As I write this there are 8 teenagers that have taken over my family room. There’s one more day of Christmas break (our kids don’t return to school until Tuesday!) and Erica wanted one last night watching a movie with friends before they headed back to school.

They’ve invaded my home, raided the pantry, pilfered the refrigerator, and now they are watching a comedy on my tv…and I love it!

One of the things I’ve learned with teenagers is that if you want to know what your kids are doing, make it easy for them to be hanging at your house. That’s what we’ve tried to do. But we’ve learned that making that happen takes alot of sacrifice.

There have been many times where we’ve had the little ones in bed, Mark and I are snuggled on the couch watching tv or reading books and we’ve received a call like this, “Mom, the game is over. Can I have a bunch of people over?” Every part of me wants to scream, “NO!” But my logical mind knows the right answer for this season of life is “Sure! That would be fine.”

So I stock up on frozen pizzas, hide bags of chex mix where no one will find them except me for those spontaneous party nights, and commiserate with my husband when we willingly give up our quiet evening to a houseful of teenagers.

………….okay, I just got interrupted by our 20 year old son who thought he’d stop by with a few of his friends. When will it stop? Entirely too soon, I’m afraid.

For now, I’ll savor every minute of it!