a peek inside the fishbowl

I am sitting here, reading, writing, browsing, drinking my coffee. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? But it’s not nearly as peaceful as you might think. At times it’s very, scarily, quiet upstairs. At other times it sounds like there’s a herd of elephants skipping rope.

It’s March Break. Emma and Sarah had a friend sleep over last night. It’s a first for them. They were so excited. It was wonderful to be a part of it.

They played all afternoon. The games changed faster than I could keep track. One second they were playing “doggie” (picture three girls howling and barking) and the next I’d come around the corner to find Emma dressed as a horse.

At dinner they made their own pizzas. We had a rocky-road brownies for dessert. Then the girls changed into their pj’s and we watched Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron on DVD. I’m not a big fan of this film. I’ve seen it too many times, and the Bryan Adams soundtrack grates on my nerves. But it won out to all the others. Fair is fair.

I spent a lot of time watching the girls watch the movie. Emma and her friend clutched each other during the dramatic scenes. Our guest had never seen it. Sarah couldn’t remember much of the story. Emma loved giving away the exciting bits.

The girls spread out their sleeping bags on the floor in Emma’s room. The plan was they would sleep there. Note the use of the word sleep in my previous sentence. It took hours for them to settle down and fall asleep. Mark and I were trying to watch House (I have decided I don’t like that show. There are way too many close-ups of people getting needles and doctor’s drilling into heads. *shiver*) but it was impossible to hear it. The stomping! The skipping! The jumping! I was sure the floor above us was crumbling.

My lord. Why did I give them brownies for dessert? At 10:00 we had to take it seriously. It was late. They needed sleep. And we needed to watch the show without worrying if the pot lights were going to pop out of the ceiling and fall on our laps.

Thankfully I refrained from saying anything that began with “in my day” or “little girls like you need to be…” I dimmed the lights a bit more and told them to get some sleep. I think they were asleep within 30 minutes of my last trip up there.

When we checked on them again around midnight our little houseguest had rolled out of the sleeping bag and right off her mat. She was sleeping on the bare wooden floor. I had to wake her and stuff her back in the bag.

I was hoping they’d all sleep in. Ha! That was not to be. Sarah awoke at around 7:00, earlier than normal. They watched TV for about an hour before I was able to drag myself out of bed. We had fruit and cereal for breakfast. They’re back upstairs now, gallivanting around. I am fairly certain they’re dressed and their teeth are brushed. I can hear shrieks of laughter, rivers of giggles. They’re thrilled. And that’s all that really matters.