What Was I Thinking?

I approved another sleepover. I hedged it around with justifications (the last week I'll allow them before summer break is up, the newest child over here has not slept over before) and limitations (only one child at a time actually sleeps over). So we have Abby (8.5), Lizzy (almost 4), Kiki (10), a neighborhood child we'll call "Amy" (almost 7, and I don't have her parents' permission to use her real name or picture) and a child from my mom's neighborhood we'll call "Kayla" (just 8, ditto), all playing dress up. Kiki does not do girly, so she's putting on our less-frilly stuff. Amy feels nervous about dressing up, so Abby has taken her in hand with a ballgown. Lizzy is dressed like a ballerina, except that she's wearing socks.

A couple of neighborhood boys (around 9 years old) just showed up and were told that they were not allowed because we are having a "girl afternoon" (poor Laston, only male in the house, and outnumbered even more than usual). One of the boys told Abby admiringly that she looks like "if Darth Vader had a sister" (she's wearing the outfit she has on here, plus a black hooded cape with a spiderweb pattern in dark metallic purple and carrying a foam sword). Kayla is wearing a red-and-black vampire cape and a red mortarboard over street clothes. She says she's a "graduated vampire". She's also carrying a plastic sword.

They're all behaving themselves for the most part, but it's a bit chaotic. And as Kayla has a brother five years older and Amy is an only child, neither of them are used to playing with their peer group outside of a school or daycare setting. As an example, here's a little gem:

Amy: The littlest girl hit me and she didn't even say sorry!
Me: I'm sorry; she's still little. Lizzy, remember we don't hit people, even with soft things, because it can hurt their feelings. What do you say to her?
Lizzy: Um... I sowwy?

Anyway, Amy and Kiki are both neighborhood kids and I'm not foolish enough to have a large group overnight in my little 1100 sq ft apartment. They're leaving at 6:30 so the rest of us can have supper. Right now the lot of them (except Lizzy) are going out to "the river" (in reality, a tiny creek) Things will settle down a bit at that point.

I hope.