NO SLEEP TONIGHT

My sister once wrote a letter to the ever-elusive sleep, and in that spirit:

Last night, as we battled the night-games and fireworks just outside our front door; desperate for a bedtime, knowing on some level that nocturnal rest aspirations at our house are mostly desperate fantasy anyway; another glitch surfaced to kill any hope.

Sweet P had already made it clear that she could not go downstairs to the laudry room alone to get her pajamas, as we had found a spider there the day before.  Handsome Prince appeared to rescue her from the horrors of nakedness and aracnids, bless his heart, and he bravely accompanied her. 

(I know, I KNOW!  I'll put the clothes away some day.  At least it was clean and folded, OK?)

After an abbreviated scripture study and family prayer, and a firm, "NO!  We are DONE playing outside!  It's 10:30!" I finally herded the three littles into their room.  This is when the unthinkable happened. 

Now, normally I encourage the old adage, "Look before you leap," but last night I wish she'd never seen  (Gasp!) The Spider On Her Bed. 

Even though we caught it, squished it, and flushed it, the damage was done.

( I have to be thankful that we didn't have a renegade spider somewhere in the bed, spotted briefly but running loose.   We would have had to rent a hotel.)

 I've discovered on more than one occasion that it doesn't take much to send a 5 year-old girl into hysterics. Last night was no exception. 


Oye, I'm so tired!

 

It's worth noting that in the midst of all the chaos, Mr. Cool thought it would be a good idea to bring up the dead spider he had just found in the basement.  I guess his reasoning was that it could have been worse--"Look how big this one was!" Helpful.