Revolving Door

I'm not entirely sure how many children I have.  Especially during school breaks because sometimes they're here, sometimes they're gone.  If they're here, sometimes they have friends who are here too.  So it was the norm this break to sit down to a meal and find one or more of my children missing and having been replaced with a different child.  I have found for the most part, that it has been a win-win.

The boy has had two friends over the past 9 days stay over at different times.  The boys are probably the easiest because they have learned the art of "quiet" (mostly out of self preservation).  They set themselves up somewhere out of the way, and aside from eating me out of house and home, are fairly self sufficient.  Last night, he was elsewhere.

My oldest daughter is a social beast.  That means that she is rarely content with having ONE friend over.  She needs to have a gaggle of girls.  On weekends, it's not as big of a deal as on weekdays when the husband needs sleep and yet the basement is filled with a plethora of raging girl hormones who have the ability to laugh in high "c".  For those who don't realize, high "c" can permeate floors.  Tonight will be sleepover number 5 for her.  In her defense, I will add that she KNOWS she will get cut off from sleepovers if she comes home with "attitude"*.

My middle daughter has had just 2 sleepovers.  One with her cousins and one with a friend.  She is typically the most difficult because at 12, the entire goal of a sleepover is NOT to sleep.  EVAH. Even when she DOES sleep, she's loud, when she doesn't sleep, well, her voice rises about 10 decibels.  And, so as to not put too fine a point on it, she does NOT do well without sleep.   This child gave new meaning to the word "attitude". 'Nuff said.
  
Beanie has her oldest friend over.  By old, I mean they have been friends since they were babies, which beats the longevity of ANY of the other kids' friendships.  And the two of them together crack me up.  In looks, they are almost polar opposites:  Beanie is white blond, dark blue eyes with very fair skin, her friend has dark hair, chocolate brown eyes, and perpetually tanned skin. Put the two of them together and if one starts a smile, the other completes it.  Since they don't get together too often, I tend to try to cook for her friend, because I find that she not only eats what I cook, but she enjoys it.  Last night, I made  fish tacos because the last time she was over, she set a record, outpacing the boy. This morning it was homemade cinnamon rolls.  And aside from food, the little ones are easy because they're not yet in the stage where they want to stay up all night.  Put them on the floor, with a bowl of popcorn or a malt and a movie and they're out cold by 11pm.

Still, I'll be glad to get the all my kids back into their own beds, getting a good night's sleep.  Not so much for their sake, but for mine.

attitude=picking fights, whining, being unkind, basically being a stinker to the nth degree

edited to add...spell check is your friend.  Ahem.