Sleepovers & S'mores

Edited 5/29/07 - I'm really tired of putting in fake names for my kids. It makes this so much harder. So, I've gone back in and changed them. But, I'm keeping other kids' names fake. I won't make that decision for their parents.

My daughter's birthday was earlier this month. We had a family birthday dinner for her complete with her favorite meal (which Daddy spent 2 days making) a homemade cake and lots of presents. We didn't get around to the real birthday party right away because there has just been too much going on, and she couldn't decide what kind of party she wanted. So, with the holiday weekend upon us, we decided to organize a sleepover for her and her friends. She's invited four friends from school to spend the night. We've also invited her friends from the neighborhood to come over in the evening and join us for a backyard bonfire and some good old roasted marshmallows and s'mores. I've also secretly invited the parents to join us too, for s'mores and beer. That will make it all much more tolerable.
Now, my daughter had a sleepover last year too. She invited four friends then too, three came. Here is what I wrote to my mother after that lovely evening (of course I changed the names):
The sleepover was okay. Grace learned two lessons this weekend that I didn't learn until college - "girlfriends only in small doses please," and "catfights".
There were three little friends plus Grace and Jake. Two friends from school, and one friend that Grace has known and loved since she was 3, in preschool, Debbie. Debbie is likely the sweetest little girl you could meet, and cool and funny and smart, and polite. Holly is also sweet, smart and funny, and VERY loud. Karen is manipulative, bossy, controlling and of course, looked up to by all of her friends - a leader of the pack. You can see the dynamics, right? Karen spent much of the time telling the other three what to do, disagreeing with much of what I said, trying to get more goodies in her goodie bag than the others and wanting to play with Jake - whom all the girls have a crush on except Debbie. Don't get me wrong, I actually like Karen, and she and Grace are dear friends, but small doses, small doses. Holly and Grace, who are very much accustomed to Karen's bossy ways, generally just disregard what she says, Grace more than Holly (Holly has often had "issues" with Karen), so they managed pretty well. Although Grace did say that the two of them (Karen and Holly) argued a lot and she didn't like that. Debbie, not being used to Karen, and being as sweet as she is, and just trying to fit in and have fun, was more likely to just do what Karen told her. As you can imagine, Karen kept finding ways to put poor Debbie on the sidelines - and every time I busted in and put a stop to it, and Debbie would grin at me in thanks.
They were all asleep by 10:30 - a feat I'm very proud of. Though it wasn't easy: Karen and Debbie prefer total darkness, Holly and Grace like a little light. Grace and Debbie like to go to bed with a book, Karen and Holly do not. Debbie likes total quiet while Grace and Karen wouldn't shut up. They were all in the same room.
They all woke up at 5am. So did Jake. So did AJ. I tried to sleep longer - it was Mother's Day after all. But, unbeknownst to me, AJ not only woke up at 5am, but also left the house! So, I was lying in bed as the noise downstairs was getting louder and louder, and the action started getting wilder and wilder. By 5:30, all five kids were playing a mad game of chase and tag around the house. Yelling, screaming, stomping, crashing into walls, falling down, thundering around, screeching with joy. Peanut and I were just lying in bed, shaking our heads, going "where the hell is AJ?"
I went downstairs and saw a note on the counter, "Happy Mother's Day. Gone shopping. Be back soon!"
SHOPPING!
SHOPPING!
IT'S 6AM ON SUNDAY! WHAT THE HELL IS OPEN NOW!!!!?
So, knowing that AJ always gets great gifts, knowing that it would be worth the pain of being home alone with the stampede, and also recognizing that getting up at 5am to get me a gift is a nice thing, I just buckled down and started on breakfast - amidst the stampede. I did not try to tame the stampede - I just ignored it and glared at my two children every time they pounded through the kitchen screaming. The stampede lasted until about 7am. Then, without notice, Debbie stated, "I'm not playing anymore." and plopped on the couch to watch cartoons. They all just plopped too and suddenly it got very quiet.
Just as the huge breakfast was being put on the table, at 7:15, AJ walked in with my gift.
The rest of the day we were all so tired. So So So tired.
Not an exciting day.
Grace confided last night that the sleepover really wasn't nearly as much fun as she'd expected. The girls argued too much, they wanted to play with Jake too much, they took out all of her toys and didn't put them back when she asked them to help. She went to school today with mixed emotions about seeing Holly and Karen.
So, I look forward to this once again. This time, it's not Mother's Day, and I fully expect my husband to be home in the morning. I'm thinking about having my son stay at a friend's house for the night - if I can invite him to someone else's house. In any event, I am looking forward to s'mores.
Here's a quick and yummy recipe that the kids and I make when we can't make real s'mores. It's a great quick dessert, and a great treat to bring to school for those classroom parties.

SIMPLE S'MORES
Take a half of a graham cracker, spread marshmallow fluff on it. Dip it, fluff side down, into a bowl of mini chocolate chips. Spread some fluff on the other half of the graham cracker and stick it, upside down, on the first half, making a sandwich, or s'more. Sometimes, just for added goodness, I put the graham crackers with fluff in the broiler for 3-4 mintues before adding the chips and sticking them together. You get just a bit of that roasted marshmallow flavor.
Oooh, so yummy.