and so it begins...

(First of all, let me begin this post by apologizing to all of my avid readers, all 4 of you, for my absence this past week. This must've been so frustrating for you, knowing how much you appreciate reading about our family drama. :) It's been a busy week, to say the least, and to top it off, I didn't have a functional computer for the first half of it. With that said, I will make it up to you today as I have A LOT to tell you about! So, sit back, relax and enjoy the post!)

As a mother of three girls, I knew I could anticipate many, many sleepless-overs. Knowing how much I enjoyed this as a young girl, I've been very excited for my daughters to embark on these fun and memorable experiences. Well, last night, at 4 years old, Ella had her very first sleep-over...and I had my first taste of what it's like to be the parent in this situation.

Due to having influenza, Ella had to miss her best friend, Courtney's, birthday party last week. We felt terrible. We wanted to make it up to Courtney by throwing her a little party with Ella and decided to make it a sleep-over...Why not? We gotta start some time! We began the festivities by taking the girls (girls being Ella, Courtney, Britten & Chloe) to a local indoor park - Ella's favorite place in the world!

...And they're off!

From the moment we arrived, it was non-stop...

They were going and going and going...

"Hi, Courtney!"
Only willing to stop for a water/juice break...

They really had a blast playing together in the park! At one point, Courtney made a pit stop to exclaim, "I'm having SO much fun!" Britten, on the other hand, not so much...

and

At one point, my husband found Britten sitting in the tree ladder, sobbing. A little Mexican girl (no older than 6) had her arms wrapped around Britten, trying to comfort her. The little girl looked up at my husband and said, in an incredibly cute Mexican accent:

"I don't know what happened...I found her in here really sad..."

My husband, very moved by the little girl's tenderness: "Well, thank you for helping her."

Little girl: "You're welcome." She starts to crawl up the ladder, but not before turning around to say, "She's very cute, though."

My husband: "Well, thank you!"

Aside from the fact that Britten didn't enjoy herself (what do you expect from a 2 year old at 7:30pm?), the trip to the park was a success.

The older girls had a great time at the park...But our night didn't end there! After we left, we took the girls to Target so each of them could pick out their very own princess dress. Needless to say, it was a tough decision (like a kid in a candy store), but I think the girls were pleased with their selections.

Well, Britten was a little upset, but not by her dress selection. She really did enjoy the evening much more the pictures portray.

Ella and Courtney pranced around the house in their dresses, but only for about 10 minutes, as my husband and I they were extremely tired and ready for bed! Bedtime was not as successful as the rest of night, but what do you expect from a 4 and 5 year old? We started the night with Ella and Courtney sharing a room but ended up moving Ella to the basement (where Daddy joined her later). Courtney did great for sleeping at someone else's house, briefly waking up twice around 5:00am.

The sleep-over officially ended at 9:00am, when Courtney's mom picked her up. Overall, it was a success and we all had a wonderful time. But, the true question remains: Will we do it again? Probably not for another 6 months...at least! :)