Sleepover party and an anniversary

Today we're having a bit of a chilled-out day.

Last night we held a party for my new 10 y.o. It is the first non-family party he's ever had. There's a variety of reasons for that, one being that he's never asked for a party and so, typically, it's slipped under the radar and never happened. There are lots of things like that in a multiple-child family. I notice this particularly as I interact with smaller families. Particularly families with only one child.

It also happens to be the first every party-sleepover that we've ever hosted as a family. Our children's personalities have a bit to do with that, as do our personalities. Not to mention that with three fairly highly strung boys, our life runs on a thin wire anyway. It doesn't take a lot to push the stress over the top.

Playing Heroica, a Lego game.

Possibly another reason is that as children we had almost no experience of party-sleepovers ourselves. I haven't checked with my husband on this, but I suspect he never had one, nor went to one. I never had one and the only sleepover party I did attend ended badly. This is a story in itself.

I'm not sure how many preteen girls were at the party, but considering we were at a small school, it was probably all the girls in our year level: between a dozen and 15. Brave parents! We did all the usual things, food, stories, we may have even watched a movie (though not guaranteed, that may have been before videos were standard equipment in homes). And we were late to bed.

When we woke up early in the morning there was a rush to use the toilet and I ended up in a line. I leaned up against the door frame and mistakenly put my hand in the hinge-space. My friend shut the door on my fingers and, in her semi-comatose state, couldn't figure out why it wouldn't shut. I remember her saying, "I can't shut the door. I can't shut the door." While repeatedly trying to do so. In the moment I couldn't spit out, "My fingers are there." until significant damage had been done.

I lost both those fingernails, painfully, over the following weeks. Man that hurt!

I can't remember ever being invited to another sleep-over. I don't know if they just weren't in fashion, or I earned a reputation?

In any case. Our excursion into sleep-over parties last night went well. We kept it low key and small (only two guests). We were helped by a present that our son received for his birthday, a Lego game called Heroica. My boys are enthralled by Lego and games that include a fantasy story, weapons, and where you create your own board. This game has all of that. Our son's guests were equally enthralled. I think the other thing that appeals in these sorts of games with this general age group is the huge number of rules. I struggle to understand it all, but they love it.

Dinner table set for seven.

End result: we provided very little entertainment. Mostly just supervision.

After a simple dinner (hot dogs and veggies) we ate a calculator cake. Then showers followed by settling into a movie (Garfield 2). The movie didn't end until nearly 10 o'clock. I was wilting. Thankfully my husband has more stamina and patience and he waited another hour downstairs while the boys gradually settled. Though they tell me that they didn't go to sleep until after midnight. By the time I came down for breakfast at 7.15, they were already well into more rounds of Heroica.

Our grand team effort Calculator Cake.
The numbers melted in the heat!

The boys both left mid-morning and now we're left with a holiday-day to fill in, with, guess what? More Heroica!

Meanwhile, my husband slaves away at Professional Development (yes, that's why the boys are home on a Thursday), learning how to teach EAL students. This is the new ESL. It stands for English as an Additional Language. And certainly is a more accurate label for many of the kids at CAJ. The two guests last night speak at least one other language. One has a Singaporean dad and Japanese mum. The other has a Japanese dad and American mom.

15 years ago today we made vows we've never regretted.

But for now, I'd better go and prepare some lunch. Oh, and remember to wrap my wedding anniversary present for my beloved. Today marks 15 years since we tied the knot! Wow, a lot has changed since that day!