Fancy!

I think I would enjoy being a party planner. Except for that whole part about meeting the demands of other people. So I'll just stick with planning my own parties for now.

I went a little crazy preparing for Amelia's 4th birthday. She decided on a Fancy Nancy party quite awhile ago and I immediately started scheming. We settled on a "butterfly garden party" theme, based on the book "Bonjour, Butterfly." Even though we were rained out and my backyard decorations had to be abandoned, the party was a huge success. I had fun planning it with Amelia and all the girls had fun being Fancy.

The Invitation


I found some Fancy Nancy images online and then used Photoshop to manipulate the word Nancy and change it to Amelia so the invitation would resemble the book cover.

The Decorations


This party definitely called for the Martha Stewart pom-poms. Instructions can be found here. These are very easy and cheap to make. It calls for 20x30 tissue paper, which I had a hard time finding. I found some really cute colors and patterns at Target that were pretty close to those dimensions and they worked well. I stacked them 10 thick.


I scored some paper lanterns at the dollar store that happened to be butterfly-themed. We strung those up across the backyard.


We ordered some 3D cardboard butterflies from Oriental Trading and Amelia and I had fun one night decorating them.

The Activities


All the girls decorated butterfly wings to wear. I found some great poster board at Michaels that was purple on one side and blue on the other. I cut out a butterfly shape on each piece and then punched out two holes in the top center and 2 in the bottom center and strung elastic string through them so they could be worn like a backpack.


They also decorated little bags to use for a butterfly hunt and then they each made a wooden butterfly necklace (from a kit found at Michaels).

The Food




PB&J sandwiches and ham & cheese sandwiches and our favorite fancy French lemonade from Trader Joes.


Lemon scones, shaped as butterflies of course.


Fruit kabobs.

The Cake


In addition to cake and cupcakes, I couldn't resist making more cupcake pops.


I "drew" butterfly wings on wax paper using melted chocolate and then after they had hardened, I put them on the cupcakes. And nothing says fancy like paper doilies! Go here for instructions on making the chocolate butterflies. I used candy melts instead of semi-sweet chocolate.


My first attempt at a four-layer cake. I took the easy way out and decorated it with fake flowers and butterflies from Michaels.

The Favors


Each of the girls got to take home a potted flower. I spray painted small terracotta pots with silver glitter paint and then found some butterfly ribbon to put around the top.

Kayaking on the Potomac

Ben and I spent Friday morning on the Potomac River enjoying some beautiful weather while my parents stayed home and entertained the kids. It was such a lovely morning and it felt so nice to be out on the water. After we finished kayaking, we walked around Georgetown and enjoyed being stroller-free for a change.

Medieval Times!

Attending a Medieval Times dinner and tournament has been on our "to do" list for a long time. It always just seemed too amusing to pass up. On a whim, we decided to go after our day in Annapolis. It was awesome! We wore crowns, cheered for the Blue Knight, ate with our hands, and watched some jousting. Amelia and Elsa were really into the show as well. They had fun waving the flags around and watching the horses. Amelia's main concern was the well-being of the Prince.








Elsa is captivated by the show.


Okay. We're all captivated by the show.


Meat!!




In a brief moment, I locked eyes with the Blue Knight and he tossed me this flower.

Annapolis

We went to Annapolis on Thursday. Our first stop was Sandy Point State Park for some swimming. The water felt so good and we all enjoyed relaxing on the beach.




Grandpa, Ben and Amelia enjoying the water.


Grandma and Elsa trying to stay out of the sun.


Eating...


More eating...


Elsa considers the water for a moment...


Then reconsiders...


But she likes crawling in the sand.



After a few hours at the beach, we wandered around the harbor and the historic streets of Annapolis.



Enjoying some frozen yogurt.






Ben attempts an ill-fated roll down this hill, which left him with a headache the remainder of the day. He was showing Amelia how it's done, but notice that she is busy stuffing leaves down the cannon and not paying any attention.

Adventures with Grandma and Grandpa

We had a fun week of Fourth of July-esque adventures with my parents. The weather was beautiful the whole week and we have yet to see the hot and steamy days of July. We started off the week with a tour of the Capitol. I had toured the Capitol about a month ago but the intern from the Senator's office who gave us this tour showed us a lot of different places so it was fun to see some new areas of the Capitol.










Amelia and Elsa were sooo excited to be learning about the Capitol.


A nice view from inside the Capitol.


The Supreme Court


We went to the American Indian Museum for lunch and Elsa couldn't fight the sleepiness any longer.