what were we thinking?!

it was the great trifecta.  when we planned liam's 10th birthday party, three glorious aspects came together:

1)  the only time we could do it was the night we got home from being at the beach for a week. 
2)  he wanted to invite four of his soccer friends -- crazy, fun, high-energy 9-year old boys.
3)  he wanted to have a sleepover.

i'll repeat that again.  he wanted to have a sleepover with four crazy, fun, high-energy 9-year old boys.

in all seriousness, they had a great time.  they were well-behaved for the most part, and didn't damage the house too much.  (there was a moment when i stomped up the stairs at full volume at close to midnight, threatening to call their parents if i had to come up there again ... but we won't dwell on such matters.)

actions speak louder than words.  except, maybe for these words ...  i'll let the video below do the talking.

 we decided to have cake and ice cream at the house ... turned out to be a very wise move

this is honestly the only picture i could get of the group at the bowling alley.  but after several attempts, i gave up, since it turned out to be quite indicative of how the night went in general.  (from the left, it's max, sam, kaidan, liam, and braeden)

 much more subdued the next morning over a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, for some reason

we really did enjoy it, and, most importantly, liam loved every minute.  and hey, 10 is a big one; it's worth a bit more hoopla.

(which also means, my son, don't expect a sleepover like this any time soon.  xoxo)