Meet our new BFF...Fancy Nancy!
HB and I are are very inspired by Fancy Nancy. We own lots of her books. We like discussing all the ways she finds to be fancy. We love her fabulous (that's a fancy word for great) vocabulary. And then we like giving it a try ourselves.
Exhibit A: Spring 2009
HB and I purchased the book Fancy Nancy: Explorer Extraordinaire. We read it. We studied it. We decided we needed an adventure. And off we went.
Our inspiration.
HB...explorer extraordinaire! Hat...check! Sunglasses...check! Snacks packed in Hello Kitty lunchbox...check!
The excited explorers, ready to begin their adventure through the jungle aka the grand garden at Thanksgiving Point.
The flowers were breathtaking. We couldn't stop smelling them or taking pictures of them. We will spare you the hundreds of random flower pictures and just focus on our favorites.
My fancy girl in the flower garden.
No matter how big my fancy little girl grows, I will never forget the feel of her hand in mine. I love that hand and how loved I feel when she reaches for it.
You mark my words...this girl is going to change the world. She is amazing!
We discovered a secret garden with a fountain.
HB took her journal and colored pencils with her. When she saw something amazing, she would plop down on a bench and draw a picture of it. She even drew a picture of all the benches in the gardens. And then she would write a sentence. I'm telling you...PBS Kids programming is doing its job in our house!
More sketching and writing.
The flowers. 
No trip to the gardens is complete without a roll down the big hill.
The fountain in the "Italian" garden.
Dancing on the amphitheater stage. I like to call this my "Saturday Night Fever" move.
It's in our blood.
Well, our adventure was spectacular! So imagine our complete delight when a trip through Target the other day brought us another Fancy Nancy adventure to savor. The latest in a series to make your life more "fancy":
HB wasted not a second. She quickly filled out several invitations and invited her friends to a tea party (much to my surprise...guess she forgot the part where it helps to ask your mom so people don't show up expecting tea and find your mother in pajamas lounging on the couch). She spent 2 days preparing for the event. First, she made placemats out of 12x12 pieces of scrapbook paper with a portrait of each guest and their name. Then she made paper butterflies for them to decorate. Next she found little gold crowns downstairs in the "mystery" drawer and set them out with fairy stickers to be decorated. Since her mother is a teapot/teacup junkie, we pulled out some of the fancy teapots for decoration and decided to use the fancy tea cups to drink strawberry lemonade out of. Then we made fabulous pink cupcakes with very pink frosting. And voila...a tea party for princesses. We had so much fun!
The table set for guests!
Ready for strawberry lemonade and cupcakes!
They each got to decorate their own cupcakes and not a single sprinkle was spared!
I forgot HB also made very fancy fans out of napkins! This book is spectacular...trust me. No detail is overlooked and princesses of any age can do the projects.
The princesses had such delightful manners and were very charming!
These princesses could really down the lemonade! We also had cucumbers from the garden, apple and pear slices from someone else's orchard.
Is there anything better in this world than pink cupcakes with sprinkles?
All our tea party friends who were willing to make room in their busy schedules for an impromptu afternoon tea rendevous! We love girly friends...and that they can pull out princess dresses on a moments notice!
The tea party was followed by dancing in the family room and silly face pictures.
Sweet friends. HB is so lucky!
And no proper tea party is complete without some wild jumping off the couch!
Running, jumping, dancing, and sipping "tea"...all in an afternoon's work for a princess.
Just pure fun.So here is the lesson I'm learning. Motherhood is filled with lots of work...hard work. There are houses that always seem to need cleaning, bathrooms with wet towels, dirty dishes, unmade messes, sticky floors, and children that need wiping, changing, eating, homework, cleaning, etc. But if those are the only moments, then it would be a dreary job indeed. What makes motherhood truly a spectacular experience is the balance...deciding that once in a while you aren't going to clean but you are going to grab your kids and set out on an adventure. It doesn't matter where...anywhere. Someplace where you can laugh together and play together and create the memories that will sustain each of you for a lifetime. And sometimes you can ignore those dirty dishes and just throw an impromptu tea party...or make a pie...or jump on the beds for no good reason. So when you start feeling frustrated with your job, just stop what you are doing and change directions. The fresh air and new perspective does a heart good.
Oh, and don't forget to invite us. We love an impromptu adventure!
P.S. Just so you don't think I'm favoring the girl species, the boys happened to be at school during both of these particular adventures. I promise they get lots of fun too!
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13 comments:
Love, love LOVE this! I truly can't wait until Boo is old enough to really appreciate the fanciness of a tea party. I mean, I've already checked plenty of times to make sure she can keep her fancy party hat on. (We practice regularly.) Having a girl has been more fun than I realized--and so much is yet to come! (I didn't get an invite...did it get lost in the mail?)
Love it! When I grow up, I want to be a mother like you!! I think that HB will definitely grow up to be as creative and wonderful as her mother:) That is just the most FABULOUS tea party I have ever seen planned!
What a great post!!! Every thought you wrote reminded me of why I love being a mother and I need to take my little girls for an adventure! You are a great friend and mother...you inspire me!!!
Oh I love this so much. We love Fancy Nancy as well (Mia just spent her birthday money on the fabulous purple layered Fancy Nancy dress up at Target and loves it, so much.) Tea parties and lovely adventures with a mother who will dance on the stage of a secret garden. What a memory. And I agree, that girl will change the world.
And can I just add that I love her beautiful golden french braids?
We loved Thankgiving Point, but we missed the gardens and it looks like we REALLY missed out! What fun! I especially like the drawing in the garden - picturesque. And a fancy tea party? I don't think it gets better than that.
And I love your message at the end. I will remember that.
How'd I miss THIS post??
Delightful. Truly, delightful.
I just recently purchased Sophie her first Fancy Nancy at a book fair.. JUST because of the name. Didn't even crack it open.. just saw that Nancy was fancy.. and had to have it. Now I know what to do with the adventures she has.. copy them!
You, my dear.. are darling.
oh how i love little girls! HB is so like my Lulu...so creative! we had a Christmas party like that when she was 5! I also love the sketching at the garden...you know boys (as much as i love them too!) just want to splash in the fountains! Your philosophy on mothrhood was my mantra all summer long! Bravo to outings, memories and dirty baseboards!
You are a marvelous work and a wonder! Having 4 girls, I should definitely be into Fancy Nancy, but I don't think we've ever read about her!! Shame on me! We need to be inspired...that tea party was precious.
Thank you for your Lessons Learned. I'm printing it out and taping it to my refrigerator, bathroom mirror, and laundry room cabinet. I love you Amy.
That was a magical post describing some magical moments. You are the smartest mom I know because you know how to take advantage of every precious moment! Lucky lucky kids!
Fun girl and fun mom! What a great idea! You are my inspiration to do more with my boys. She is so beautiful and the faces at the party crack me up!
that was sooo cute, i almost cried at the end. Kiley is 20! i can still see her as a little girl but the time goes by so fast! i was going to do a post on the same thing about caleb and his art supplies all over the table but in 9 months they will be gone and i will be sad! keep having more moments and adventures!
Oh what a wonderful mother you are! I want to thank you for the inspiration you fill my heart. I will stop and change the directions more often. What great moments to cherish! Enjoy those little ones!
You inspired me this morning. Thank you. What an amazing mother. I loved driving by after taking my kids to school and seeing you on your front porch with HB day after day early in the morning. I think I'll go plan a party. . .
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