Micah's graduation and Sammy's sleepover party!

What a weekend! Micah graduated Nursery School on Friday. It was so sweet. He really had a lot of fun, singing all the songs and getting his diploma and playing with his friends.


And Sam turned 8 on Saturday! Silly me, I agreed to let him have a sleepover party. He's been planning this since January, and since he picked the 6 boys early on (and never strayed from the list), we've had lots of time to prepare everyone.

There were 2 Sams and 3 Jacobs, plus 4 other little boys (including my two and one friend for Micah, the little brother of Sammy's friend). They all got along great. It was unclear if 5 of them were actually going to sleep over - except for our next-door neighbor, none of them had ever slept over a friend's house before - but EVERYONE stayed!

I jokingly call them "The Island of Misfit Boys" because many have odd quirks, like Sam - food allergies, anxieties, autism-spectrum issues, and things like that - but they are all sweet boys, and since I know them all well, I know how to handle their individual quirks.

Since it was pouring rain, they had to stay inside. They built Legos, ate pizza, did the pinata, had s'mores and cake (David and the other dad who stayed tried to build a fire outside, but it was raining too much, so I "roasted" the marshmallows in the oven), and then watched the original Star Wars movie ("episode 4" in the boys' world; "The First One" for those of us who saw it when 30 years ago). Then they got in pajamas, Sam opened his gifts (mostly Lego gift cards; we go this afternoon to buy "Jabba's Rafter"), A. read a story, and they WENT TO SLEEP! (ALL except fidgity M, who had to sit in another room and read to get himself settled down - eventually he did).


It was a lovely evening...and at 5:22 am, we heard the first little "mouse" on our staircase...then a herd of elephants...and then they started arming themselves for a coup! (We do have an awful lot of swords and shields and plastic weapons). We realized we needed to get an adult presence down there really quickly! So David ran down and put on "Scooby Do" - and there was almost complete silence as they settled in to watch!

Sofia was cute - she stumbled through the crowd like a drunk in a bar-fight, waving the boys off and going about her business. She had fun watching them, and enjoyed watching movies, too.

It was a really fun (and long) morning, with more Star Wars (episode 6, the original 3rd movie) and some "Tom & Jerry". I made brunch for parents, so I got to visit with them for a while. David had to take Micah off to his gym show at 9:30, but they got there late, so he missed part of it.

Then David stayed home with Sofia and Micah while I took Sam to another birthday party. I had coffee and browsed the bookstore with another mom, then we came home. A short (5 minutes, maybe) nap was all I needed to revive (well, that and the 4 cups of coffee), so I went across the street to my neighbor's Creative Memories workshop - I got 9 pages done!

Whew.
Today Sam still had school, but Micah is done. Of course Sofia is still a little under the weather; she's had a low fever off and on for more than 2 weeks, and she's fussy and has bad diaper rash, so I took her in to the pediatrician (got to give them a copy of "Gifts" while I was there). One ear is a little red and goopy, so now she's on Amoxicillin. Hopefully that will help.

Micah's friend (yet another Sam!) is now over for a play-date, but I'm not sure they are getting along. Right now they are ok, pretending to be knights, but moments ago S said he wanted to go home. We'll see how it all pans out.