I Survived

Yes, the slumber party was a phenomenal success! I had 16 girls (I know that's A LOT!) over on Friday the 9th. That evening things were supposed to get started at about 6:30pm. Wouldn't you know that the strom of the century decided to blow in right about then. So for a while before they got here I ran around collecting batteries, flashlights, and candles just in case. Michael (Taylor's dad) brought me some more just in case. I knew I could handle 16 Excited-To-Stay-Up-All-Night-With-My-Friends girls but I wasn't so sure about 16 Scared-Of-The-Dark-So-Lets-All-Scream-At-The-Same-Time girls. God was gracious and the storm only lasted a short time and the lights stayed on the whole time. I can handle noise but I do value my eardrums.

Once everyone arrived and claimed their spots there wasn't an inch of carpet to be seen in the living room or dining room. That was okay because girls really don't mind being that close to one another. After everyone had staked their claim and put on jammies we had pizza and any other junk food you could imagine for dinner. Sly, child-less, pastor's wife, Mandy made sure that all their drink options were sugar and caffeine free and only one of our snacks contained copious amounts of chocolate. It would have been cruel to completely eliminate chocolate from the festivities but I'm not stupid remember? Next they had a dance party in the living room to a CD made especially for our Girls Only evening. After that they played hide and seek in the house. This was definately the loudest part of the evening because it involved the most screaming. Our only injury befell 6 year old Mia when she was caught standing on the wrong side of a door. She ended up with a goose egg and bruise on her forehead.

Next the Wii bowling and Wii Sing it came out....which included every Disney pop song ever made. Once the singing competition was done we did makeovers. Eleven year old Brooke wanted her long brown hair cut short so with her mother's permission and blessing we gave Brooke a whole new look. I snipped away while 15 wide-eyed girls watched from the bathroom doorway. It turned out great and Brooke loves it...all the girls told her she looked beautiful and that will do any girl's heart good. After the makeovers were complete they had a fashion show for which I was their photographer. They've definately got their runway struts down!

Later in the evening the older girls made "prank" phone calls to boys they liked (even though they'd die before admitting it to anyone). Don't worry I cut it off before it got too late and kept an ear open. I reminded them to keep it all above board and not to harrass anyone too much. Now that most kids have cell phones I think the parents were spared the ringing phone. At this point it was about 11pm and the little ones were starting to wilt so I put them all in my bed and turned on Narnia for them. Mia and Zaalee wanted to call their mom's to say goodnight so we did that and then settled in. No one went home or got scared all night long. Eight year old Emily was having growing pains so I rubbed her legs until she fell asleep watching the movie. It didn't take long for the other little girls to crash and I got them back in their sleeping bags (I'm stronger than I look!). However, Emily told me she was perfectly comfy in my bed and didn't want to move so she was my bed buddy for the night.

At about 12:45am the ones who were still awake decided to watch the Hannah Montana movie and by the time it ended at 2:30am they were pretty much out. I was exhausted so I crawled in bed with Em and dozed with one eye and ear open for the girls. At about 3:30am a little girl named Leah was coughing loud enough to wake the neighbors so I walked her to the spare room and put her to bed in there so the others could sleep. So for the rest of the night I kept getting up to make sure she was breathing okay (It really did sound that bad!...and I'm paranoid when they're not my kiddos!).

By about 8am the little ones were waking up and ready to go which meant the older ones didn't get much more sleep. I tried to keep them in my room watching cartoons but they were too noisy. Gracie Mae (8 yrs old) asked when she had to go home and when I told her 10am she told me she just didn't want to go.....I think I definately made some friends for life. After I heard the older ones moving around, I got up and broke out the chocolate milk, chocolate chip muffins, and blueberry muffins. They ate over 37 muffins that morning! I didn't think they would possibly be hungry after putting away half the junk food in Marion County! If girls eat like this I'd hate to have to feed a bunch of boys. By 9:30am the parents were showing up to get them and by 10:15am everyone had gone home. Needless to say, I took a nap that day and several of the girls did too! Some of you might read this and think I'm crazy for doing it but it really was fun and it meant something to them. All of those girls are such good kids I didn't have to argue with or yell at anyone. Sure it was chaotic...but it was fun, girly, giggly chaotic and I can deal with that. I am just so proud to have such wonderful girls as part of our church family. I look forward to what God may do in their lives and I hope somehow I'll get to play an encouraging, guiding role in that. I also hope we can do many more fun activities. They asked me when we could do it again and I said....How about next year? Maybe we'll make it an annual event. We'll just have to look back at our pictures until then.

The snack table before they devoured EVERYTHING. I had some Ritz crackers, 1 honey bun, and some goldfish left. They're bottomless pits!

Opening dance party moves

Zalee and Mia...best buddies!

Taylor and Haley going head to head in Wii Sports.

Beautiful Brooke before....

Beautiful Brooke after...if this whole unemployment thing gets too bad at least I have a side job!

Wii Sing It...they weren't too bad actually. They can put on a concert in my living room anytime.

I love the ingenuity of girls...

Miss Mia chilling in my bed after she got knocked in the head. Yes, I made sure she didn't go to sleep for 2 hours afterwards just in case but her eyes weren't dialated so I wasn't too worried.

Brooke, Abby Lynn (who used her inside voice ALL NIGHT without me reminding her, Aly, and Haley posing for the fashion show camera

My good, mature influences - Christy, Hannah, and Hannah Shea.

Emily and Gracie Mae posing for the camera. With those smiles they could be on a Colgate commercial.

Well, that's all the evidence I've got for you this year. Check back later for a post about Corn Hole and the Fall Festival. Yes, I really meant to type Corn Hole.

Love to the girls,

Mandy