Lots of Little Boys!

This past weekend Grayson had his first-ever sleepover for his 7th birthday.  We (I) made up the rule that you can have sleepover company only once you're 7.  That way, the guests are old enough that hopefully nobody cries in the middle of the night that they miss their mom, and nobody wets the bed.  The good news is that only the boys are old enough so far to have sleepovers, and Chris graciously stays with them in our little guest area.  Once Addie's 7 I'll have to go stay up with the girls, but so far this is working really well for me!  (I am not a night person.)

So Grayson invited the Lego Club, the official title for his brother and three closest friends.  They're all Lego Heads, and especially Star Wars Lego Heads, so it was an easy theme to go with!  Here's Grayson greeting his guests, wearing his costume for trick or treating (I told him he could wear it for ten minutes; then he had to put it back, because this is the first year I've actually had all three costumes and trick or treat bags before the day of Halloween, and I didn't want him to tear it!).

 Many light saber battles immediately followed . . .

 This is my dear friend Bridget, 7 months pregnant, unloading Eli's bike.  She is adorable.

 The boys set right to playing with their party favors, which somehow Grayson found and handed out early:  little boxes of various Lego pieces.

 For dinner, we went super simple, with grilled hot dogs, mac and cheese, and chips.  Addie was an honorary guest.  At this point in the evening, I looked at these five boys and one girl and texted Erin that I will step up my prayers for her.  She has five boys and is pregnant with another baby, and I got a little glimpse into how loud five boys is!  It is very, very fun, but very, very loud.

 Chris won favorite parent of the sleepover award when he showed the boys how to stomp on their Capri Sun containers and pop them.  Scout went into hiding; it was so loud!

 After dinner everybody went outside to play in the back.  I think this is Grayson making guns with his hands, but I'm going to pretend it's not.  Crazy Colin beneath him is as obsessed with Legos as Grayson, and that's saying something!

 Did I mention how rowdy five boys are?

 Addie decided to get brave, probably as a result of being surrounded by so much manliness, and crawled to the top of the tire swing.  She gave me a thumbs up, but her face isn't convinced.

 Everyone played badminton,

 except Gray and Eli, who were rigging up Lego men to the badminton stakes they stole.  We later realized that Grayson had also tied the rope to Eli, who literally couldn't get undone!

 After playing glowstick tag in the dark, they came inside to eat Grayson's birthday cake, Anakin the Lego Man.  (One boy did remark how very unlike Anakin my cake looked, and I had to agree.  But that didn't stop him from eating it, I noticed!)

 Then everybody piled up in the guest house to watch a movie.  Addie and I made our exit at 9:20, and I let her sleep in my bed.  The best part of the whole party is that when I snuggled up next to her, to get her to sleep, I fell asleep too!  I woke up at 7!!  Chris wasn't as lucky, but he said they were all pretty much asleep by 11.

 I woke up to find the Lego closet already filled:

 I made everybody pancakes for breakfast,

 and they waited for their moms by playing the Wii.

I was a little nervous about having that many little boys over, especially on a weekend when we had a big event at church and a wedding as well, but it went really well!  I planned it a week earlier, bought all the groceries way ahead of time, and actually made a schedule for the party.  The planning paid off, and everybody had a really good time, especially Grayson.    It was so fun to watch him with his closest friends, who are all the children of friends in the ministry with us.  I can't believe these little boys, once all in our tummies together, are now 7 years old!  Time is going by so quickly, but I love that even at a young age, Grayson's friendships have deep roots. And Bridget says she's just thankful that Eli and Grayson's birthdays are three days apart, so she can count this sleepover for Eli's birthday, too :)