You don't have to wear pants

This has been a day........I've laughed more today at things my kids have said than I have in a long time. I've always known my kids can be a little 'twisted' in their thinking....tonight it was Trey's turn. It's Tuesday night....karate night. I have discovered I am the quintessential karate mom. All four of our kids are in karate and have been since August 2002. Two have earned their black belt, another is within 6 months of earning his....and the little girl......well, if she even tests for her black belt, it'll be a miracle as she is the queen of flakiness.

We are at the karate studio three, sometimes four days a week. Tonight was day one for this week. One class ran from 4:00-4:45, then the next from 4:45-5:30. The third class is from 7:00-8:00. Normally, we would go home for dinner in the 90 minutes of blank space in our night, but tonight the children wanted to go out to dinner and frankly, so did I. I decided on IHOP and all of the children were in agreement. Because the children left the house in their karate uniforms, they did not have shoes on. As we pulled to the IHOP, it dawned on me that they could refuse service to us as the sign on the door says, "Shirt and Shoes required."

As we walked in the door, the kids pointed the sign out to me.....I quickly hushed them, thinking if we don't draw attention to ourselves or to the sign....there would be no problems. We ordered. I, my usual french toast combo. Julia, her baby cakes. Joshua decided to go against conventional wisdom and ordered the cod fillet and mashed potatoes. Trey got the Rooty Jr. with no fruit or whipped cream. Daniel decided he didn't want to order off the kids menu and got himself the Pancake Combo. I checked the menu...........his dinner cost more than mine. Ugh.......And he's only the first of three boys.

After polishing off every bit of food, and eating off each other's plates, the boys made me aware of the fact that they were still hungry....so a short stack of 3 pancakes was added.

Suddenly, Trey hunkered down next to me and in real hushed tones said, "Mom, the sign says that shirt and shoes are required. That means you don't have to wear pants."

This comment by my Trey sent off a chain reaction of comments from the rest of the children...most of which I won't repeat, but needless to say, it was a fun night at the IHOP. A night of laughs. A night of yet another person asking me if "they" were all mine (yes) and if "they" were all the same age (no). A night of scarfing down an amazing amount of food. A night of no cooking. A night of being able to love on and be loved on by my kids.

What more could this quintessential karate mom ask for?