pajamas and other p words

This week certainly has been a trying one and I send a heartfelt "thank you" to all of you who commented and supported me. I know there are so many prayers going up on my behalf, and it is great that I have this wonderful new community of friends out there that are rooting for me. You don't know how special all your words were, and how love I felt each time someone posted a comment. Well, there aren't any words left to describe it. I was touched.

In the spirit of moving forward, I thought I would share what kept me so busy this week: the Patriot Pajama Read-a-Thon. We invited 2nd and 3rd graders from our school to come and spend the night in the gym and read. We played games, watched a movie, but most of it was them reading. They arrived at 7pm and left this morning at 8am. I spent all week getting the details put together, shopping for food and prizes and recruiting volunteers. It was a ton of work, but the kids had a great time.

Here are the things I learned last night. My own Top Ten, so to speak (don't sue me David Letterman).

1. Pajama pants often do not have pockets. When you need to carry a cell phone, a walkie talkie and keys, this is a problem. Here I am in my pajama finery.
2. A plastic whistle from the Target birthday party supply section doesn't quite do the job of a real metal one.

3. Even if they ate dinner, as soon as a kid sees the snack table, she/he will be immediately hungry.

4. I cannot sleep with kids snoring, coughing and moaning in their sleep. Seriously folks, I got two hours of shut eye. Between 2 and 4am.

5. Relay races help make the kids tired. Here they are crawling across the gym floor, and cheering for their team.

5. Some students aren't ready to spend the night. We only had to contact one parent out of 50, so that is a pretty good statistic.

6. If a parent says they will help, put 'em to work before they change their minds. I gave one mom the job of bringing me coffee last night when she dropped off her child. Thank you Grande White Mocha for at least 6 hours of caffeine driven pep.

7. Charlotte's Web is one of the best movies EVER. I love that doomed pig. And it probably is the only spider I will ever like.

8. Juice boxes are WAY BETTER than giving kids cups. That get knocked over. And spill. Once, twice, three, wait FOUR times.

9. God invented air mattresses for nights like this.

10. When a kid tells you they need new pants in the middle of the night, don't believe him when he says they got wet in the bathroom. Check it out. And give the parent who cleaned up the poo smeared walls and floors a medal. Seriously.