Fancy Nancy Dinosaur Dig!

Grammie created Fancy Nancy!

Nope, that is NOT a typo!  This is what happens when you ask a 4 year old what kind of birthday party she wants.  Well, let's see...she's part girly-girl princess, part rough and tumble adventure girl.  Sooo, I should not at all be surprised when she asked for a Fancy Nancy dinosaur dig party.  Surprisingly, it came together fairly easily thanks to the help of some great friends and a lot of luck.

The first thing we needed were dinosaur bones.  You know, for the dig.  Our wonderful neighbor happens to work at the local Natural History Museum and was more than happy to start sending us a steady stream of not-quite-perfect museum replica bones.  We had vertebra, jawbones, and a lot of other miscellaneous bones courtesy of the upcoming baby apatosaur exhibit.  Just for extra fun, I bought the dollar store out of small plastic dinosaur skeletons as well.  I mean, I really thought the museum bones were a superb find, but I figured those tricky pre-schoolers might be more impressed with a dinosaur they could actually see.  Next up, we poured several bags of sand into an already-blank spot in our landscaping, buried the bones and waited a few days for them to develop a "weathered" look.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (ranch house that is), we had to work on the Fancy Nancy aspect of the party.  I sent out eVites this year with an image from Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire and lots of extra fancy language (one of my daughter's favorite parts of the books).

I did some research and found lots of wonderful ideas for activities like decorating your own purses or hats and other very "girly" things.  Problem was, half of our guests would be boys.  So instead of girly accessories, we made "explorer boxes."  Basically, they were cigar boxes (again, provided by my neighbor) painted with gold metallic paint.  Inside there was a paintbrush (for dusting bones), a magnifying glass, and a pack of flash cards for dinosaur identification.  I bought Hobby Lobby out of clearance stickers and each child decorated their own explorer boxes.  Then it was on to the dig!  What fun the kids had rummaging around in the sand pit and unearthing the bones.  My son spent pretty much the whole party in the sand, digging and re-burying the bones.

If the kids got tired of the dino dig, we had the handy bounce house running at full throttle.  Truly, there is nothing better for entertaining kids than a bounce house.  Next it was time for "refreshments" as Fancy Nancy would say.  Pink and purple cupcakes, with sprinkles of course.  Fancy Nancy would never dream of a cupcake without sprinkles!  We also had fruit salad, PB&J dinosaurs, and Fancy Nancy's extra pink, extra fancy pink lemonade (recipe to follow), with bendy flower straws of course.

Overall, it was a great time.  The activities went over very well and my daughter had a blast.  Plus, the entire thing probably cost less than $100.  Like I said, luck was on my side with the dinosaur bones and the free bounce house.  But it did take some creativity and tips from helpful friends on pulling off an extra fancy, girly-girl yet boy-friendly party!  I guess now I can rest easy for another year.

Extra Fancy, Extra Pink Lemonade (From Fancy Nancy, Explorer Extraodinaire):

1 Concentrated can pink lemonade
1 can water *
1 bottle cranberry juice
1 Cup fresh or frozen raspberries

Mix and sip, daintily, with pinkie up if you please!
* This recipe really needs more than one can of water.  I diluted it a little and it was much better that way.   The kids loved it both ways though!

Merci to everyone involved, my Fancy Nancy loves you all!

Hold your horses, tiny diva!

My daughter is sweet.  She is smart.  She is strong and funny and about a hundred other great things.  She is also currently obsessed with princesses and "girl" things.  This wouldn't bother me quite as much if it was not so exclusive of the other many, many wonderful things that she used to enjoy.  Her lovely little rocking horse?  Nope, it's a "boy" thing and therefore, unfit to occupy space in her room.  I keep finding him shoved into the hallway with her door shut in his face.  Poor, poor Applesauce.  Her lifelong obsession with dinosaurs?  She is sooo over that.  It doesn't really matter that we have a sizable stash of dinosaur bone replicas for her upcoming dinosaur dig birthday party.  Nope, she does not love dinosaurs anymore.  They are not princesses.

About a hundred times a day I hear "I love princesses and princess castles, and ponies, and unicorns, and fairies, and rainbows, and jewelry, and tea parties, and all of the girl things."  Are you kidding me???  Truly, it's fine with me that she likes these things but how on earth did she one day determine that there are "boy" things and "girl" things and never should the two mix?

So yesterday I worked up the courage to ask her:  "What do you want to be for Halloween?"  Holding my breath, I steeled myself for the inevitable response of Ariel, Rapunzel, or some other Disney concoction.  "I want to be a monkey!"  She announced.  Whaaaat????  I could not contain my delight!  "A monkey?  That's wonderful, I think that's a great idea!  You will be a lovely monkey."  She looked at me for a moment before dropping the ax.  "A princess monkey Mommy.  I want to be a princess monkey."

Lord, help me get through the next couple of years with this one!

Toddlers and Tutus

My daughter takes dance.  She loves it and I think it is fun, simple activity for her.  That is, until recital.   First it was the costume with matching accessories, then it was the "site fee", then it was the special tights, then the photography session, then the extra practices, the dress rehearsal, the stage decorating, the actual recital, and the reception afterwords in which parents are supposed to bring snacks.  And, from polling my mommy friends, this is a pretty "simple" recital, no multiple costume changes, no super-late performances, etc.  Still, I can't help but think, isn't this all a bit much for three year-olds?  Can't we just put them on the stage at the church where they take their lessons, invite family, and watch them dance their little blessed hearts out? 

Trust me when I say that on recital night, I will be there, tears in my eyes, blissfully thrilled to see her get up and dance...if she does, I mean, she's THREE, anything could trigger an urge to not cooperate.  I just think that as parents we sometimes make our kid's activities a bigger deal than they need to be.  They have years to stress about proms and cheer leading tryouts and things like that. 

Sometimes I just think we have lost our balance as parents.  There are the moms who are "un-schooling" and letting their children roam the planet without a shoe to their name (I mean, we wouldn't want to conform by protecting our children from tetanus), and then there are the moms who are treating every t-ball game and play date like its a measuring stick for life (win, learn, shine, make me the envy of every suburban housewife within hearing distance). 

So, I will go and watch this dance recital with my husband and my family.  I will cheer and clap (if that's allowed) and hug her proudly when she's finished, regardless of her "performance."  And, I will even sign her up for next year because I do think it's a good program.  But, I will also think "We could have had a cute recital in the church basement."  That's just how I roll, call me the "free range mama!"

Girls' Day, With a Twist

Today, thanks to the wonders of my church's Mother's Day Out program, I get to spend the day with just my daughter doing girl things.  Sometimes we shop, sometimes we go to the amazing (free) art classes at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art , sometimes we get pedicures, you get the idea.  Today, we tried something a little different and unexpected. 

We had tacos.  From a truck.  On the side of the road.  Just me, my blond-haired, blue-eyed daughter, and about 10 Mexican men in jean and work boots, guzzling brightly colored sodas in large glass bottles and talking animatedly in their native language.  If it wasn't for the wind, it would have been glorious!  The food was great (a little spicy for a three-year-old), the atmosphere was authentic, and it was fun to just do something so out of the ordinary for us.  My daughter seemed to like it, until we got home and she still demanded her "regular" lunch.  Hmmm....we really are in a rut! 

Street food is just not something that you often see in suburban Oklahoma, but I'm interested to see that it's making huge headway.  There are a couple of other taco trucks in our town and Big Truck Tacos in Oklahoma City has a pretty evangelical following.  I haven't tried it but once people go there they seem practically possessed by the wonder of the place.  What the heck are they putting in those burritos???? 

Overall I'd say it was an experience worth having, and I'm thrilled to be giving my lunch money to an individual hand-making fresh food, rather than the corporate monolith that is your typical fast-food restaurant.  We will certainly try it again, although maybe on a less windy day!

Tea Time

My daughter is three.  She loves tea.  Very few humans can spend more than 20 minutes in our house without finding themselves perched precariously on one of her tiny chairs.  She will serve you "tea" in a pink plastic cup with matching saucer, the teapot singing "It's a Small World" with each tilt of its handle.  If you are lucky, you will also get a plate of snacks, such as plastic grapes, pickles, maybe even a turkey leg.  If there are more than two for tea, she will gladly drag an extra tiny chair from her brother's room.  And my son, well, he's just along for the ride.  He has grown to enjoy these forcible tea parties but has learned to put his own rowdy boy stamp on the event.  He will loudly slurp his designated cup of air, slam in down onto the table, and then toss it against the wall while shouting "Crash!"  Maybe he was a Wild West cowboy in a past life.  If he is feeling particularly energetic, he will clear the whole table in one fail swoop, with lots of shouting and laughing.  Of course, this sends my daughter into hysterics, but he's not really concerned about that.  That's what you get for inviting him to the party!
Sometimes if I'm feeling particularly benevolent, I'll serve them real animal crackers and fruit-flavored tea or juice.  They are always thrilled with this and there is not nearly so much "crashing." 
We have gone to a lot of tea  parties this year and each was certainly a fun and special treat.  But, she still seems thrilled with her own little table filled with a stuffed turtle, a couple of bears, maybe a baby doll or two, and even a rowdy baby brother.

Fancy Fun!

Last night our local library hosted a Fancy Nancy Tea Party.  For the occasion, my daughter donned her Fancy Nancy dress, her pink feather boa, her tiara, her "magic" wand, and about a dozen butterfly clips.  We clearly were not going to miss an opportunity to over-accessorize!  Oh, and did I mention Frenchy the dog?  And the ruffly socks?  And the sparkly shoes?  So, or course, the first thing we had to do when we arrived was hit the dress-up area, just to make sure we had enough "stuff" draped over us!

Then, it was time to sample some delectable (that's a fancy word for yummy), tea sandwiches.  A little coloring, a sip of juice in a princess cup (pinky raised of course), and it was time for dancing with a REAL ballerina!

I'm not sure if she's having a good time, what do you think?  Finally, it was off to make a ribbon tiara and a ring.  'Cuz we didn't have enough accessories, don't you know!  Overall, I think she would rate the event spectacular (that's a fancy word for really, really, really good)/

I love my library!

For the girls...

Our local library hosts a "Crowns Tea" every year as part of its Black History Month programming. This is a beautiful girls-only event featuring women of all sizes, shapes and colors wearing their "Sunday best" and the most elaborate hats ever seen. I have taken my daughter since she was six months old and am always amazed by the music, the food, and of course, the hats. Oh my, the hats, hats, hats, hats! What an amazing site, truly breathtaking to see.

Now I know that not every library has an amazing (and did I mention free) program like this, but a good many of them do something of the sort. Fancy Nancy or American Girl tea parties are pretty popular and common. Call your local library and ask about tea parties! Or, take a trip to the local tea house and be sure to dress in high style. Not only is this just a fun outing, but it lays the foundation for table etiquette and the importance of dressing up for special occasions, like church or a holiday dinner. Just because we don't live in a world where people "dress for dinner" anymore doesn't mean that there are not important lessons to be learned from those simple values: dressing up shows reverence for the occasion, sitting quietly and listing to a program or speaker is an important life skill, saying please and thank you and eating politely will always be an important way of showing respect for the host and yourself. All of these things can be learned the fun way at a proper tea party. So, gather up your girls and your best frocks, and get thee to a tea! Oh, and when you get home, put on her rain boots and play clothes and go in the back yard for a whole different kind of fun. I mean, you want a polite kid, not a mannequin!