Sleepover!

Tessa went to her first sleepover party last weekend!

She has been friends with Isabella since birth. When Tessa was just a few days old Chris and Arna brought dinner and 6 month old Bella over to say hello.
I have a picture of the girls together way back then...but it's not available just now.

Anyway, Bella turned 8 the week of Thanksgiving. For her Birthday party she had a late-over/sleepover - like Tessa did last year :)
And we let our little girl spend the night!

It's the first time she's slept over at someone's house that wasn't Grandma or Nana.
She was so excited to go that she began a countdown when we were one week out. The party started at 6:00 - she asked if we could leave at 5:30.  They live less than 10 minutes from our house.

Before she left I told her that the party was going to be mostly girls she didn't know (these kids go to a different school than she does.) I said I knew she was a very friendly girl and that I was sure she would make lots of friends very easily, but that if for any reason she decided she didn't want to spend the night all she had to do was call and we would come get her.
Her response?
"not a chance!"

She wore her "candy jammies" and I did her hair like Kirstin from the American Girls. She took her sleeping bag and toothbrush, her stuffed kitty and her cupcake blanky...and a smile from ear to ear.

When I dropped her off I told her again that she could call us if she decided she didn't want to sleep over...she didn't even respond this time - just ran off with her friends.

I'm told she went to sleep around 11:30, and woke up early.
Not sure exactly what that means, but she was EXHAUSTED the next day.
Saturday afternoon we went to my parents house for a bit. We were in seperate cars and Tessa and I stopped by the craft store on our way home.  She sat - relatively quietly - in the back of the cart for most of the trip.  Very unusual for Tessa.  When we were leaving it was getting dark outside - she said the dark was making her tired.
I told her it was only 5:00 - that it wasn't the dark that was making her tired, it was the fact that she was exhausted from not sleeping the night before.

By the time we got back in the car she had rallied a bit and was chattering away, like usual.  As I drove she talked and talked (she requires little response) and I sang along to the radio, "mmm-hmm" ing occasionally.
After a bit, she stopped. Right in the middle of a story.
When I turned around I saw that she had passed out.  Head back, mouth open, dead-to-the-world asleep.
When I pulled into the garage I turned the interior lights on and snapped this picture with my phone.  I was climbing over the seats to get a better picture when she woke up.

Her 10 minute power nap kept her up until about 8:00 on Saturday night.
She slept until 10:40 Sunday morning.

Hooray for sleepovers!