A Day with Charlie.

 In the whole wide world Charlie is one of my favorite kids and over the weekend we had our very first sleepover! If you have nieces or nephews, I suggest having them over for a slumber party immediately. Charlie was a JOY! So much fun and so excited to be a total grown up sleeping on the couch and staying up late.

 

And, boy, we stayed up late (12:30am!). After a cookie exchange party (more on that in another post), Charlie rode home with me and we jammed to Christmas carols. After about 10 minutes in the car I asked if he was tired and he said, "Yes. If I fall asleep, will you wake me up when we get to your house?" I thought FOR SURE he would be passed out and had Rhyno waiting at the door to help me carry Charlie to the couch to sleep for the night. We pulled in the driveway and he hilariously popped awake and said, "OH! WE'RE HERE! Are you going to make some popcorn for me?!"

 

Snugglin' with his blankie, popcorn, a cookie, and a Christmas movie.

 

We snuggled up on the couch with The Polar Express (I had never seen it and was nearly crying by the end) and some snacks. I thought for sure he'd fall asleep halfway through the movie. NOPE! He knows how sleepovers work and insisted we watch a couple movies and some Charlie Brown holiday episodes. He learned how to tell Violet to sit, stay, and leave it (PS, those two together? PRECIOUS).

 

Teeny, tiny boy in a big, ol' pillow fort.

 

We made him a pillow fort to sleep in on the couch and I took to the big, comfy chair. After a few false promises of sleep--at one point I was positive he was sleeping and he chirped, "Do you want me to tell you how rainbows are formed?" An hour later I was certain he was sleeping for the night and he popped his little head up and said, "Tonight I hope I dream about Violet and Frozen!" He begged Violet to sleep on his feet but she chose to lay on the ottoman and stare at him all night long. 

 

Charlie and Violet enjoying some star-shaped donuts.

 

Best impulse decision ever! About four years ago I randomly decided to cover the top of our IKEA coffee table in chalkboard paint. I have never looked back.

 

After a few hours of sleep (literally--where do children find their energy??) we woke up and took Violet potty, Charlie fed her breakfast (thus becoming her favorite person in the world), and we put on the Nightmare Before Christmas while we drew pictures of our family on the chalkboard coffee table. Without changing out of jammies we took Violet for a car ride and picked up donuts for breakfast--to surprise Rhyno we each picked out a donut for him, blueberry from me and chocolate glaze from C. Hilarious: the Dunkin Donuts by my house is connected to a Subway. When we walked in Charlie screamed, "YAY!!! WE ARE EATING AT SUBWAY!! I LOVE SUBWAY!!" The ladies at the cash register were smitten kittens and even gave Charlie his own little donut box for his order and complimented his blankie that he was wearing like a scarf.

 

So stinking cute! Some of my favorite people in the world who all wanted to sit on the same chair to eat cookies and watch Spidey...while Violet begged for sugar. 

 

We had a play-date with two of my other very favorite littles, Addie and Olive--hello, the above photo. Have you ever seen so much cute in one place? More chalk drawing, playing I Spy & Tic-Tac-Toe, watching some Spiderman, playing on the swing-set, and throwing apples from the apple tree for Violet to chase around the yard. Some cookies leftover from the party and juice-boxes and then?

 

Hey, Disney website, thank you for the free racing game!

 

A TORNADO WATCH. Yep, our play-date was cut short since a destructive tornado was spotted in a nearby town and was headed our way. Charlie and I headed to the basement to watch Care Bears and play video games on the Disney website (texting C's mom with weather/child updates) while the cats howled from the laundry room (they hate storms) and a sickly Rhyno and a rowdy Violet snuggled. Luckily, C had no idea there was a storm going on and was pleased as punch the whole time. Charlie had said around 9am that he was intent on having Subway for lunch after our false Subway start in the morning and after the storm cleared I saw Rhyno putting on his shoes. "Where are you going?" "Char wants Subway for lunch, I'm going to get his sandwich." A-dorable.

 

Best friends forever practicing high-fives. She rarely let him out of her sight the whole time!

 

In my own childhood I knew one thing--sleepovers at auntie's (or gramma's) house were for sugar and fun and movies and friends and staying up late and laughing. I can only hope I'm doing that justice now that I'm old enough to host littles at my house. Thanks for sleeping over, Charlie! Can't wait for you to come back!