Things to Do - This Untamed Life, Bedtime (Oh, the Sleepover)

As an only child, when we decided to have three children ("decided" being somewhat of an iffy word choice, but I'll go with it) I assumed they would play with each other. Isn't that the point? But life is always throwing me surprises.

During a period of random happiness, I told F that her best friend could sleepover. I didn't even think about it. They're good kids. They're in 3rd grade. Sleepovers are pretty easy by this point. BUT within seconds my other two children started whining and complaining about my unfairness (oh the curse of unfairness, which always seems to cling to me).

And I believe in equality (or, at least I used to).

So this is how, on a seemingly innocuous Friday night, I ended up with 7 children (YES SEVEN!!) sleeping over at my house. Three boys. Four girls. All in the basement. Ages ranging from 5 to 9.

Things started out swimmingly. We stayed at a friend's happy hour until 8:30 pm. We walked home. We changed into PJs. I rented Maleficent. Everyone snuggled into their own sleeping bag, so cute and innocent-seeming. P's best friend fell into a deep slumber. Life was good.

Then, around 11 pm, all except one found a second wind. I didn't know what to do (Dan was busy hosting a rather large poker game in our outdoor party room), so I photographed the chaos - mainly kindergarten/1st grade boys vs. 2nd/3rd grade girls. The boys used toy swords and life sabers. The girls countered with Dan's old crutches.

Finally by 12:45, I had them back in sleeping bags. I fell asleep upstairs at 1 am, so the rest of the night remains a mystery to me (did they sleep at all? reports vary).

HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE!! Just wondering, how does the rest of the world handle sleepovers when you have multiple children? Do they all take turns hosting or do you end up with nights like mine? Any advice would be appreciated. Now don't forget to click over to This Untamed Life to see everyone else's bedtime images.