A Gaggle of Girls

Last Friday night, I invited the young women over to my house for a sleepover.  My niece, Delanie, had a great idea to make Venetian masks for a personal progress project but it was time consuming and needed several days to complete so I knew we’d need a setting like an overnighter for it to be successful.  I was also motivated to have the girls come together outside of the church setting to see if some barriers between groups could be broken down.

The girls started to arrive at 6 pm and I put the take-n-bake pizzas I bought at Walmart in the oven.  My second counselor brought a bunch of soda and my secretary and 1st counselor brought snacks and treats for the rest of the evening.  Just because they are awesome, two of my girls who are sisters brought scrumptious brownies and muffins as well.  We had plenty of food!

After eating, Delanie instructed the girls on their mask making.  Each girl getting masked had to layer Vaseline onto her face.  It was amusing to see them freaking out about it but then it got eerily quiet.  With half of the girls on their backs being completely still and silent, we had much less noise.  To help them remain as still as they needed to be, I put on some soft music.  My sister turned me on to Joshua Radin’s Pandora station and it is the best music ever when you want some to play mellow, popular music.   The girls loved it and I frequently heard, “Oh...I love this song!”

It took about 20-30 minutes for the masks to be applied and then the girls had to continue to lie still for another 20 or so minutes for them to dry.  We only had a couple of girls get claustrophobic and panic but even they did o.k.  They just sort of wiggled their arms and legs to vent a bit.  Once the first group started to pry their masks off their faces, the merriment of the evening really began.  It was an amusing sight.  One of my mia maids was sure she was ripping off her eyebrows and once her mask came off, there was this huge dark blob right where he eye was.  We saw it, she saw it and she ran to the bathroom to see if she had any eyebrows left.  Thankfully, it was only her mascara that transferred and all of her hair remained intact.




The first group of girls getting their masks made.  Delanie is in the middle putting a mask on Kristen and monitoring every one else’s progress.



Brooke was the girl who got the most panicked.  You can see why.



Tanessa went with a Phantom of the Opera look and only did a half face.



Alyssa also did a half face but hers is the more traditional shape.



My wonderful and adorable counselor, Kristen, was game to make a mask.  I would have but it was tricky with Daniel.  You’re pretty much glued to a spot for an hour so I didn’t.



Kaeli and her sister Afton were very detailed and spent the most time on each others’ masks.  They came out perfect.



Some of the masks drying and Delanie’s example of the mask she made in one of her classes.



Afton right after her masks was taken off.



Elise getting her vaseline on.  Look at the glob of it on her fingertips.



Kaeli’s turn being the victim.



Staysha didn’t want to get masked as she has sensitive skin and feared a breakout or allergic reaction but was willing to apply Elise’s mask.  Jenna gets a half mask to match her cousin, Tanessa.



Victoria was a pro at lying still.



Elise is covered.



Another Kaylee came with her friends, Brooke and Victoria.  I hope she had fun.



Jenna’s mask coming off.  Hers was the eyebrow scare.



Eyebrow intact!



Kaeli post mask.  Funny girl.

The second group went much the same.  All of us leaders hung out in the room talking to the girls and it was a nice feeling of camaraderie.  I was really proud of Delanie and her leadership and am excited to see how the masks turn out.  They dried overnight and the girls plan on decorating them tonight at mutual with glitter, feathers and paint.  Oh my!

After the masks, we snacked and started in on Karaoke.  I never know how successful Karaoke evenings go.  Some girls had a blast.  Some girls didn’t sing at all.  It’s a toss up.




Alyssa has Aspergers and struggles at a lot of our activities because they are too loud or she just doesn’t like them.  She is a very sweet girl and loves to sing so this was perfect for her.  She has such a nice voice too.



Jenna and Tanessa were also fans of the microphone though they liked to giggle more than sing.



Elise, Afton and Kaeli take a turn.  I kind of forced Elise and you can see how eager she was to sing (she has the braid giving away the microphone):)

By the time Karaoke wound down, it was 10:20 and several of the girls who had early morning commitments went home.  I started the move Flipped, which is really cute.  I used the website commonsense media.org to research the film and I think it was o.k in spite of the few swear words thrown in.

At the end of the movie, every single girl minus two was asleep.  I quietly turned off the TV, made sure everyone was covered with blankets and had a pillow underneath her head and went to bed.  I know!  I didn’t even sleep out there with them but there wasn’t really room and I didn’t think I’d hear Daniel crying in the night if I stayed in the living room.  My counselor was out there so I knew they were fine.

The girls left early in the morning and I have to say...easiest sleep over ever!  They got a bit hyper during Karaoke  and I’m sure Jay was nervous that we’d be having those squeals and shouts all night but they calmed down at a decent hour and everyone got sleep.  Success!