The Slumber Party

I had a sleepover with Gracie last night.  It was more like a slumber party, but she called it a sleepover.  Danny was away camping with the boys Friday night, so Gracie and I decided to have a girls' night.  We started off with supper out, then came home and played until it was time to put Ella to bed.  After Ella was tucked in, our girl's night could begin...

Jumping on the bed!!

She had so much fun jumping!

We started by getting into our jammies.   Gracie was very excited that mommy had bright pink jammies  (even though they're Christmas Spongebob pajamas).  After we were all dressed for our sleepover, we took a bunch of pictures and made a bunch of funny faces.  The we jumped on the bed for a while, and read a new book that I bought Gracie (a really cute book called "That Yucky Love Thing").  

Blowing on her toes

Gracie is doing a lovely job!

The finished product... see, pretty!

After our nails were dry and the slumber party festivities had all taken place, it was time to settle in for our movie.  It was almost 8:30, a full hour and a half past Gracie usual bedtime.  And I was tired, so I assumed she was too!  Apparently, slumber parties mean that the energy reserve gets turned on, because that girl didn't even blink through the move, let alone start to fall asleep!  We watched Cinderella, and ate some popcorn, and when the movie ended at 10:00, I was ready for bed!  Gracie said, "Can we watch more shows, mommy?" and I said, "No way, jose!"  It was lights out, and Gracie finally fell asleep around 10:30, in mommy's bed!

Here are a few things I learned from our sleepover...

1.  Gracie needs to work on her eye-hand coordination... at least while yielding a nail polish brush!

2.  Gracie is willing to share, but only on her terms.  I took a huge handful of the popcorn, to which she exclaimed "Mommy!  Don't take it all! You have to save some for me. Here, I'll share with you, but only one piece at a time."  For the record, there's still half a bag left, so it's not like I was going to leave her starving!

3.  The amount of energy a child can have stored up for nights like sleepover night is astounding.  After I finally called lights out, she talked, literally, until the second she fell asleep.  

4.  When you don't watch TV with your children, turning on a movie makes you seem like supermom to them.  She even called the movie her "special treat."  She was very excited about it!  But it didn't stop her from talking through the entire movie.  Watching a movie with a child is like sitting beside the most annoying person on earth at the move theatre.  "What's she wearing, mommy?" "Why'd she'd do that, mommy?"  "Where did she go, mommy?" "Why did the cat do that to the mouse, mommy?"  Seriously Gracie, shush!!

5.  Two year olds are the nosiest sleepers on the planet.  Gracie was the loudest mouth-breather ever.  I was up most of the night listening to her wheeze and snore.  But it sure was nice snuggling up with her just before she fell asleep.  It may have been a restless night for me, but I loved having her tucked in beside me.  Even if she did kick off the blankets, punch me in the nose, fart as loud as Danny, and randomly scream "Nooooooo!!!" at 3:06 a.m.  

God, I love that kid!