Blame it on my date with four teenagers, sort of. I knew today was going to be very, very busy but I thought that I would get a chance to post something late in the day. Little did I know that �late in the day� would mean �well after my bedtime.� I knew that parents did not get to go to sleep when they had babies. No one warned me that parents of teenagers did not get to sleep either.

As for the four teenagers, the whole thing started with B-O-Y�s birthday. His friend and Kat started out to plan a surprise outing for his birthday. Unfortunately, organization is not the strong point of either one of them so the surprise outing fell apart. Kat figured she had to do something to mark B-O-Y�s birthday so she invited him to a movie and they decided to double-date with his best friend and another girl. I did not mind the double-date part. Actually, I welcomed the double-date part. As Kat�s mom, I prefer her going on double-dates at her age.

They decided to go to see the movie �Ice Age� at a local cinema grill. Day-Hay, who has been wanting to see �Ice Age� asked if Mr. Philately and I could take her at the same time. Since we had to drive down to get B-O-Y and then take him and Kat over to the theater around dinner time, it seemed like a possibility. I checked with Kat who graciously did not mind as long as we sat far away from them. We did. That�s how I found myself on a date with four teenagers, sort of.

I thought we were just going to the movie and eating dinner there. Mr. Philately, Day-Hay, and I ate dinner there. These four very smart teenagers either couldn�t figure out how to order there (you have to order everything right away) or they had an extraordinarily confused waiter. In any event, we had dinner. They did not.

I�ve lived on this earth long enough to know that teenage boys skipping a meal is not a good thing. We offered to take them somewhere that they could get something to eat. I figured Day-Hay, Mr. Philately, and I could have dessert. So, after the movie, we all went to Applebee�s. To my surprise, Applebee�s was busy�and slow.

Then it was pile everyone in the van again and drive around town taking them home. Although we�d only brought B-O-Y and Kat, I had promised the mother of B-O-Y�s friend that we would take all the kids home.

So that�s how I ended up, after a day of distributing campaign literature, cutting out Kat�s prom dress, doing laundry, organizing girl scout paperwork, and other assorted chores, staying out late. That�s how I ended up posting so late.

Blame it on the teenagers.

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