A Lack of Slumber

My pretty Skyler is turning ten tomorrow.  And for her party she wanted to have her first slumber party.

Just why are they called that?  "Lack of slumber party" is much more like it.  But I remember how much I loved a good slumber party when I was that age.  So I agreed to it and tried to make it as fun as possible.

Here's something I've realized, though.  My kids are waaaaaaay more fun than me.  I just had to buy pizza and cake.

They strung Christmas lights in the big family/ rec/ homeschool room upstairs, pulled out the old dance costumes for dressing up, picked a playlist and invited their friends  Skyler was kind to her tired, old, sleep-deprived mama and kept it to just four girls and let Jayna have a friend too  -- to "help me out", uh-huh.

What followed was a night of crazy laughs, REALLY loud singing,

Guess what they're singing?

a Just Dance Disney dance-off,

dancing,

dancing,

 and a movie.  And then a little sleep.  And then more dancing.

Oh and did I mention blue teeth?  I started thinking a little about the dangers of food coloring when my hand was stained blue after I cut the cake.  Eek.

This grumpy little dude stayed up past his bedtime to join in the dancing.

Probably the first of many slumber parties he's going to crash. :-)

I only had to get up once during the night to ask people to pipe down, so that was pretty good.  The only problem was that Lilly slept in our room and has taken to talking in her sleep.  I woke up a few times asking, "What?" after some crazy comment had startled me awake.  But I figure I got at least 6 good hours of sleep.  And anyway, it was totally worth it for this girl's smile.

However.  *ahem*  The post-party lack-of-sleep moodiness was not so smile-worthy.

So Matt and I did what any sane parents would do, headed out to the movies.  The Impossible was really amazing.  I read one review that called it predictable.  I'm sorry, but really.  How bone-headed is that?  You're talking about a true story from a historical event -- you know, something in the past -- and you're going to call it "predictable"?  Puh-leeze.

Seriously, though, even knowing the ending didn't make it any less riveting.  It is aptly titled.  I couldn't believe how anyone survived that, let alone five members of a family.  The scenes of the hospital were almost overwhelming.  I cried so much more in this movie than in Les Miserables because it's not an entirely happy ending knowing and seeing so many who died.  The movie masterfully weaves other stories into the main one and shows the struggles of these five individuals to find each other in a way that left me quite emotionally wrought.  It's a great film.

But after all that crying, I started to re-think the whole January movie thing.  There are some great dramas, but you know?  At the moment, I'd really love to see something good and funny.  Saturday night, we came home from the movie, hugged all our babies very tight... and watched a little bit of Mystery Science Theatre: 3000.  Then finally, thankfully, fell asleep.