A bit off topic, but I thought you guys might enjoy this:

Slumber party checklist:

Dining room table littered with remnants of 43 million gram carbohydrate breakfast of giant frosted muffins ~ check

Giant tent construction surrounded by possibly hazardous tween rubbish in second bedroom ~ check

Teens woke up late and were distraught that the tweens took the best muffins and ate most of the eggs ~ check

Teens blissfully unaware that the parents, indeed, ate most of the eggs ~ check

Confused miniature schnauzer ("Mom, they boinged de big bouncy ball around de basement ALL NIGHT -- Rabbit Killer dog and I thinks dey have de rabeeees") piddled on rug ~ check

Distraught cockatiel conducting fifteen hour imitation of Dumb and Dumber scene -- "Wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?" ~ cheeeeeck

100% of tweens and 0% of teens with faces buried in their hands by the end of the late night scary movie ~ check

At least one child forgot to mention that she had to be at orchestra first thing this morning ~ check

Piddle cleanup preceded by raw egg cleanup followed by exaggerated admonition: "I don't think my friends want to talk about that, Mom." (Meaning innocent comment about how it's great they've almost survived the transition from grade school to middle school.) ~ check

Mom happy that she missed the scene where the tweens enticed an elderly lady to screech at them in her "granniest, squealiest voice" -- "Are we deaf in here, ladies?" -- in the bathroom at the movie theater. ("Can you believe she screamed at us for screaming?") ~ check

Mom thrilled to have an energetic house full of laughter, chaos, animals, jokes and fun ~ you betcha

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Okay, sometimes I'd have it another way, but not today.