Not my energy, mind you. It was the boundless energy of six (yes - six) 8 year-old boys. As part of Nicolas' birthday present (he turned 8 this past Tuesday), we promised him that he could have friends over for a sleep-over. Now, when we proposed the idea, we figured that we should should allow him to invite a few more friends than we might normally allow.  With his birthday falling in the heart of summer vacation, we figured the decline rate might be high. Guess what? We were wrong. The result - five invites and five attendees.

I have to say that generally speaking, the boys were *extremely* well behaved. I feared I would have to don referee's stripes and carry a crowbar to pry them apart as the evening progressed, but there were no incidents. That doesn't mean that the evening was perfect, however.

I still cannot figure out how the young human body can produce enough adrenaline to to keep them going... and going... and going. At 11:30 PM, we were still playing "herding cats" to get everyone in their sleeping bags for the night (note to self - patent a sleeping bag for children that zippers up completely and only leaves the head sticking out and a locking mechanism). When the kids *finally* fell asleep, it took Melissa and I a combined total of 23.2 seconds to fall asleep ourselves. Fast forward 6 hours...

Before 6 AM, I awoke to the sounds of 5 young boys waking the sixth. "Now", I thought, "is when the REAL battling starts." Amazingly, know sleep-deprived punches were thrown and calm ensued. Most of the boys were gone by 10 AM. As I write this, only one friend remains. Nicolas and his friend are outside running around like they just ingested as pound of raw cane sugar. Melissa and I, on the other hand, are taping our eyes open to make it through the day. If only I could find a way to bottle up that energy, I would do it in a moment. I have no desire to sell it, mind you. I would horde it all for myself. Go organize your own sleep over.