WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!!

What a blast it is being "Gramma"!  When my granddaughter arrived for our first official sleepover I had finished baking the cupcakes, gotten the Roast Pork in the oven and was patiently awaiting her arrival and confirming dinner guests to join our celebration before peeling the potatoes for the mashed.

We set to work frosting the cupcakes which was fun with a six year old and then I set to work getting the normal time dinner on the table, worried that the roast would not be ready at the time that I told my son and his Dad to arrive ~ but I got that right and had our meal on the table with plenty of time for Pat's Dad to do his nightly visit to the nursing home.

It turned into a girls sleepover when Patrick kidnapped Thomas and the guys cleared out without indulging in the chocolate cupcakes (all the more for us!)  Ainsley had such a good time last time at the Park she was dying to go back.  There was still some daylight in the sky so we put the food in order and headed up to the Common for some playtime.

There was a kick ass band playing at a house party on the other side of the tracks so we got to use the whole playground and rock out at the same time as the light faded from the sky.  It was a blast and very difficult to convince her to go ~ but we still had our wooden pumpkins to paint and cupcakes and fried dough on the agenda.

We got back to the house and did bath and pajamas before we began our painting and waited for the boys to return as Tom forgot his medicine.  We were busy painting away when they arrived and Tom grabbed a pumpkin and began painting and Patrick helped Ainsley open different color paints ~ master mixer that she is ~ I cannot believe some of the color combos she came up with!

They left and we cleaned up and had cupcakes and Ainsley remembered the dough so I put the oil on to heat and turned on some cartoons for her to keep her occupied for a moment until it was time to get our hands into the dough and then she helped me make a couple and I got the powdered sugar out while the dough was cooking.

Thomas had told her about "Nightmare Before Christmas" on her last visit.  It is one of my oldest son's favorite movies and in turn one we used to watch repeatedly to get Thomas to sleep when he was a youngster and fighting to be awake.

It was fun hanging out on the couch and watching the movie with her as she told me at every song how Jeffrey knows all the words and would be singing away with the movie.  I think we have a third generation fan on our hands!

She fell asleep on the couch and I watched the end of the movie and debated on whether I should bring her upstairs.  We had discussed sleeping arrangements and she had been excited to sleep in my room with me so I carefully carried her upstairs and got her snug as a bug and went downstairs to do my daily's on the computer.

One of my out of town friends phoned from down the street so I invited him over and made a tea with nothing else in the house to drink.  That may have been my downfall ~ the tea ~ in hindsight.  We listened to some music and hung out in my "Great Room" as my girl Lisa calls it for a few and before I knew it it was really, really late.

I sent him on his way and tried to go to sleep.  The tea was really kicking in apparently and sleep was not a even a remote possibility.  It did not help that I put on the Hobbit movie ~ you know the first one that came out ten years after the trilogy which is as confusing as the Star Wars thing.

It was too interesting and not something that I can ignore so it was getting really early in the morning when I realized that I had no idea when Ainsley wakes up.  That answer came all too quickly.  At 7:12 she was awake and so was I.

Well, I tried.  Every time I opened my eyes they were watering instead of focusing so I begged a couple more minutes of "resting my eyes" and she buried me in my biggest and fluffiest stuffed animals which was nice and we discussed breakfast and I kept testing my eyes.

They finally worked. And she was talking about the Park after breakfast when I reminded her we still had to finish the second sides of our pumpkin decorations.  When we called her Mom to say goodnight the evening before we got a tentative time of between 10 and 11.  Ainsley told her Mom " If we are not at the house we will be at the Park so come to the Park."   (Have I said lately how much I love this little gem of a girl?)

I set her to painting laying out fresh paper, paint cups and brushes and she set to work mixing paint and I a more conservative pumpkin painter had mine finished before she had the first batch of colors mixed for hers. She finished hers up so we could mix up the pancake batter.

We worked together on the batter.  Sausage already cooking and the pan heating up while the batter rested.  She had a glass of milk and soon we had two nice plates of hot and fluffy pancakes and were eating in front of the t.v. before we headed to the park.

There were a few kids in the park and we soon opted to walk to the store to get a slushie and candy which one of my friends chastised me about ~ I just used the Gramma card.  We walked to North Street with our treat on a mission to check out the costume that I had seen in one of the stores ~ but alas it had been replaced with another similar but not what I wanted to show her costume and the store was closed.

We decided to check out the display of mini Christmas Trees at Steven Valenti's Men Store ~ a thing I had noticed last year and really wanted to get involved in but apparently missed out again!  People decorate these mini tress on a mirror and they are auctioned off to raise money for the food pantries.  They are super cute and we both liked a few of the same ones.

We looked in the window of the toy store as well.  We had already phoned the "parents" and gained another hour of time for our visit ~ having tried for a second night sleepover (me not realizing that she had slept over her cousins the night before) we got shot down as her Mom wanted to spend some time with her baby over the long weekend.

We window shopped at the toy store and then the man arrived and so we walked in to play with the cool things and find a souvenir to mark our visit.  After playing with things and looking at everything twice she opted for a cute little white seal with the biggest blue eyes ever.

Time was passing too quickly so we made our purchase and headed back home ~ fitting in a few minutes at the playground on our way through.  With such a nice day it was packed already with about 15 kids and their parent(s) (Which was even better to see) interacting or close by.

We did a quick slide and opted to go home and make some dough before the dreaded departure.  She was hoping Mom would change her mind about sleeping over again. So was I but it was not to be.  She went over to my calendar and pointed to an opening next weekend and told me she wanted that day ~ which I love and which I hope to grant to her as well.

We visited and retold our adventures to her parents and she worked on them some more to no avail and they left loaded with clothes and toys and all her sleepover supplies and her pumpkin to hang up and a plate of cupcakes.

I got to work cleaning up the kitchen before I decided that I needed to "watch some t.v." and that was code for sleep for six hours ~ which is more sleep than I get in an average night!  I was beat and I woke up too late for any of my shows ~ oh well ~ that is what On Demand is for!

Thomas is still gone and it is dead quiet here.  I am not hungry and am debating another cup of tea as I write this ~ I don't think it will hurt ~ I am still exhausted!  It was worth it ~ and despite what my Uncle Matt said about me being an old lady (haha) I am just one fun gramma, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!

Who knows, perhaps my granddaughter will turn me around on having expectations and prove to me that not everything one looks forward to in life will turn into a disappointment!  I am so blessed to finally having a little girl in my life!  After raising three boys it was a wonderful and pleasant (and well worth the wait) experience!