Sleepover and Movies

Jackson had two firsts today: a sleepover with his cousin and going to a movie theater. Jack has been asking to have his cousin, Levi, over for weeks now.  While brainstorming things we wanted to do this summer, Levi spending the night was on the top of his list. Levi's parents dropped him off at our house after dinner last night. The boys were completely wound up. We let them make cookies after we put the babies down for bed. 

Jesse tried to maintain Jack's regular bedtime routine as close as possible. He read stories to them and sang. Jackson was out pretty quickly. Levi eventually fell asleep on the twin mattress. The boys awoke to cinnamon roll waffles and strawberries.

Another thing on our summer to do list was to take Jackson to the movie theater. Our local theater offers $1 movies on Tuesday mornings. Arthur Christmas was playing today. We had never even heard of the movie before but Jackson loves all Christmas related things so we figured that was a good sign. Jesse took the boys to the movies while I stayed with the babies. They split a popcorn and fruit snacks. According to Jesse: "Jackson concentrated on the movie until the fruit snacks ran out. Levi was engrossed the whole time."

I had lunch ready when the boys came home. Jesse ran errands while I tried my best to keep the afternoon low key for the kids. They ate and played outside. Levi is expecting a baby brother in the fall. Throughout the day there were times when Levi was more interested in playing with the babies than Jackson. That changed quickly when James knocked over his plate and started eating his pretzels. An aggravated Levi exclaimed, "I can't hear!" when the babies were louder than the TV.  It made me laugh since I frequently wish the babies had volume control. Jackson was unfazed, which goes to show how much he has adapted to the chaos of living with the triplets.

Once Jesse returned home I took Jack and Levi to the museum. We would have gone together as a family but the seven of us couldn't fit in the van and the babies needed an afternoon nap anyway. The museum is always one of Jack's favorite places. And Levi is one of Jack's favorite people. The combination of the two was almost too much for Jack to handle. The boys were so animated and curious in each area.

I was very intentional about making sure the boys had down time and I didn't over plan. Still, the excitement of it all proved to be too much for Jack. I endured over 30 minutes of wailing from one very over-tired Jackson on the way to Levi's house. Thankfully, Levi fell asleep. I guess he'll adapt to the craziness of having a baby in the house after all. ;)

I'm already making a list of things we can do next time.