Wednesday evening we were hanging out with the family for my brother-in-law's birthday. Now, when we get together, there is usually something bound to happen. Honestly, we have well grounded, well behaved children….until they come together. (I personally am thinking that is really does come from the Vivas side of the family, because the genetic link is my hubby and his sister. Don't you think that makes sense? My brother-in-law thought it did!) The thing is, these cousins BEG to be together. I'm not exaggerating, they will BEG us, please, please, please???

Anyway, you can kind of see where this is leading up to, just by looking a t a few pictures from the other night. Notice how these two think they have everything under control. (BTW..that was an amazing fruit by made by none other than one of our favorite non-Vivas family members.)

So anyway, we had a nice little time of chatting while eating cake and fruit pie. We even had time to take family pictures, but I was in the pictures so didn't get them on my camera. That probably should have been the first warning signal. Trying to force our tweens to take family pictures. Of course, as soon as they were done, they ran to escape any more torture upstairs.

Warning to all parents: If you torture your children, they will find a way to torture you back.

We remained downstairs trying to have a nice, relaxing chat.

By the way, screaming from upstairs when you are relaxing downstairs is usually not a good sign. You probably should check on things. We did.

I'll admit it, I didn't literally expect a tornado. In the brief moments that they were upstairs alone together, all of the mattresses on the two beds managed to come off, have their sheets torn off, and the room looked like a tornado had come through just the boys room. There was obvious jumping going on, only the response was,

"It wasn't me!"

"I wasn't jumping, I was just watching."

"I didn't want to."

Um, all of your faces are red and you are dripping sweat. Children also apparently have this gift of not realizing that WE KNOW WHAT YOU WERE DOING!

Because see, when my hubby was younger, he had this thing for mattresses. He liked to put his sister (the one with the knife) under them and jump on her. I never did that.

I did lame things like stick my older brother's finger in warm water to see if it really made you wet your pants. (It didn't. I tried his toes, too, but that didn't work.)

After the yelling to put the room back together NOW began, my oldest son quickly gathered my two teens and they rushed out the door. See, they've been on that side and know the wrath of mom….and Tia. They know when the party has come to an end.

Hubby was next to leave, taking the Princess (not tonight) and Chicken Noodle Butt with him.This is after he found his sock and shoes even though he didn't want to do any of it.

My non-Vivas family member then volunteered to take the Drama Queen and I home. We got her together and left after explaining to her that no indeed, they would not be doing any overnights tonight!

This is the part I was going to explain, remember? Tia was the one that was left behind as a child. We usually hear this story at family gatherings; how the whole family (HUGE family) left the park and each thought the other had her and well, 2 hours later, they found her at the park with a nice lady sitting with her, while she waited for someone to come back and pick her up. That's Tia, the one hold the knife in the picture above. She's also the one who was smashed under mattresses by my hubby.

So, as we are driving down the road, headed home, my phone rings. It's Tia.

"Hello?"

"Um, hello. Your forgot a child?" followed by laughter.

"Oh, which one did we forget?"

That would be the Smart One…whom, I will admit, has been forgotten left behind, on more than one occasion. (Please note that he's always been left in an air conditioned home, not at a park with strangers.) Apparently moments after we left, he came sauntering down the stairs. He was informed that we'd left without him. He said he was used to it and that he'd walk home. (Seriously, we live close by each other.) Tia said she knew how he felt (they have that special left-behind-bond), and had her birthday boy husband give him a ride home.