Twice a year around Conference we have all the grands spend the night at Gramma's house. They love it! I love it! We all love it! I love how excited each grand is about getting to come to my house to spend time with me, grandpa, Jared, Kimi, Jaydan, Braxton, and of course their cousins. I have a saying on my wall the says: Grandma's is the place that cousins go to become friends. I sure hope that my grands will always be friends with each other. I sure think my grands are about the cutest kids ever! I love having them over. Our house gets loud and crazy but it's good. There is lots of laughing and hugging and snuggling and fun and messes...it's so worth it.
We had pizza and doughnuts and some of the grands brought more treats to share. We were all on a sugar high all night.
These little's play so well together. They really are friends. They played school and had every stuffed animal in the house for students. (we have a lot of stuffed animals...I mean Larry has a lot of stuffed animals) The boys played with the cars and had them lined up in the hall. The girls like wearing my shoes and usually pull them out. When they wanted to move on to other play they were really good about cleaning up first. All the stuffed animals were brought back to my room to their basket. Parker brought about 6 at one time. My shoes were thrown in my closet (close enough) My grands are really good helpers and clean up fast. Have I mentioned how cute they are? Dang....they are so cute!
When everything was put back or close to were it came from I got the dress ups out. I have a few containers full of Halloween Costumes that my kids wore. The grands love playing dress up. It's funny for me to watch them. They get on one costume and run around in it for a few minutes and then change. We had costumes all over the living room floor. Jaydan was enjoying the grands and playing dress up right along with them. Jared and Jaydan both played with the grands all night. Braxton came over during the movie for snuggles. ( Kimi was at a friends) The grands love their uncles and love having them join in the fun.
While we were still playing dress ups we played a few games of Halloween Bingo. I made this bingo game up years ago...many years ago. I had candy corn for game markers that were really old and really hard. I will save them for years to come. The kids loved playing bingo even though I didn't have prizes and they played it over and over while I folded the dress ups and put them away. When they were finished with bingo they all changed into their pj's without even being prompted. I believe little Parker had his on first.
The kids got their sleeping bags, blankets and pillows out how they wanted them and then I put the movie in. I've learned that my grands don't fall asleep during movies and so I let them continue to eat sweets while they watched the show. I even let the boys sneak off and play with their cars. I chose to watch the Wizard of Oz and I think the grands enjoyed it. When it was over we fixed the sleeping spots again. The kids went in and brushed their teeth and went potty. I cleaned up the remaining doughnuts and treats and filled up their water cups. I turned out the lights except for the hall light. I went around and kissed and hugged each of my cute little's. A little while after our hugs and kisses I noticed Mya sitting up and whispered for her to lay down. She told me she was saying her prayers. Oops....I forgot to say prayers with everyone. It made me happy to see that Mya remembered anyway. It was the little boys that giggled and whispered to each other. I had to rearrange their blankets a bit and add a little space between them but once we got them situated again it wasn't long and every little of mine was breathing heavily and resting from their night of fun. I left them and went to my room so that I too could relax from a fun night.
Bright and early Ivy came in and wanted to join grandpa and I in bed. I let her...she was cold. She got to snuggle for a half hour or so and then Kamryn and Zaden joined us too. They weren't interested in snuggling. They would rather stand on the bed and let themselves plop on it. They were happy and giggling. What a great way to start off the day. I told them we needed to let Parker and Mya sleep until at least 8:00 am and so they needed to play quietly. The went in the piano room and started playing school or house again with the stuffed toys. I enjoy listening to them play and use their imaginations. It makes my heart smile as well as my face.
I promised Pancakes for breakfast. My grands love pancakes. They ate and then wanted to watch another movie. Once they agreed on a movie they put it in and I left Jaydan with them so I could run to the store and get groceries for tomorrow's dinner.
I made it back before any of the kids left. They were all gone close to noon. It was the best sleep over so far. I think these little's are at the perfect age to enjoy each other and help me out too. Before we know it we will be doing this again. I am already looking forward to it. Oh my ... I love these little ones they truly are "grand".
