Pretty Pretty Princess Party

As a lot of you may already know, I'm a mother of four wonderful children. I find it necessary to always use a positive adjective when describing the children because it usually sounds so much better than the other available adjectives such as crazy, insane, loud, strange, sassy, odd or weird to name a few.
The first three of the spectacular children born happened to be boys. Now as much as I loved and enjoyed my boys, I believe every woman secretly yearns to have a little girl at some point. Understand that I loved having the boys. I loved their independence, rowdiness and constant attempt to out-do each other but there was a part of me that still longed for a little girl. A little girl to dress in pink, to buy pink blankets for, to put ribbons in her hair and play dolls with on rainy days.
After three boys and six years I got my wish. I had a beautiful little baby girl to add to the three gorgeous boys I already had at the time. We named her Bethany.
The first eighteen months were great. Pink was everywhere. Dolls and strollers waited anxiously in the corner of her room for Bethany to get old enough to play with them. I stocked up on Barbie's and play outfits. Her grandmother bought her a complete dish set and stuffed animals flowed over the edge of the toy box. Bethany's room looked like a flamingo had vomited everywhere. There was hardly a spot that wasn't pink. It was great and we all waited patiently for her to mature.
Time passed and Bethy (as we call her) grew, began to talk and develop her own little personality. However, the dolls and dishes remained in the corner as Bethany chose to play outside in the dirt with her brothers. I frequently found myself picking up more monster trucks and Hot Wheels cars from Bethany's room than her brothers. She wouldn't stand still to have her hair done, she hated braids or ribbons, dresses were worn out into the mud and on rainy days, well, she spent rainy days playing in the rain with her brothers.
Bethany remained a tomboy until she started school. Slowly she began to appreciate some of the little things that make us all female. She wanted her nails painted from time to time and even let me start putting her hair up with ribbons and clasps. Bethany still buried baby dolls at the bottom of her closet and toy box but I wasn't asking for miracles so I embraced the new "girly" characteristics she was adopting with age.
In second grade, Bethany came to me and asked if she could have a sleep-over for her birthday party. She wanted to call it a Pretty Pretty Princess Party. I was ecstatic. I enthusiastically exclaimed my excitement over this idea and we immediately began to plan.
We went to the store and picked out a princess cake, an inflatable castle ring toss game, pin the slipper on the princess game, tons of prizes, princess movies, tiara's for everyone and of course, ice cream. I made princess dogs and chili and royal chips and dip. We bought princess balloons and a princess centerpiece.
After having three boys, I was an old pro at the slumber parties. All the boys had a sleep over at some point or another for their birthday. It was always a great time complete with sno cone machines, inflatable food toss games and more. The boys would usually begin losing steam around 9 or 10pm and would crash in front of the PlayStation in their sleeping bags never to be heard from again until morning.
Bethany invited every girl in her class and all but one was able to attend. That fateful evening, eight little girls that I like to refer to as Satan's Disciples, arrived on my doorstep towing additional princess paraphernalia behind them. Games, make-up and fake jewelry were among the items smuggled in that evening.
My best friend of 23 years came down with her oldest daughter to join in on the festivities. Marie and I sat comfortably on the sofa talking about trivial things as the girls continued to arrive.
At first, things went as planned. Everyone ate their princess dogs and chili and royal chips and dip. Then we went directly into the cake, ice cream and gifts. By this time, girls were already in their princess pajamas and were wearing their tiara's. Small arguments began to form as they fought over who had the better tiara. One of the Devil's Disciples was unable to speak without a long drawn out high pitched whine. Every word was stretched to maximum ability and the sound barrier was tested with each sentence but still things were going seemingly well.
Once the cake and ice cream was over and the tiara debate was settled, we moved into the living room to begin the fun. We started with the castle ring toss. Whiney immediately disqualified herself after the first round when she couldn't get rings around any of the castle tops. I moved the line up in order to increase their chances and end this game sooner. Another girl, I call Bossy, began to monitor everyone else's spacing to determine if they were cheating by crossing the line. Bossy's real name was Bethany, and yes, she's mine. Bossy collided with Stubborn and Stubborn had issues with Meanie. Meanie constantly bad mouthed Whiney and Whiney kept trying to get Popular to leave the game and join her alliance as Sporty, Sweety and Shorty continued to try to win prizes. I don't think Bratty was ever part of the game but I think she was in an alliance with Bossy and Stubborn.
We finished the princess castle ring toss and decided to move on to pin the slipper on the princess game. Meanie decided she would be first so I put the blindfold on, spun her around and sent her toward the wall. Bulls eye, she got the shoe right on the foot. Sporty, Shorty, Stubborn, Bossy, Bratty and Sweety all followed behind. Each one managed to get the shoe almost directly on the correct spot. Popular and Whiney went last but weren't able to get anywhere near the desired spot. A new argument erupted. Popular and Whiney were convinced that the other girls had all formed an alliance and had cheated in order to win prizes. Now I must admit, it does sound unlikely that all those girls were able to hit the bullseye every time but by that time, I just wanted to give them their bubble makers, princess rings, happy face pens and princess slinkies so I can go to bed. I was ready to say goodbye to my friend, pop in the princess movie and get some well deserved sleep.
The girls began to chant Hide and Seek over and over again to my horror. Bossy, the birthday girl, begged to play a game of hide and seek. It sounded like a good idea and a perfect opportunity for me to get to sit down and chat with my old friend for a little longer. Squeals, loud bangs and the thunder of little feet echoed throughout the house as I continued to converse with my friend. Popular came to inform me that Whiney had locked herself in Bossy's room to cry because the other girl's weren't playing fair. I chose to tackle that issue later as I continued my conversation. Girls screamed past us and I could feel the wind from their movement. Bratty and Shorty came to me in tears because Bossy's big brother, Bratty and Meanie had scared them in my closet by turning off the light and holding the door shut.
Still, I chose to believe they were having fun until my oldest son came to me.
"Mom?"
"Yes Garret, what now?"
"I think you may want to check out Levi's room."
Levi was my second born son. I sat there for a minute trying to absorb what he just said when the family dog, Sophia, jumped into my lap. I reached to pet her and felt something sticky and thick. I raised my hand to observe and determine what was all over my dog when Garret responded, "I think it's cheez whiz. It's everywhere back here."
I looked down and my little black dog was covered in an orange substance. My friend immediately began to laugh as I leaped from the couch.
I burst into Levi's room and saw Sporty, Bossy and Sweety sitting on the bed. Cheez Whiz is on the carpet, the bed frame, the dog, the dresser, the comforter and the wall. On the wall there is a perfect cheez whiz hand print. I'm stunned as I see a flash out of the corner of my eye. Marie is standing in the doorway laughing to the point of tears and snapping pictures.
"What happened, who did this, what is this!!!???" I asked in an exclaimed way.
Sporty and Bossy quickly pointed to Sweety without saying a word. Not Sweety. Sweety was the quietest, most polite child in the den of the Devil's Disciples. Yet when I asked Sweety if she was the one that pressed her cheez whiz covered hand against the wall and had covered the dog in cheese, she answered yes.
After my friend left, the remainder of the night was spent corralling nine insane girls into the living room, keeping them still, attempting to quiet the room and struggling to get some sleep.
The following day after all the girls left, I found myself in my bed asleep for three hours. It was the first time in birthday history that I had to take a nap after a party!