I always tried to be very supportive and involved in all my children’s sports. I sat at many competitions for dance, gave up weekends to help them change into ten different costumes, stood at the fence during track, sat in the bleachers for softball, and clapped along for the pom pom squad.

Holidays at our house are usually an event. We have anywhere from 14-20 people for dinner. I start with appetizers, move on to a four course meal, and then dessert and coffee. Everything is homemade, right down to the macaroni. The night before I prep, move furniture to fit an extra table, prepare the dishes, serving trays, and all the extras that will be used to decorate the table. I stay up to wee hours on the eve of the holiday and get started very early to be ready for guests to arrive at 1:00 pm.

The week before Thanksgiving, my daughter informs me that she volunteered our house for the pom pom squad for their traditional sleepover. I thought that was great, I have no problem with seventeen high school girls sleeping over. My daughter then tells me, the sleepover tradition is Thanksgiving Eve and they will all get ready in the morning for the football game. I briefly panic and figure… how bad can it be? My husband on the other hand thought I was crazy and was not looking forward to 17 teenage girls in the house getting ready especially after witnessing the arguing that can happen with just the two we already have.

My living room and dining floor were carpeted with bodies. There was the usually laughter and of course a few running to a room to check on whoever was arguing with their boyfriend at the moment. Hair was getting fixed… before bed. The bathroom door turned into a batwing door as each one went in to brush and prep before bed. The morning was a big blurr. I actually had the video camera rolling and as I look back I’m baffled at how only 3-5 girls were in the video while the rest were in the bathroom together getting ready. Mind you my bathroom is not very big. As they came out of the bathroom it looked more like the VW car at the circus. They just kept coming and coming. Every mirror in my house got its money worth that day. It was like a whirl wind. Then as crazy as it was, all of a sudden they all walked out for the game and it was dead silent. Pillows and blankets piled, makeup dust trailed from the bathroom, and a pile of ALL my towels ready to be washed.

Here is one clip from my tape that I had transferred to dvd by Yes Video. These memories are the ones that make you smile because this levels out any mom fails you’ve had!

Have you ever had a sleep over with a bunch of kids? How many? How did you handle them?