Monkeying Around

Have you heard of Monkey Tales Theatre?

If not, it is a non-profit children's theatre group that performs plays with a purpose. Each play has an important theme such as gender empowerment, disability awareness, and responsibility. The group was formed by two of my "mom" friends that I met through our playgroup. I've enjoyed watching the group blossom over the past year and am so proud of these ladies for pursuing their passion. I've even been able to contribute a bit to the group by creating activities for teachers to use in conjunction with the performances to help reinforce the message of the play.

A few weeks ago Monkey Tales had a fundraiser at Applebee's. It was an All-You-Can-Eat pancake/egg/sausage/coffee breakfast with the characters from the play. What a fun time! We arrived right as the doors were opening, so our table was the prime target for several of the characters to come over and chat. Amelia (who had no warning ahead of time) did not quite understand what was going on. She slowly warmed up to everyone (even the pirate, although it was touch and go for awhile), and was off playing hide and seek with the princess and lion before my coffee got cold. It is no surprise that Princess Marigold was her favorite of all the characters in attendance.

Baby Jack Comes to Visit!

So with a title like that, you would probably be expecting to see some pictures of a little guy by the name of "Baby Jack" (which, by the way, even his parents both "Baby" and "Jack" when referring to him), however, you will need to look very closely to spot the ONE picture I actually snapped of him during their visit. I am hoping to get some from my cousin who took many, many more than I.

My aunt Margy and Uncle Jerry from Spokane, WA came for a visit a few weeks ago. In addition, my cousin Mark, his wife, Liz, and their son Baby Jack from New York also came to town. Baby Jack was born just a few weeks before Henry in early December.

No visit of Uncle Jerry's is complete without a trip to the Museum of Transportation. He is crazy about trains and Amelia is about the only one who will listen to him ramble on about them anymore. We had fun at the museum, nonetheless, on one the hottest days of the summer thus far.

most of the gang riding the train at the museum

Amelia is constantly asking to climb trees and she just couldn't pass up this opportunity after spotting "a good climbing tree" on the museum grounds. Incidentally, a "good climbing tree" in her book only requires the tree to have a trunk.

Hey look, the one picture I got with Baby Jack!

My aunt Phyllis and Uncle John graciously hosted us for a day of swimming out in Innsbrook where they live. The kids had a blast! Amelia swam for THREE HOURS STRAIGHT! Needless to say, both kids were out before we even left the Innsbrook grounds. Such a fun time, though!

My cousin Mark visits St. Louis every July to teach a class at Washington University. He is a political science professor at the University of Rochester in NY. I am secretly hoping that Liz and Jack will join him every June from now on when he comes to St. Louis. They sure make the trip way more fun!

Baby Henry and Mark

Summer, Summer, Summertime

Given my love of lists, lists, lists, it should be no surprise to see another on this website. This time, however, I got Amelia involved in the planning. We sat down one night as a family and came up with 20 things we would like to do this summer. I copied our list to some leftover poster board. Then, Amelia and I looked through some magazines to try and find some pictures of the activities we are hoping to do.

Summer Fun:

1. Go up in the Arch.
2. Attend family reunion in TX.
3. Go fishing
4. Take a trip to the Lake of the Ozarks
5. Swim at the pool
6. Take a family picnic
7. See a movie at the theater
8. Take a nature walk
9. Go to the Incredible Pizza Company
10. Visit the Farmer's Market and pick out a new fruit to try
11. Camp in the Backyard
12. Complete the summer reading program at the library
13. Pick some fruit
14. Check out Purina Farms
15. Catch lightning bugs
16. Go to a parade
17. Take the car through the car wash
18. Make a dress
19. Visit a new state
20. Go to a Cardinals game

The poster is in a spot where we can't help but see it every day. We are 3 weeks in and have checked off 4 things so far.

Amelia watching "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" at the movie theater.

Celebrating her friend's birthday at Incredible Pizza Co.

(We also swam at the pool and took the car through the car wash for part of Amelia's father's day gift to Jason).

Let the summer fun continue (so I can cross it off)!

Creve Coeur Lake Adventure

I don't talk enough about my playgroup on here, but they are an amazing group of women that I am so grateful for! Most weeks, I try to make it to at least one event and on a good week, we attend two or three meet ups. I've been involved with the group since I moved back to St. Louis 3 years ago and I've met some of my best friends through the group.


A few weeks ago, some ladies from the group planned an outing at Creve Coeur Lake. It was on a Saturday, so I left Henry with Jason and Amelia and I went out for some fun in the sun. It was a beautiful day on the lake!


Amelia loved playing in the sand with her friends, Autumn and Xavier! And somehow we kept all the little ones out of the water since it's not a swimming lake.

We decided to rent a canoe and take the kids out on the water. Amelia loved it and went out in the canoe three separate times! She really wanted to help paddle, but after nearly losing the oar in the water, she settled for goofing with her friends instead.

We will definitely be back to do this again! Maybe next time, we'll give the quadricycles a try!

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

A picture of Henry and one of his many girlfriends, Savannah (Savvy). Although she is younger than him by nearly 3 weeks, she is also bigger. And that is saying something given his 90th percentile stats!

Happy Father's Day!

Our Dad Rocks!

Cheesy Chuck

As if the princess party wasn't enough to celebrate Miss Amelia turning 4, the festivities continued on her actual birthday, June 1. Turns out this year it fell on a school day. She had been asking to bring Henry in for show and tell, so her teacher and I set it up for her birthday. The kids were very interested in Henry when we first arrived, but by the time show and tell came around, the kids could have cared less that there was a baby in the room--Amelia included!

Amelia also picked out a cookie cake to share with her class. She was all sugared up when I came to pick her up. Surprisingly, she still napped and was rearing to go for the final birthday surprise--Chuck E. Cheese.


Amelia was a Chuck E. Cheese virgin up until this point. It's hard to believe that she has been on this Earth for 4 whole years and had never set foot in this popular child venue. It did NOT disappoint, she was in heaven!



She was lucky enough to be joined by GG, Papa, Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Dave. I can remember being fascinated and terrified at the same time while watching those strange singing, mechanical animals at Show Biz Pizza. I think Chuck E. Cheese may have the same effect on my little girl.

Henry was in sensory overload and lovin' it.

It seems like the goofier the ride, the better for this one.

Amelia and Uncle Dave riding the simulated roller coaster ride. He taught her how to raise her hands when going down the hills.

It was a great end to a nearly week long birthday celebration. It took several days to de-spoil her, but she recovered nicely. I, for one, am glad birthdays only come once a year!

The Royal Celebration

If you are a regular reader of this blog or if you spend any time around my daughter, it should come as no surprise to you that she chose a princess theme for her fourth birthday party.

Also if you are a regular reader of this blog or if you spend any time around me, you know that I am not much of a girly girl. I am also not thrilled with the princess phase my daughter has been stuck in since age 2.

But, with that being said, I decided to embrace the theme and give it my best. After all, it is (hopefully) the only time I will be throwing a princess party.

My mom came over several days before the party to help decorate and I'm disappointed that I didn't even get all the decorations captured on film. Boo. But, here's what I did get

The grand entrance:

I tried to downplay the Disney Princesses, but sometimes you just have to give a dog a bone. I found these life-sized princesses on clearance at Hobby Lobby so I went with it.

I've gotten into the habit of making a birthday banner each year that coordinates with the theme. I was a little concerned about having TOO much pink (although Amelia would say this was impossible) with the little boys who were invited, so I decided to decorate with green as well.


I really like how this banner turned out, but was trying for a little more princessy. I chose to hang it on tulle and add some sparkly pink ribbon bows (which I apparently didn't get in the picture).For a festive feel, I copied my friend Erin's idea to sew together strips of streamers. I won't try to explain it any more, but if you are interested check out her tutorial. Its SUPER easy and I love it because the messier you are with it, the cuter is turns out. My kind of craft for sure! And although the pictures don't really do it justice, it turned out great and I received many questions about it and compliments on it.

The entrance to the royal dining room:
Again, I didn't get pictures of the hats I made for the little ladies in attendance. But here is the special birthday girl one Amelia and I worked on together.

She loved wearing it before her party, but preferred to sport a headband on her big day.

The cake was a constant source of stress for me leading up to the party. I knew I wanted to attempt a castle cake, but I wasn't sure how to do it. Once I found one online and had a plan, I felt pretty good about it. That is, until I started talking to people who actually make cakes professionally. They mentioned things like dowel rods, cardboard cake plates in between layers, and making my own buttercream frosting.
After lots of thinking and worrying, I decided that my two goals in making the cake were 1) for it to remain standing at least until the candles were blown out and 2) for the frosting not to slide off of it before it was time to cut the cake. Luckily, both of these goals were met. It certainly wasn't perfect and it looked pretty amatuerish when I was finished, but I was pretty happy with the outcome. And the dowels, cardboard cake plates, and homemade buttercream frosting? Check, Check, and Check.

And best of all, my little girl...


LOVED it!

As for entertainment, I had some just in case games in mind, but I really am uncomfortable running organized games with a bunch of mixed aged kids. I put a lot of stock in Amelia's little playhouse, sand/water table, and slide occupying the littlest guests. I also made a cardboard castle out of some extra moving boxes we had around. I kept them for an opportunity just like this!


I put some stickers, markers, and paint dobbers out for the kids (and adults) to decorate with and they did great! This is the only "after" picture I got, but the whole thing was decorated inside and out.

As for the guests themselves? So many came in princess attire. I wish I would have taken the time to snap pictures of each guest upon their arrival. I have never been to a party where so many people have outfit changes. Many people (mostly the adult women) dressed up in old prom/bridesmaid dresses and most people at least had on a crown.

Heck, even Henry got in the spirit!

And my mom? Oh, where do I start? She came over early to help with final preparations and next thing I know, she emerges from the bathroom as "Queen GG" and would answer to nothing else. Her outfit was complete with a GG staff, a "diamond" necklace, and a royal purple cape.

She outdid herself by volunteering to face paint during the party. It was a hit. I almost felt like I should have paid her or something. Almost.

The party went late into the night. After the majority of the guests had left, Amelia decided it was time to act out some of her favorite princess story lines. After Snow White, she decided to give The Little Mermaid a try. Somehow, she talked a whole slew of people into joining her on the floor as mermaid friends.


I think the big hit gift-wise was the princess make-up she received. I cannot tell you how close I am to throwing it in the trash, however. Just tonight, in fact, I heard her out of bed and went to check on her. I found her in our bathroom with a bright orange face and rosy cheeks made of lipstick. Yep, she had helped herself to mine (hers was up out of reach). Eeek!

I can't complain though, it was such a special day with family and friends. It's so hard to believe my little girl is four!