I'm recovering...

from one fabulous night with 9 super fun girls!

[First six to arrive on our back porch.]

My small group of high school girls stayed the night with me two Saturdays ago.

[Leaders included now!]

I wish I could tell you about each of these ladies - they are beautiful, not only on the outside, but on the inside as well.  We've been talking about a Small Group Sleepover for months and we finally got to do it!

All the ladies packed up their bags (and sleeping bags) and headed to the my casa.  We kicked out Mr. Connell (so sacrificial of you, Darling) and had the whole house to ourselves!

Four pizzas were ordered, 2 lbs of cheese dip eaten, a birthday celebrated, and the noun game that morphed into some other game of "make up something funny, someone will act it out, and then we'll all guess" was played.  Laughing until your sides hurt = priceless.

My plans of sneaking to bed early were thrown off when we put a movie in at 11:30pm.

That's PM.

I prefer to see 11:30 in the AM, but hey, the night was young!

Not sure if these were taken before or after the movie?

The 10 of us (missing 3 of our other favorites who couldn't join us for the evening...)

Innocent enough...

Until things got a little crazier:

No girls were harmed in the making of this photo.  All were able to breathe (after a bit) and I'm really not sure how that random foot is poking out to the top left of the couch.

No one mentioned dislocating their leg, so I think all is well.

"Okay!  Next photo!"

It's amazing what happens when you set a self timer up for a bunch of girls.

Shocking that our couch survived this.

My favorite part of the evening was the "compliment plates."  This wasn't an original idea since I did it when I was high school, but it is definitely special.  You take a paper plate and string ribbon from the top of it.  Then, you hang your plate from your neck like a backwards necklace.  Everyone walks around writing encouraging things on each other's plates.  It's on backwards so you can't see who wrote what.  When we're done, you've got a plate full of nice things people think about you and of things you do well.  A little something to take away and remember the night by.

It's positive, uplifting, and encouraging.

A little more so than the murder game we played at 2AM.  (That's not a typo.)

Not that walking around in total darkness wondering if someone was going to squeeze your shoulder (thus murdering you) or if you were going to find/kick/trip over someone already laying on the ground (thus already murdered) isn't hilarious...  because it is.  It's just not the encouraging piece I wanted to take away from the evening.

Knowing we burned 500 calories from laughing the entire night is definitely something I'm taking away.

Once I finish doing the sheets, of course.

Prior to church the next morning, we huddled around for one last photo.  (See one of the compliment plates?)

We all saw 4AM, if not later, so it's a wonder how our eyes are open and we made it to church on time.

Wait, I forget...  That's exactly what high school's about.  Stay up extremely late and then act like you got tons of sleep the next morning just so your parents' don't suspect anything.

I'm on to you, bright eyed and bushy tail girls!

Or it could be that you're still delirious from the evening before.

Whatever you would say about that night, it was loads of fun for all of us!

I am so thankful for each girl in our small group and I'm counting down the days until our next sleepover.

Surely, I'll have made up the sleep in a year, right?!