Day: April 14, 2006

Four kids snuggled together on the floor for a slumber party and they went to sleep! I didn’t have to scold even once. If I could count on that happening every time, they could have slumber parties every night.

My call of “bedtime!” was answered by Patches groaning “Not again!” Yes indeed son, we have bedtime every single evening. It’s just one of those things he’s going to have to get used to. How he’s failed to get used to it in the three years he’s been around, is something of a mystery, but go figure.

Kiki and Link met my bedtime announcement with excitement which at first baffled me. Patches reaction is a much more familiar one. Then I realized that Kiki and Link had hatched a plan to have a slumber party on the family room floor. “It’s Friday mom! There’s no school tomorrow!” Not only that, but it is the beginning of their spring break and the kids are feeling celebratory. They’d even weakened my request resistance by cheerfully helping clean up the disaster area that we call our family room. Now there was all that clean and freshly vacuumed space and they wanted to put it to good use.

The problem with slumber parties is that getting to the slumber part involves much giggling, squealing, and parental intervention. Frequently the only way they sleep at all is when I separate them entirely. I didn’t really want to deal with it. I especially didn’t want to deal with it when they’re all hyper on the abundance of candy they got at the “easter egg hunt” we attended this evening. Attendance at said hunt became mandatory when someone from our church taped a hot pink reminder notice to our door and Kiki found it. Kiki is fully capable of reading, checking calendar and clock, announcing impending candy to her siblings, and whipping them all into a froth of anticipation. There were no eggs at this hunt, just candy. Lots of candy strewn across lawns for kids to pick up by the basketful. My kids are not stupid, they filled their baskets. To give them credit, they then cheerfully shared with kids who came late or who didn’t gather as fast. We still came home with enough sugar for a houseful of headaches. So you can see why the idea of a slumber party did not make me dance for joy.

On the other hand, the kids make this request fairly frequently and it is almost always denied for very sensible reasons like mandatory school attendance the next morning. Tonight the sensible reasons had all been dispatched. The kids had been cheerful workers and despite the influx of sugar, they had all completely failed to squabble with each other. I realized that the only reason not to have a slumber party was that it might inconvenience me. Not a good enough reason. So they got their slumber party. I did change the venue to the floor of the bedroom that Link and Patches share. It is a smaller space with a door that I can shut. I also made sure that the kids most likely to squabble were separated by those least likely to squabble. Theoretically the containment and separation of squabblers will reduce the nuisance factor and allow me to maybe watch a movie later. So far so good, but the night is yet young.

We aren’t planning anything big for spring break. I’ve got enough big things looming that I don’t feel like adding any more is a good idea. So it is pretty important to do small special things like this slumber party. We’ll probably rent some movies, maybe have a game night. But mostly this week will be spent out in the yard riding bikes and preparing the vegetable garden for planting. If I pitch it right the kids might even consider that fun. Or not, but at least they got their slumber party.

Today I was informed by Gleek that there are poisonous butterflies that fly over our backyard and drop poisonous gray caterpillars. I think she is referring to the fuzzy gray caterpillarish things that drop from local aspen trees. At first I thought this was part of some game, but she appears to be very serious and terrified of these caterpillars. My efforts to allieviate her fears have been to no avail because she was told about this by the 7 year old neighbor boy who, obviously, knows more about caterpillars than any mom could ever know.

Today was also the day that Patches pointed to a yellow forsythia bush in full bloom and informed me that it is a dandelion tree. He was so pleased to see it and with his own description that I didn’t feel a need to correct it. Besides they do look like dandelion trees from a distance.

As you might have guessed we’ve been spending more time outdoors this week. I decided to finally tackle some of the gardening work rather than wandering around seeing how much there was to be done and feeling overwhelmed. Once I got out there and started working the job no longer seems impossible. The list of yard things I’d like to have done is endless, but then chore lists always seem that way. If I accomplished everything I want to do, my yard would look like something out of a gardening magazine. Not going to happen this year. This year I’ll be lucky if I can keep the vegetables alive.