Snow, Ice, Canceled Party, Sleepover

It has been one heck of a day! Woke up to icky, wet, rainy, sleeting, freezing weather and schools closed. Stu's work was one of the few places in town that was requiring employees to come in.
Conall began to get worried about his birthday party, scheduled for tomorrow. We'd talked a few days ago about the possibility of snow and ice and what that would mean. He had one small meltdown, but luckily Kanton came over to invite him to play. Then, they went with Kanton's parents to play with some of the kids up the street who have sleds. They got to sled up and down the hill and had a ball!
Stu and I watched the weather and waited, trying to decide what to do ... then it became obvious that the weather wasn't going to get better and was probably going to get worse. Stu's work sent everyone home early because the weather and road conditions were getting worse. We decided to reschedule the party for next weekend and start calling parents.
After playing next door for a few hours, the kids headed over here to play. The boys started asking if they could have a sleepover and after talking to Kanton's parents we agreed to give it a try. It really did help with the disappointment of the birthday party being rescheduled. The roads weren't too horrible yet, so Stu headed out for pizza and a movie.

Daddy got "special Hogwarts candles" -- they blow out, relight, blow out, etc.!

Conall still trying to blow those candles out and Kanton asking "could I get some of those for my birthday?"

The boys playing with Conall's early birthday gift -- a miniature air hockey game.

Later, Caitlin beat them all in every game she played.

The kids enjoyed pizza, ate some early birthday cake, watched a little of their movie, played for awhile and then were ready to put their PJ's on. Caitlin had a meltdown about wanting to join the boys for the sleepover, but otherwise things went smoothly.

The boys "read to each other," came and got me for a drink, got up to potty and generally stalled. Conall informed me that we could skip hugs and kisses tonight (sniff, sniff).  Kanton told me that he thought he'd stay for breakfast. He said "I've never eaten breakfast here before." We started talking about what Kanton liked to eat and he said "do you think I could have a menu?".

the surprise photo

posing for a photo of their "first sleepover"

A little later the boys came into Caitlin's room while I was rocking her and trying to calm her down. Conall said "Mommy, can ghosts really travel through walls?" I told him that they could in the stories. Conall started looking around and turning in circles, looking for the ghosts who were going to travel through walls. Then both boys asked "Are ghosts real?" I sent them to talk to daddy.

The boys convinced daddy to put sleeping bags and pillows on the floor and to let them sleep there. Then, they got daddy to tell them ghost stories for quite some time. Sometime after 9:30 they started to quiet down. We'll see if we make it through the entire night! I better get that menu ready just in case!