It's early morning...the quiet before the storm

The slumber party was successful so far. 8 girls in all. 2 left at 9PM last night and one changed her mind about staying and went at around 10PM, but her parents were impressed that she even put on her pjs. There was beads, cootie catchers, dancing, singing, and a lot of unnecessary loud noises. They ate pizza, cake, root beer floats. The worst thing they did was smash their face in the cake... Riley really got into this activity. They thought this was so bad. They played with baby dolls ( this was so cute). At one point, the ones who could play piano were taking turns playing their favorite songs. I realized that I really like Carson and her friends and their families.

The makeup came out at some point and Lilly said, "My mom doesn't like it when I wear make-up ", and she went to play something else. In the end, she succumbed to the power of really bad blue eyeshadow applied by another 8 year old. HILARIOUS! I felt really guilty when her mother came to pick her up and she looked a bit like a..... Well, I will just leave it at that.

Then they had to decide where to sleep. EVERYONE wanted to sleep by/with the birthday girl. There was pouting and whining about it, but in the end they worked it out themselves. I took Sam to bed at 11 and I heard Sharon trying to get Carson to calm down at midnight.

Sharon was in the bathroom while one girl was brushing her teeth and she (Simone) said, "SOME people are so annoying". This was my favorite quote from the whole evening.

Meredith got the evening off from work and came over. The kids loved her, of course. Carson admitted that Meredith's gift was the "most fabulous". A hand knit fluffy scarf, a shell box, a small vial of real perfume (her first), and a card that sang....."Lookin' for some hot stuff baby this evening, lookin' for some hot stuff baby tonight". I love that one of the girls said, "Inappropriate". Probably Simone, who is very wise.

Sharon is planning on getting up and making the girls Æbleskivers which her friend's mom made after sleepovers. (Remember, she HAD to have that special pan). Siri, whose dad is from some Scandinavian country, was the only one who knows what they are and Sharon was excited about that.

I don't know what time the girls will wake up, but I have now had my coffee and I am ready for them!

All we need is the kids....

Spent this morning decorating the house and making the Totoro cake. Today is a monumental occasion. Carson is having her first slumber party!! All in all, I think 8 girls are coming to the party and 6 will be sleeping over. WOW! I hope we can keep them entertained so they don't tear down the Christmas tree or something. I am hoping that they pass out from exhaustion before the moms do.

I got that crafty feeling

So I made the kids some Christmas Presents. We can go on overload with fancy gifts which are bound to excite the whole family or at least cause a seizure from overload. So, I made the kids some cute boxes to keep all their pens, markers, and papers that they love so much. Sam was with me when I was picking out the stuff though he didn't know what I was making. He insisted that whatever it was, his should be Mickey Mouse....So, it wasn't my first choice, but I am not four.

I am feeling so sad for a friend today. Last year, after much unhappiness in her personal life, she met a wonderful man, Dave, who changed her life. He introduced her to a whole new world of kayaking and outdoor adventures. She glowed and shined when she talked of him. They talked of traveling the world together and doing the volunteer work in Peru that was so important to her. He even went on a mission trip with her and helped the local Peruvians build a water system in their village to have clean water while she worked in the hospital with the open heart surgery children. Last week while he was sea kayaking, he overturned in a friends kayak and couldn't get the skirt off the kayak. He died in less than 2 minutes.

My work in the Pediatric ICU and tragedies like this make it all too real to me that your life can change in an instant. Make sure you love your people every day.

Today I hope my friend can find peace.

Craft Night

All I can say is "Crafts were made by children big and small".