Experimenting at Mia's House

Did you ever have a slumber party as a child? I did. I loved slumber parties and never worried that the name implied any actual sleeping; it just meant that I would be partying somewhere other than under my parents' watchful eye.

As a parent, I'm ready to bring back the true meaning of slumber party: a gathering of people wherein they sleep. No eating, no drinking, no chatting, no staying up late, just sleeping and, consequently, a house full of silence.

Tonight we are spending the night at Mia's house. (And if you're wondering why she has no recent posts, it's because she's been watching my children whilst I work and blog. What a SIL!) The cousins are all in one room (5 children in one room!). We told them to pretend that they were in an orphanage and it was lights out time. My SIL told her oldest son that orphanages handed down severe punishments for failure to go to sleep on time. I don't think our children connected the dots. There have been 12 potty breaks, 11 drinks of water (each), 10 complaints on sleeping arrangements, 9 toys cast out of bed, 8 bruises from child to child beatings, 7 tears shed, 6 whispers, "Shhhh....mom's coming!", 5 exchanges of blankets, 4 cries of, "Where's my lovie?" 3 (thousand) rounds of giggles, 2 "This wasn't what I thought would happen at our slumber party," and one mother ready to move to Maine. How was this a good idea?