Temporarily Insane

What was I thinking when I agreed to letting my son invite 9 other 8-year olds to our home for a sleep over in honor of his 8th birthday? Egads! Ever have those moments when something seems like a good idea at the time? Yeah - this was one of those moments. To try to steer my child away from a Chuck E. Cheese fiasco or a reenactment of the 80's at a local skating rink, I thought (I must stop doing that) having a sleep over might be more fun. Sure - if there were perhaps only a couple of other children, not 9! What was I thinking?

Orion is fabulous - such a sweet kid and a friend to everyone. He didn't want anyone to feel left out. I think if he had his druthers, he would have invited every kid from school and his soccer team. I told him he had to narrow it down, so he narrowed it down to 9. Being the great mom I try to be, I agreed. What was I thinking?

What's a party without a few party favors? After all, a sleep-over should be fairly low-key and low budget. When I spied the whoopee cushions at buy 2 - get 1 free, I thought (there I go again) perfect - just what every 8-year old boy needs. I threw some super balls in for good measure, hackey-sacks, plastic bubbles, and soccer stickers rounded out the loot. Then something happened on my way to aisle 8. I think I dropped my brain and other shoppers didn't quite know how to respond. (It's like when you've just met someone and they have a great big gob of green spinach stuck between their two front teeth - how do you politely point it out?) What happened while my brain took leave of my body? I picked up 12 party horns. What was I thinking?

Imagine how much noise 9 8-year olds can make. Now imagine 9 of them blowing with all of their 8-year old might into party horns simultaneously. If any of you were startled from a peaceful sleep - I wholeheartedly apologize. I swear those were the party horns that could be heard around the world.

After cake, ice-cream and the 5-minutes of ear piercing horns, we adjourned outside for the party poppers. At least I had the common sense to have the boys do these outside. The kids loved pulling the cords & watching the confetti burst out with a bang.

Poor Orion - he's so short, you can barely see him behind the railing. The orange behind the white lattice is his shirt.

The fabulous thing about inviting a gaggle of boys for a party is that they pretty much entertain themselves. Wade took them to the park before sundown to play soccer, football, and capture the flag. The weather was nice - a balmy 35°F (spring is here!) and the sun was shining. Keeping boys happy is pretty easy - feed them! We ate homemade pizza, cake, chips, and homemade milkshakes. In the morning they scarfed down homemade Belgian waffles. The boys were happy building legos, playing Wii sports, and then settling down in their sleeping bags for movies (Pokemon & Chicken Little). Finally sleep overtook them around midnight.

What was I thinking? Well - that I love Orion & wanted him to have a happy 8th birthday. Mission accomplished!