Sleepover!

All 6 kiddos (Wren is not pictured) had matching pajamas for their sleepover.  It took a while to find a style that was available in 12-18m up to 2T, that had a complimentary girl and boy option,  and that was affordable, cute, and would ship on time.   But aren’t they cute?!
Some of you have asked, and rest assured - the sleeping arrangements worked out really well.
Hannah slept in a toddler bed in our room.  We had purchased the toddler bed off craigslist last summer when our friends and their 4 year old were visiting for a week.  We currently use the mattress as a floor bed in Hannah’s room in addition to her crib, and the frame disassembles easily and was stored in our garage. 
It was a little challenging for Hannah to fall asleep – not only was she not in her room, but we weren’t in there and she thinks we have fun things in our drawers.  I finally just brought her out to the living room where she fell asleep in my arms and then I put her in bed.  The second night was easier than the first as she knew what to expect.
Christina slept on an air mattress in the nursery and Wren took the crib.  Since Wren was such a trooper with all the travelling she’d done, I wanted to make sure she slept well while she was at my house.
Marie slept in my guest room, and Scarlet slept in a pack n play in the same room.
Krystal and Megan shared the den.  Krystal slept on our futon from our college days that doubles as the ‘couch’ in our yet-to-be-decorated den.  Elise slept in Hannah’s pack n play.   Megan slept on our air mattress and Leila slept in a pack n play.
Jessica slept on the couch in our living room, and Ethan had a pack n play as well.
Nearly everyone had their own personal space, and since the guest shower is downstairs by the den, Megan and Krystal had the easiest access to it. 
I realized that I need WAY more pillows and blankets on hand, but I think it worked out well considering we slept 13 people in my house.
The benefit to everyone staying at my house instead of renting hotel rooms was twofold:
1)      The less money we spend on our meetups, the more often we can afford to do them.
2)      Unless everyone stays at the hotels, the group is always split up.  By making some concessions and roughing it on air mattresses (thanks Megan and Christina!!) we were able to stay up late talking and maximize our time together. 
And at the end of the day the goal is to spend time together. If we wanted a weekend of pampering and luxury, we would have left the kids with the dads and run away to the spa.  But we wanted to spend time as a group – to let our kids play together, and chat about anything and everything.  I think we accomplished that, but I was still sad to see everyone leave.