The First of Many

On a crazy whim last week, I told Parker that he could have his first sleepover with some of his neighbor friends {only after he asked me three or four times, of course!}.  So, on Friday night, three of his buddies walked over to our house toting their sleeping bags, pillows, and backpacks, ready for a night of crazy boy fun!

I was worried.  I braced myself for the house to come crashing down with crazy boy energy.  I told myself that it was only one night, I could do this.  Brandon thought I was the crazy one.  

But, I should have known better.  These boys, they were wonderful!  

I should have known this.  These boys were destined to have their first official friend sleepover together.  They've been buddies for as long as they can remember and their families are like our family.  It's amazing what good 'buddies' means to these little guys.

{Don't ask what these two yay-hoos are doing....I snuck up on them in Parker's room with the camera.}

Words can't explain how excited Parker was to have his buds spend the ENTIRE night at our house.  "You mean they'll still be there to eat breakfast in the morning?!"  Oh yeah, special sleepover donuts for breakfast!

{Brandon snuck off to the 'Donut Shop' before the boys woke up and surprised us all with sleepover donuts!  My personal favorite!}

And, while one of these buddies ended up sleeping in my bed with Brandon...and this same little friend, while trying to fall asleep, asked Brandon at least 10 questions about any firearms we may have in the house {that might help fight off any monsters that try to sneak in}, and then would only fall asleep if Bella was snuggling him {so sweet!}, I would have to say that this first sleepover with buds was a tremendous success!  No one wanted to go home in the middle of the night and these boys got along so well!  They even let little brother in on the fun...and you better believe that Andrew was hangin' with the big guys, no problem.

{Parker and Caleb had fun playing WipeOut together on the X-Box.}

{Our friend Gabe even came by for a couple of hours on Friday night.  Gabe and Julian loved this little Cars race track.}

{Some pretty special boys of mine.}

{Buddies, just hangin' out.}

These boys played the X-Box, trains, cars, card games, watched movies, at popcorn {and M&M's}, laughed and, yes, they sure did stink up the family room {these 5...okay 6, if you include Brandon...boys passed more gas than I ever thought possible} and I really think that if I walked down into that family room with an open flame, we would have gone up in smoke, but seriously, something else these boys did- they made a memory that will last them a lifetime.  This may have only been their first sleepover, but you better believe, it was the first of many more to come.

{Watching Cars 2 and eating popcorn and M&M's before bed time...}

And when it was time to say good bye, tears were shed and promises were made to do it again soon. Parker: "Like tomorrow night, Mom, can we do it again tomorrow night?"

{This post is for our best bud who is moving to Utah this week.  We will miss your spunk, your silly personality, and the hours that you've spent at our house hanging out with Parker.  Yes, this is the same friend that slept with Brandon the other night, eats dinner with us at least once a week, and is the first person Parker thinks of when we pull in the driveway from anyplace we've been.  We're all sad to see you go and can't wait to come visit you next summer ;)}

{Parker and Julian went to watch baseball practice together a few weeks ago and Julian's mom took this photo with her phone.  I love it.  They are such good friends!}