The Sleepover, Part One

So Mikey's birthday was back in May.  Right in the midst of Spring performances, Preschool Mother's Day celebrations, and other looming end-of-year busyness.  It was a crazy time for us and we just couldn't fit one more thing in at the time.

Because, y'all.  It's our NOT A PARTY YEAR. 

So we got him a happy birthday cake to share with our small group the week of his birthday and asked if he'd be okay if we postponed his celebration (NOT A PARTY) until the summer.  When I *thought* I'd have more time to breathe.

All he wanted was a sleepover with three of his best buddies.

Doable, I thought.

EPIC, he thought.

Simple, I thought.

SO BEAST, he thought.

The summer came...  and the sleepover had to be pushed back and rescheduled three times.  He was beginning to doubt it would ever happen.  I was beginning to be very afraid we weren't going to be able to make it happen.  And I hate not keeping promises I've made to my boy.

But then, the clouds parted and one magical, golden Friday night presented itself where Phil would be home, and Mikey's friends were all able to come.  So we grabbed the opportunity and plunged straight in to sleepover mode.

No matter that the Friday was the last day of VBS week when I normally retreat into a dark room, plop a pillow over my head, and wish with all my being to remain there for the weekend in recovery mode.

Shake it off because it's GO time!

A mere three hours after VBS concluded, we assembled at the bowling alley for part one of the epically beast sleepover of all sleepovers.  (Ha ha, this is where boy parties are so blessedly different than girl parties).

Mikey and his three buds in wonky bowling alley lighting.  Forgive a poor mother who just spent a week taking nearly 850 VBS pictures and whose hands were about to fall off.  I digress.

Back to the subject at hand.  Sort of.  The boy's three friends all have J names.  Recently, he listed them for me, included his favorite J= Jesus, his brother Jonah, and his uncle's family who all have J names.  He's surrounded by Js and asked me in all earnestness why I didn't give him a J name, too.  Even though he knows the background of his name, it appears that we totally missed the mark on this one.  Too bad we couldn't consult our nine-year-old son about what name to give him when he was a newborn.

I digress again.

Anyway, was a lot of fun to see their different reactions while bowling.

Strike!

Missed by one!

Meanwhile, this guy was basking in all the extra attention from the older brother's nice friends.  More on that later.

He also bowled, too.

The long wait for the ball to reach the pins.

Missed it by that much!

We'll call this one "moral support".

And this one, "group effort".

This girl got herself a strike!

And then another one!

When all was said and done, the little girl in pink smoked 'em all.


Part two coming tomorrow...