Slumber Party

When I was little, I remember that sometimes my sisters and I would pile pillows and blankets in the living room for slumber parties. My mom didn't know it, but I used to sneak out and run a few blocks down the street to the gas station to buy tons of candy for these parties. It was always late at night, so of course now I know that was a dangerous idea! I remember eating lots of junk food, and then hiding the wrappers under our pillows until morning.

I decided to try a slumber party with my kids- with the whole family. But we didn't involve junk food; we just all slept together in the living room. I set up the "beds"an hour before bedtime because I knew my kids would have a lot of excitement over the new activity. As predicted, they played and played and played on the beds. They especially like walking along the pillows.

Dayton, Daddy, and Daphne pretending to sleep

Then as a cool-down, we read books in bed

At 8 o'clock, we turned the lights off and all went to sleep. I was excited for the excuse to get a full-night's rest for a change. But I learned that 8 o'clock is too early for my bedtime. I fell asleep just fine at 8, but then I woke up around 11 after a great 'nap' and couldn't fall back asleep for two hours. I'm envious of my children's 11-hour rest every night... even when I tried going to bed early, my body wouldn't allow it.

My body was a little sore the next day from sleeping on the floor- I'm not as resilient as I used to be. But the slumber party was fun, and I enjoyed sleeping in between my loving children. I think we'll do it again sometime. Maybe we'll add popcorn and a movie to the slumber party.