Being a Princess is Hard Work

Avery is a Princess.  She is the first to tell you that she is a Princess. 

R: Avery, you're yucky!
Avery: I not yucky daddy, I a pincess (princess).

R: Avery, are you a frog?
Avery: No daddy, I not a fwrag!
R:What are you?
Avery: I a pincess!

See what I mean?  It's tough be a Princess though.  You are constantly recognized and have to disguise your looks.

You never know if someone just wants to be friends for your money.

And you do have an image to uphold. 

Being a Princess requires a fabulous pair of shoes.

And the proper amount of bling.

A "wand" of sorts and more bling.

You can't be a princess without a tiara.

But, it's not just about the separate parts that make a princess.  It's about the entire look.

Recipe for a fun get together

We had a little get together to celebrate Independence Day.  I don't know if it's motherhoood or getting older but I find that I become a little more patriotic as the years go on. You won't see me decked out in red, white and blue, however, I have a greater appreciation of this country that I live in.  I find myself thanking God more and more that I am able to live in America with liberty and justice for all.

Back to my recipe.  We had some people over and it made me start thinking about what makes a party or get together successful?

1. It doesn't hurt to decorate for the occasion.

Listen to me peope.  Your decorations don't have to be complicated. I happen to LOVE craftiness and may over do it at times.  I put together a few hand made napkins, flowers in a vase and some dried beans with candles.  Throw in some cutsie letters and banner and you've got some decor.  Think outside the box.  Buy flowers at the grocery store (I do it all time).  Do something so that your guests know you thought about them!

2. Invite new and old friends!

Ronnie and Ryan have been friends since college!

New friends we met that night! Such a sweet couple!

Joe: Single, successful and going to school to get his MBA. 

Don't be afraid to invite new people or let your friends bring friends! We're all adults here.  Nothing bonds you like food!

3. You can never go wrong with cute kids...or kids on the way.

Look at that cute little belly.  Hi Ava Jane!  We are ready to meet you!

Don't be afraid to have kids over.  It's okay if you don't have a ball pit.  The beautiful thing about kids is that they can usually find something to entertain themselves!  Especially if you take the party outside.
4. Don't forget good food.

It starts with this...smokin!

It ends like this. Nothing left!

I had to throw in this awesome tart I made. 

Be sure to have your guests bring something!  It's taken me a long time to realize that I don't have to make it all.  Ronnie loves to smoke so we always have the meat.  I usually like to provide an appetizer of sorts like Jalepeno Poppers, a side dish and dessert.  The advantage to having other bring a side dish is getting to try new foods.  I heart potluck!

5. End the night with a bang!

Zebras and Giraffes

This girl loves giraffes.  You wouldn't know it by this picture though.  Giraffes are right behind her.

Avery found this machine.  It's the machine that if you have a special zoo device, it will talk to you and tell you about what you are seeing.  I think Avery thought money was going to come out.

Anyway, she did finally see the giraffes.

She wanted to ride the giraffes and zebras.  Seriously.  She wanted to ride them.  It broke my heart that we couldn't let her ride them.
"Let me in there!  I want to ride the zebra (giraffe)!"

"Lemme in der daddy!"

Seriously, why won't the zoo let you ride the zebras and giraffes?  They look harmless enough.

Mold-A-Rama!

Yesterday I gave you a sneak peak about another zoo adventure we had.  Now that Avery is a little older, I see things that I haven't seen in years.

Mold-A-Rama!  When was the last time you got a plastic, molded animal.  As my friend Ryan mentioned, a plastic, molded animal that is dispensed at molten lava temperatures.  Regardless of that tiny little fact, I used to have a collection of these awesome little guys.  If I were sentimental I would have my old molded plastic packed away in a box somewhere that I could pass down to Avery.
I'm not sentimental.
I blame my mom.  (Hi Mom.  I love you!)
I still blame my mom.   

After the husby nearly lost his fingers feeding a bird, we saw the Mold-A-Rama machine as we were leaving the building.  This machine dispensed giraffes-one of Avery's favorites. We won't talk about the fact that Avery calls giraffes zebras.  Minor details.

We had to get one for Avery. Had too.  Tried to walk out of the building with out buying it but it called to us.  Kind of like that machine in Big.  Except this one was plugged in.  And didn't make us big.  Maybe because we are already big.  Anyway, we had to get Avery a plastic giraffe.

Mmmm, the smell of melted plastic.

It was a little too hot for Avery to handle at first but Avery loved it. She liked showing it to all the animals.

Look at my zebwa! (giraffe)

Does no one brush this little girl's hair?!

Watch your Fingers!

I will probably have a couple posts on our recent trip to the zoo.  There are several reasons for this.

First, I took 1,356,874,237 pitures.  Literally. Maybe there was only one reason.
Take note of what is in Avery's hand.  Do you see it? The snack container?  Inside that snack container is Goldfish.  You know, those yummy little cheddar cracker snacks in the shape of fish. 

See that handsome, innocent looking guy?  Yeah, he's not so innocent.

While Avery ate her snack and hung out in her stroller, Batman and I sat on a bench beside her. It was hot people and we were tired.  Walking around the zoo is not easy.  As we were getting ready to leave our cool, shady spot a bird showed up and was hopping around.  We told Avery to throw one of her fish at the bird.  I was thinking the bird would get scared and fly away.  What was a I thinking?  This was no stupid bird- humans=food.  The bird snatched the goldfish and flew away.  Avery thought it was hilarious!

After that, we headed over to see the hippos.  In the hippo building, there are also bird exhibits.  Do you see where I'm going with this.  Avery still had her snack cup of fish.  I'll let the pictures tell you what happened.

Here birdie, birdie, birdie. That's Batmans hand.

Woah! Faster than you can blink an eye the bird lunged toward the fish. Batman dropped the fish so fast I couldn't capture the moment fast enough.  Fingers were almost lost. Trust me people.

The bird successfully snatched the goldfish from Batman's hand. The bird was happy and we hauled it out of there so as not to get thrown out of the zoo. 

That would not have been a good example for Avery. Feeding zoo animals is probably not a good example to set either.  Luckily she's 2.  Hopefully she won't remember.

Hopefully.

I still laugh when I think about it. Batman is quite the rebel. It just doesn't seem right.

More zoo adventures to come!