Sleepover and Spirit Week

 The sleepover went very well.  It's amazing to me how the girls just settle into things when they walk in the door.  This was my goal, even though I didn't realize it at the time - to have a place where they could come where they're welcome and comfortable and happy.

I don't really have any toys over here that are very exciting, but they seem to love all the old dolls Elise and Emily had and a big basket full of odds and ends that we collect.  They never know what's going to be in there, and neither do I.  If I pick up something interesting, it goes in the basket.  They usually get out the paper and pens and markers and scissors at some point and then ask if they can turn on the music.  It's almost like not having children any more but little people that can carry on conversations and teach me things on the computer and make me laugh - every single day.

As we were walking home from school yesterday, Katherine was complaining about the ankle she had injured in bowling at PE.  She was a little insulted that her teacher had not sent her to the nurse but had waved it off as a minor injury to tell her parents about.  She was kind of limping along and said, "Mimi, you know when I walk like this, I'm more at your pace."  Pace!  Where do they learn these things.  My pace is slow walking.  Hers is running ahead.  

So, the sleepover.  I can't even remember much about it.  They were left on the front porch with their sleeping bags and little suitcases, all chattery and full of excitement.  They did absolutely nothing different than they do after school, but somehow it was a big deal.  

No one brought any pizza or anything from their house, so we raided the refrigerator and pantry and found mac and cheese (of course!), applesauce, some lettuce and carrots, and Capri Sun.  

I'm sure we read awhile.  We're reading the last Clementine book, and Graysen especially is sad about it.  She asked yesterday when we were getting a new Clementine book, and I had to tell her there might not be any more.  The author, Sara Pennypacker, wrote the last one in 2002 though, so she might have another one coming.  We should write her and demand another one!  When I was checking on the books she had written, I found this list and a nice authobiography.

We got started on them when Noreen loaned us her five she had bought for her boys and told us how funny they were.  Not much can impress these girls as far as reading with all the books at their disposal, but she has a way of making things seem hilarious.  We'll turn a page, see a crazy picture, and look at each other and say, "Oh, no.  What is she going to get into now."  Her best friend is Margaret who lives to organize and be perfect.  Katherine identifies with her more, I think.  We read those five pretty quickly and then found 3 more at the library.  I think that leaves one more and the newer books she's written.  I'll see how quickly I can get some ordered if they look good.

Speaking of organizing, while I was getting their food ready for them to eat Saturday night, Katherine was very quiet.  I went into the bedroom later and saw that she had spread her sleeping bag out along with two pillows from my bed, a favorite "friend," a book just in case, and her blankie Butter - or maybe Chocolate.

Ready to sleep.  Not hardly!  It was neater than that before I put some quilts and blankets underneath the sleeping bag.  As if they were actually going to sleep there.

I complimented her for getting it set up anyway, and she said, "My fingers were itchy to organize, so I organized your side table."  I think it was the one in the living room with just a lamp, a candle and a picture on an easel.  I'm sure it looked neater when she was finished though.

We stayed up pretty late, and I'm not even sure what we did.  Once they got their teeth brushed and into their sleeping bags, I turned on Sparkle Stories, these incredibly boring little stories with a moral of sorts that they listen to and fall asleep.  This one started out with a snowstorm and sledding - and then I don't remember.  I was asleep.  I believe I slept about 10 or 15 minutes until they woke me up saying they were wide awake.  I suggested music, lullabies like I used to play when they were babies.  Graysen said classical music, so we found a 2-hour collection of beautiful music.  Nothing doing.  They could not sleep and were worried about it.  It's such a terrible feeling to want to sleep and can't.  

I invited them into my bed, and they snuggled in, one on each side with their books.  That meant the lamp was on (I'm getting them book lights for Christmas), and I was kind of trapped there with nothing to do and not feeling sleepy any more.  I was glad to see them fall asleep one by one, and then I realized that my sleeping was over, so I maneuvered myself out from between them and went to the living room with my computer.  I ended up sleeping on the loveseat and not having the best night of my life.  We need to work on some sort of solution.  I could get another bed but really don't want one in the second bedroom.  I have it filled with important things, like sewing stuff and drawing things and crafts and ribbons and buttons.  I can't seem to keep an inflatable mattress.  The cats must puncture them, because they pretty quickly start losing air, and I'm not investing in another one.

They wanted pancakes for breakfast, and I was afraid I didn't have any mix or the incentive to make them from scratch, but Elise had left just enough in a box for maybe 4 apiece - and they still wanted more, but I talked them into some grits, which they gobbed down.  No eggs wanted though.  

I got to have a nice nap Sunday afternoon to make up for my squished-up sleeping the night before.  I hope I will do this more often now that they're so self-sufficient.  I need to let Emily and Ryan do some fun things.  I'm just so protective of my weekends.  Not that the weeks are hard, but there's always after school happening, and I like a couple of days where I have nothing scheduled.  Old age privilege, I think.

Not seeing the girls off in the mornings, I miss out on some of the outfits they wore.  I do see them after school, but they're usually a little worse for wear.  Tuesday was Plaid Day, and they wore their cute little pleated skirts and boots, but I only got pictures of them in coats and being silly.  

Those boots should do the trick on keeping Kate's feet warm.  She's lucky enough to profit from all Graysen's hand-me-downs, but she loved that skirt so much that Emily got her one of her own.  Graysen has lost two nice coats already this year and is down to this one - which she says is her favorite anyway.

I have an 8:45 appointment for a follow-up mammogram this morning.  I was dreading the drive, but Emily very generously offered to take me to work with her!  She moved her patients around and is getting done at 11:00 and will bring me home then.  In the meantime, I will probably get a coffee and sit by the big fireplace at the hospital and enjoy myself.