"NACHOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The sleepover. I'm not a fan. The kids stay up way too late, eat way too much junk food, are way too loud, make way too big a mess, get way too sick of each other, and are way too crabby the next day. Add to all that the scary part. You know, all the stuff that can go on overnight when parents are asleep or not paying attention. In today's crazy world, we just can't be too careful. So we've had a rule at our house for a long time that we just don't do friend sleepovers. Occassionally, we'll do one with the cousins only, but that's it. We do allow "Late Nights" where we friend swap until 10:00 or so, but then it's home to our own beds.

Unfortunately, despite our rule, my girls often ask and ask and ask and ask if so and so can have a sleep over or if they can sleep over there. And once or twice over the years, under special circumstances, we've agreed. But we really try hard to stick to our guns. So my girls came up with the idea of having just one annual sleepover where they each get to invite a friend or two and we get it all over with in one shot. After a pretty convincing sales pitch and much debate, I finally agreed to one a year.

At our house.

Under my watch.

So they planned this year's party (yes, I'd call it a party, theme and all), prepared the invitations, planned the menu and activities, and anxiously awaited the night for over a month. They called it "NACHOOOOOOOOOOO NIGHT." . The idea came to Barrett one day after we watched Nacho Libre for the hundreth time while eating our Mexican food dinner. Our family loves that movie! The night was planned when Ryan was going to be away at a scout backpacking overnight. (Leave mom to deal with 18 straight hours of fun.) Easton was seriously outnumbered with 8 girls and mom, but he didn't care. Actually, I think he loved it. The girls, of course, ate nachos and other simple mexican food that the girls loved, painted nails, did silly girl stuff, danced, watched Nacho Libre and quoted all the lines, ate popcorn, made slushes, ate more snacks, did a short crazy night swim at 10:30 pm, then stayed up until the wee hours of the morning talking and laughing and being silly. Easton crashed about 10:45 and the two younger girls hit the hay around 11:00. I think the others all dropped off between midnight and 1:30 am.

Despite the fact that they'd barely fallen asleep, they were all up again at the crack of dawn in traditional sleepover fashion. We had a delicious breakfast of wheat pancakes, fruit, bacon and juice, a short jam session, then went for a morning swim. We had a blast taking pictures and enjoying the day. Most of the girls left around 11:00, but the cousins stayed all day. I think it was a great time all the way around. I survived. The kids loved it. The house wasn't too trashed. And best of all - there won't be another one until next year!!!!

Here are some of the pictures from the party.

Nails, nails, nails...

Movie time

Watching "Nacho Libre"

Cousins, Best Friends

the man of the house

Night Swim (10:25 pm)

Girls Rock!