Fort Night

Last week, the kids built a fort in our living room. It was constructed out of the card table and chairs; and every blanket, quilt, pillow, and stuffed animal we own with the exception of those on Lance and I's bed. (pillows and blankets, not stuffed animals, I made Lance give those up when we got married. :)) We had to draw the line somewhere. This fort stayed up all week and this my friends is a miracle, 'cause MommaJen of 2-3 years ago could have never stood the clutter. But, I'm a new woman, I can now relax and live in a land of clutter with the best of them. And I'm not sure whether this is a good or bad thing. To my kids last week though, it was definitely good.

So, the culmination of the week was the agreement that they could sleep in said fort on Friday night with the understanding that on Saturday, everything would have to be returned to it's rightful location and I could again see the living room.

After we got home from date night (yippee!), the kids got in their pajamas and settled in for the big sleepover in the living room. It was exciting, it was adventerous, it was CRAZY! They were so excited that even though it was 11pm, they just could not get still. Lance told me to just let them be crazy and they would eventually calm down. Ahem, for N, yes that would work. For L, no - the gal just couldn't do it. And so, her night in the fort was cut short and she was forced into her own bed. But when she woke up the next morning, she and N proceeded to watch cartoons from their fort and request breakfast in "bed" which of course was really just their sleeping bags on the floor.

It was a fun experience, but also definitely showed me, I will no longer be in a hurry for my kids to have sleepovers with others! :)

Sleepover?

N was scheduled for his first sleepover Friday night at our house. And it all started out well.

We ordered pizza for dinner, the boys played in N's room, we went swimming in the backyard we made smores. And then, it happened. N's friend A said, "I need to go ask my mom something" and since he lives next door, no big deal. Only, he didn't come back. I was headed over to check on him when his mom showed up at the front door. A got nervous and wanted to be home! So, N was EXTREMELY disappointed, but what can you do? They are still very young, so....as a special treat to our two kiddos, we let them start a movie at 9pm and stay up to watch it. This NEVER happens in our house, so it was a big treat!

Saturday I was able to go to a wonderful bridal shower from one of our former students who is all grown up - it was a great time of celebrating their love for one another and starting their lives together. After the shower, we all went to Adamson Lagoon to swim.

Then Saturday night, Lance and I had DATE NIGHT! We went to see Get Smart and then to dinner at Texas Roadhouse (Lance's favorite!)

Today was a day of church and swimming.

And A, the neighbor boy? He ended up spending almost all waking hours with us this weekend. So even though he didn't spend the night, N got lots of friend time, which is really what it's all about!

All in all, a great weekend!!

Sleepover

Well, we've done it. We've caved in to months of pressure from the boy. He has worn us down. We are letting him have a friend spend the night Friday night for the 1st time.

It happens to be our next-door neighbor's youngest son. We did this on purpose. If it doesn't work out, it's easy to walk him back home! We told N this is a test to see how he handles all the overwhelming excitement that is sure to descend on our house Friday night. If he handles it with all the maturity of a 6 1/2 year old, then maybe, just maybe we'll let him do it again before he graduates from high school!!!

Just kidding, we know we'll let him again, but the frequency will depend on his behavior.

I've sought advice on this subject for about a year now and have received a wide variety of responses. Some parents refuse to ever allow sleepovers for their children. Some only allow their child to invite a friend over to their house for a sleepover and yet others don't mind sleepovers at all. I think I'm a middle of the road kinda gal. I want sleepovers to be a special treat, not a weekly occurence. I also will carefully monitor whose home my kiddos will be allowed to spend the night in. So many issues have come up that I never really thought of before: guns (do they have them in the house? and if so, are they locked up?); what kind of movies/TV they allow their children to watch?, etc.

I want my kids to experience life and not grow up completely sheltered and naive about the world, but I also want to do everything in my power to protect them as well.

Any advice out there from any of you more experienced parents?!?