More Sleepovers Please!

I am very fortunate that my mom and step-dad (aka Grammy and Papa) live in the same town as us. They are a huge help for me and have a wonderful relationship with our children. Our oldest has been begging asking for weeks if he can go sleepover at Grammy's house. And Grammy has been asking even more. So last week we decided that after Grammy was watching three of the kids for me on Friday, I would leave him there and she would bring him back to us on Saturday. For one week I had to listen to "I can't wait for it to be Friday so I can go sleep over Grammy's house!" over and over again. To the point where I couldn't wait for it to be Friday myself, just so he would stop saying it!

So Friday came and it was a crazy day of running around doing some grocery shopping and getting the little guy to a doctor's appointment. We all had dinner together at my mom's and then I packed up my three other boys and headed home while the six year old stayed behind for his fun-filled night with Grammy, Papa and their new puppy.

The next morning, one by one the boys woke up. Starting at around 5:30am, gah! Unfortunately, that is pretty typical. We went downstairs, had breakfast and they all played. Very nicely. Without fighting. My house was surprisingly quiet. My husband and I could not get over how much less fighting there was with one of the kids not there. In fact there was literally no fighting amongst the boys at all. In general our boys get along really well, but they are brothers after all and brothers are meant to squabble every now and then. Or all the time. Whatever.

At around 2:00pm Grammy arrived with her house guest and no joke, the noise level in my house quadrupled. It was insane. I asked her which child she plans on taking next weekend as we have decided she needs to rotate one every weekend for the rest of the summer. For good measure I threw in a little bit of guilt and reminded her that it wasn't fair for her to play favorites and only have one sleepover. She needs to do it for all of them. They would all love some quality time with Grammy and Papa! Plus I think it is good for the boys to get out and do things solo without their brothers.

And of course, we very much enjoyed the peaceful morning. I want more of them. It was quite amazing how different the dynamic is with three kids compared to four. Someone once told me that going from three to four isn't a big deal and I'll tell you that that sure is a load of garbage. Four kids is INSANE. I'll take any kind of break I can get.

Grammy will be getting a reminder today that she needs to decided who her next sleepover buddy will be.

Do your kids ever do sleepovers with their grandparents, cousins etc.?