Ok.  This was my daughter's first REAL sleepover party.  She just turned 9.  The party box sent 8 invites, so I let her send out 8 invites.  I was kind of excited, actually.  This would be fun for her as she is loud and outgoing, and I was looking forward to playing hostess and indulging the girls in fun.  I knew from my own childhood sleepovers that this would be a loud, no-sleep, insane function and I would have to put on my "patient mom panties" and deal with it. 

As luck would have it, ALL 8 of the girls invited came!  The day of, I planned a nap for myself in the afternoon.  After all, I had no idea when my hubby would return from work, and I still had to attend to the needs of the 5 siblings of the birthday girl.  Girls began arriving at 5 and we turned on the music, made pizza and then busted a pinata.  After everyone was successfully sugared-up, they ran to the basement and just started screaming!!  And screaming!  And banging on the piano, and toys and bells and made as much noise as possible.  I DID ask that they please close the door thank you very much!  After a while, I brought them upstairs to make root beer floats and again they descended to the basement like some prehistoric tribe, amped up on sugar.  My other kids got in on the fun, too. 

Soon, it was 8 and my hubby was still not home.  I went ahead with the cake and presents and for a moment the room was silent as Carolyn unwrapped each gift.  As soon as the paper was off, it was, "let me see!"  "Oh, how CUTE!"  "I have one like that at home!"  Chatter, chatter, chatter!  

Hubby came home exhausted from work and needed to go straight to sleep.  (HE'S exhausted???)

We continued with the dancing, yelling and revelling.  I put the little kids to bed.  More noise, more fun!

Finally, at 10:30, I put on a movie for them inthe basement to try to tame the wild beasts.  It was Ghostbusters.  I came back at midnight to check on them and half the little dears were asleep.  The other half were smacking those dears with pillows.  At some point I fell asleep on the upstairs sofa, and awoke at 6:10 to stirring chatter and footsteps.  Some had not slept at all, including my own dear daughter!  So I got up, made pancakes and eggs ( I made them blue), and they got out the whipped cream cans and sprinkles and I let them have at it until 8 or so.  By 10, I had managed to clean up the kitchen and dining room in time for parents to come pick them up, while they invented some new game with wrapping paper and bows downstairs. 

Gary came down from the bedroom as the last girl was leaving.  He wished Carolyn a happy birthday and swung her around. 

"It's all yours", I said, "I'm taking a nap!"

Ahh!!  Just one more week and it's back to the old back-to-school routine in our house.  You know, the routine that starts with the whining in the morning:

 "I don't WANT to go to school", "I HATE that cereal", "These clothes DO match!",  "Sean put my erasers in the toilet!", "He hit me!" and,  "We ALWAYS have to do chores!"

And ends with more whining in the evening:

"I don't WANT to do my homework!", "We're having THAT for dinner?", "How come HE gets to stay up later?!!"  and "I was on the computer first!!" 

In the middle of the day, there are only 3.  I will cart them along to the grocery store where they will grab things off the shelves and the 4 year old will race around to the next aisle and try to hide behind the cereal boxes.  Little does she know that I have to buy ALL the cereal in the store and I'll find her eventually!!  This is the child that is showing the 2 yr old the ropes.  She is becoming a perfect clone of her big sister.  Next year, when Sophie is off in Kindergarten, Margaret will be the one hiding out and running off.   Once Sophie is found in the cereal, she will reluctantly mosey along behind me, stopping to have conversations with people along the way:

"How OLD are you?  I'm 4.  My name is Sophie.  What's yours?  How did you get so fat?"

"You have big boobs.  I don't.  I bet they're fun."

But Gabriel is mine.  He's the youngest.  He will be lucky if I ever let him leave the house.  School is completely out of the question!!  How could I possibly let the last one go?  And he will have to invent new ways to be naughty and make his mark, because it's all been done before.  

Have I mentioned how excited I will be when they're teenagers??!?

One more week till school starts.  Ahhhhh.   

For the past day, I have been getting "schooled" by my 10 yr. old at Guitar Hero.  Granted, I have just started, and he has been at it for 3 months.  We celebrate our success together (while entertaining the rest of the family) and laugh at our failures!  What fun.  Never underestimate the power of kids' toys to entertain yourself!!  I shied away at first, and now I'm pretty much hooked.  Can't wait till he goes back to school!  Ha ha! I'll have the thing all to myself at naptime!!

I'm a Mommy on the edge!!!

Yesterday was very nice.  They had a lovely tea menu to choose from.  I am not a tea drinker, so it was kind of a crap shoot for me, but I chose a Sencho from Japan and liked it very much.  My 8 yr. old chose a Peppermint, and I don't remember the other two.  We each had our own pot and a beautiful cup and saucer.  Our server brought out a three tiered plate.  On the bottom were plain, raisin, and cranberry-orange scones with cream and strawberry preserves.  The scones were fresh out of the oven!  On the next tier were little sandwiches.  Ham, egg-salad, and cucumber-cream cheese.  There were also little mushroom tarts and Shepherd's pie tarts.  On the top were chocolate-covered strawberries, tiny lemon bars, shortbread, and a few others I can't remember!!  It was fun for us older people, but my daughter made faces at the things she didn't like!  She did like the tea, however.  What a fun experience!!

My neice is visiting from Taiwan for three weeks.  Today, we are going to a high tea at a local tavern.  For us in the US, tea is not something we do every day, so this is quite a novelty.  Carolyn is going, too.  How fun!  We will be eating our first scones.