SweetCheeks can sit next to HER favorite person- Me! How lucky can any one person get on any given day?
We start the "herding" process. Line up-step this way little ladies-bring your plates and watch your toes-we are going to jam our way through this crowd and go to the salad bar. Ever tried to watch 3 little girls load their plates while you are holding an extra empty plate? Quite interesting to say the least. They all like salad-yes really...AND they all like SALAD dressing..especially SweetCheeks who has decided that she will have a piece or two of lettuce with her dressing. She also likes (unbelievably) cottage cheese but , God help us, don’t let it touch her ranch dressing!
Lulu is helping herself to a large sized plate of salads of every kind & My Hero is getting FRUIT for the kids. I asked him to please get a little fruit for the kids. What I got was a nice sized fruit BOWL for each kid. How much fruit do YOU think 3 little girls will eat when there is ice cream to be had for the taking? Had MyHero’s grandmother been along she would have been filling the little plastic bags (that she kept in her purse for just such occassions) with all the leftovers & I should not mention -but will-she was not above lifting all the butter pats, leftover rolls, sugar packets and creamer.

As I am standing at the salad bar, I realize that Lucy has disappeared. Oh Lord, please, please let me find her fast~ has someone with an appetite kidnapped her~has she wandered off with some brownie-bribing bozo? She was here just a minute ago- take a breath....follow through...follow through...ah..yes...she is at the dessert bar...of course she is. "What is that?" I want to know. Lucy, laughing widely because she thinks I am an idiot and cannot recognize a cupcake says, "It’s my dinner-it’s a cupcake." "No"- I said-"No cupcakes for dinner". "But Nana- it IS a cupcake." "I understand THAT part Lucy, but you can’t have a cupcake FOR dinner-you can have one after dinner." Big sigh.....okay...OMG-Now where is SweetCheeks? Ahha~there she is-feet splayed out in front of her- hair greased and escaping her pig tails...there she is...She has plopped herself down by the end of the "pizza bar" and is eating her cottage cheese with her fingers.

I glance around to see if anyone else is as mortified as I am and am met with glances of pity and scorn...and a few twinkling eyes. I mutter to myself- a half-hour and this will all be over...a half-hour and this will all be over. It has become my chant-my mantra that I reserve for moments just like this. And, before you know it- ALL of this shall be over-the little ones will grow up and move on leaving us with just the fond memories of this night’s food fiasco ... that and a few grease stains on my good winter coat.