Last weekend the girls, well actually just Nadya had a sleep over, but the girls had a party at gymnastics for all my their hard work with the last fundraiser. Nadya brought home a note indicating that she sold enough to participate in the party and that it would be a sleep over. Hallie didn't bring a note home, but I knew she sold enough and just chalked it up to her forgetfulness. Silly me!
The night of the sleep over I was getting ready to drop the girls off and on a whim I decided to call another parent to see if she might be staying the night. I still wasn' comfortable with letting my girls stay the night and if it turned out that I didn't know any of the parents staying, I was contemplating staying myself. Well, you can imagine my surprise when said parent informed me that she knew nothing of a sleep over. Her invitation specifically stated a start time of 7:30 and an ending time of 9:30. Huh???????
I was confused. My invitation was in the van and I scrambled to find it. Yep, sure enough it was a sleep over. What??????? And then it hit me. It is a sleep over and I bet it is just for the team. (Insert sick feeling in my stomach, here.) The party is for everyone but the team is invited to stay and the recreational gymnasts would need to go home. I checked with another "team" parent and sure enough, I was right.
ARGH!!!!!!!!!! Hallie is in her pajamas, sleeping bag in tote and she is all geared up for a sleepover!!!!! A part of me felt like this was her fault. I mean, she never brings anything home. I never get notes from school or any activities from her. I always rely on Nadya. Perhaps she did get a note and her note would have specified a time and we could have planned ahead. I asked Hallie if she got a note and she replied no. Well, a lecture on being more responsible was the last thing Hallie needed at this moment so I encouraged her to go in and have fun until 9:30.
Which, she did. Really, really, well........ It was crazy! Pure Chaos. Organized Chaos. But, still Chaos!
The kids were dancing, flipping, hula hooping,
playing tag, walking on their hands and playing games.
The rules for the proper use of
equipment were over looked.
equipment were over looked.
Parents were attempting cartwheels on the beam and backhand springs on the mat.
(And a couple were successful! Impressive!)
(And a couple were successful! Impressive!)
Kids were flying into the cheese!!!!
(That blurry thing is Nadya. Sorry it's blurry. I just had my little point and shoot, but look how high she is!)
They ate pizza, drank lemonade, downed cotton candy and gobbled up robin eggs.
Nadya spent the majority of her time tumbling.
She is getting very good!
Hallie had a great attitude until it was time to go. She kept her composure until we got into the van. Then the tears came. I can't blame her. I would have been heart broken too. (BTW- I checked her gym folder while we were at the party and sure enough she had a note in there about the party being from 7:30-9:30. Not that it does any good now. But still, it was there.)
Okay, so now what? I toyed with the idea of just having them both come home, but then how is that fair to Nadya? She works hard and has really just begun to make good friendships with these girls as she just qualified for team herself. Hallie was very disappointed and rightfully so. I encouraged Hallie to try and be better about checking her folder and bring her papers home because had I known, we could have invited a friend to sleep over while Nadya stayed the night at the gym.
I tried my best to comfort Hallie, but truthfully Nadya happens to be very athletic and sports are very easy for her. Trust me, Nadya works hard. (she averages 13 hours a week at the gym). Hallie was struggling with the fact that they have both been in gymnastics the same amount of time and Nadya is in a higher level. I tried to show Hallie with my hands what happens when one person works hard and moves up and another just does enough to get by and slowly moves up. The gap between the two individuals widen. It was all done in a nice, loving manner. (Well, as best as I could). But, Hallie knew exactly what I was talking about. Nadya's heart is in it, and Hallie just shows up.
I think she took what I said to heart, because when she came home she turned the tv on and starting stretching while she watched. I let her stay up late and watch tv as a consolation prize. We picked up Nadya in the morning and I was left with two, tired, grumpy, whiny girls who made up for their lack of sleep by going to bed an hour early that night. (Nadya admitted that they didn't go to sleep until 3:00 AM and were up at 7:00) Thankfully some catch up sleep was all they needed and they both woke up in better spirits the next day.
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