Slumber Parties

I've said it before and I will say it again, I just don't always know the right thing to say. And this is when I am sooooo thankful someone else does know what to say, and once again, it was my kids! Today when Ben was sulking in the closet and about to lose his head about wanting to have a sleepover with cousins, Scotty saw me struggling to cheer him up and ran over and invited Ben over to a sleepover in the family room, complete with movies, games, popcorn, smoothies and sleeping bags. And it worked! Ben became super excited about his sleepover at home. The best part about it is that it is just 10pm and the sleepover participants are all snoring already : ) I think and I am hoping that the big boys (Scotty and Jack) learning to be able to solve the little kids' (Elaina, Ben and Charlie's) problems, struggles and general moodiness, will both be good for the little kids and for the big kids. I mean, for the littles it is wonderful for them to have someone they care about come in and make them feel better, give them something to look forward to and just generally care about their well-being. They obviously have parents for that, but what a bonus to have these other people in their lives who are always on their side. For the bigs I am hoping this skill and all-around problem solving attitude will help them in other areas of their lives. Obviously it will serve them well to help keep peace in the household, since they live here too. But in other areas of their lives I am betting this skill comes in handy too. Dealing with friends and friends' different personalities can be a challenge that my big boys may cope with more handily than others. As we grow into adults we often encounter people in our lives, workplace etc that need to be dealt with very creatively. It's my hope that my kids having lived in this larger household, having dealt daily with many other people will use this to their advantage in their lives. Because you never know when you will have to pull a great idea out of your head in order to keep someone else from losing theirs. also I don't want to forget: -Scotty has been reading my blog. At first I wasn't so sure I liked the idea, but I have decided that it might be good for him to know just how much I think about them, toil over them and generally worry about them. Also, he is very sweet telling me that I write well. It is actually quite a compliment from a great writer. -Charlie has begun "stealing" my arm and saying "MINE" and then cracking up when I try to claim it for my own. This can go on for a half hour or more if I were to let it. -Ben was very cute showing all of his cousins around the Nature Museum we went to. I think he felt cool that he new his way around there. -We saw about 3 dear at least today on the nature path. There were 12 kids and 4 adults all together. We were amazingly silent as we walked within a few feet of them and watched them in the woods. My children have never been that quiet. -Jack got into the car after his first day of baseball camp (youngest age group there) ever and said this, "I LOVED it. It was REALLY hard work, but I LOVED it. You know, at first I was a little nervous since I didn't know anyone, but then when it was rest time, I layed down on the ground and this other kid came over and flopped down next to me and I said, 'hey' and he said 'hey' and then we sort of hung out together and were partners the rest of the day and became friends." So I said, "Cool, Jack! That's great, what's his name?" Jack said, "I don't know that, I guess I should ask him that tomorrow." Boys are funny.