Beauty & the Beast Party and Movie Outing

A few months ago, I saw the previews for the new "Beauty & the Beast" movie and I knew right then that I wanted to take Bailey to go see the movie in theaters. The idea of having a little Belle party starting circulating in my head and I kept getting more and more excited. Then, finally, yesterday we were able to host a small "Beauty & the Beast" party for Bailey and some of her little friends. It was pretty cute. These kinds of parties are so fun because I just do the decorations and a little food, then the other moms bring the rest of the food to fill the table with. It's so much easier and cheaper than doing the whole thing alone. So I just made the cake, cupcakes and bought the chocolate roses- the other moms brought the rest of the food. Here was the setup. 

We had mini strawberry shortcakes,

 jello cups & ham/cheese croissants. 

Oh and to drink, we had strawberry lemonades. 

Here is the whole group of princesses. Aren't they all so adorable? 

And my favorite little princess!

And here is Bailey in front of the movie poster

We also had to snag a group picture at the theater. We got so many funny looks as we marched our 8 little princesses into the theater, each holding their own red rose. It was so cute!!!

The girls were so cute, sitting together. They thought they were such big girls. 

The girls sat together for the first 15 minutes of the movie. They all had their own row and the moms sat in the row directly in front of them. Well until the scene where Belle's dad gets chased by the wolves- at that point, all the girls had crawled into their mom's laps. So funny. 

Turns out they aren't too cool or too big for their moms. 

We had so much fun together. Bailey loved the movie and loved getting to dress up with her friends and sit together. 

I'm so glad I have my girl to do stuff like this with. 

Spring Break Around the World

We had so much fun traveling the world this Spring Break. This was probably the best kind of traveling because there was no jet lag, no airports, no packing- just fun and quality time with the kiddos. So here's how we did it.
Each day during the week of Spring Break, we "visited" a different country and learned about the people, culture and the history. It was so fun.
On Monday we visited China. This involved a Chinese food dinner, eaten with chopsticks, learning some basic facts about the country of China and watching some really cute panda bear videos. 

Then, at the end of the dinner, each of the kids got a stamp in their passports, showing they had visited China. This was Tanner's favorite part of each day- he loved getting his stamp for each country. 

On Tuesday we visited India. We learned about India and the art of yoga. We also went to the park to do some yoga. 

Downward facing Bailey

These kids got hot pretty fast, but they gave yoga a shot. We will have to try it again indoors so they don't get too hot. It's so good for flexibility and I really enjoy it. Maybe I will do it again with the kids once I'm not huge and pregnant any more. 

Wednesday was our Italy day. This was a big hit. We had some friends over and we had a little pizza party. Each of the kids got to make their own pizza. They rolled their own dough, added sauce and toppings and then we baked them all. They loved it. 

How cute are these little pizza chefs? Seriously, the mustaches kill me. And Tuck with that rolling pin- he's so stinkin' cute!

Group shot

Concentrating on rolling out their pizza dough. 

The finished product

Yum!

It was a fun and delicious night. 

On Thursday we visited the safaris of Kenya. This was probably my favorite country to visit. We had so much fun. We met a bunch of friends there and it was a blast.
We went to the Gentry Safari and did the drive-through portion first.
Basically you follow this path and the animals come right up to your car. It was so fun. 

After finishing the drive through portion, we did the petting zoo part. The kids loved feeding the goats and pigs. 

Tucker loved it so much!

He kept grabbing the goats around the neck and giving them loves. I was cracking up. 

I got the kids safari themed sunglasses. They looked so cute. 

We gave sunglasses to all our little friends too. Such a great group of kids. Love them all!

Tucker loved the Kangaroos. There was actually a little joey in this momma's pouch- so incredibly cute. 

Tanner sure loves these boys. Lacey's boys are the perfect little friends for Tanner.

Cute, silly boys!

Speaking of cute friends, these girls were inseparable.

Another group shot on the lion statue. 

Our last stop was the giraffe pin. This was the best part. We all enjoyed feeding the giraffes and it was the perfect ending to a very fun day. 

 On Friday, our last day of Spring break, we visited  Mexico for a fiesta.
We had a taco bar, chips and salsa and we partied with a pinata. 

The pinata was harder to break than we expected. We started out with blindfolds on, but by the end we let the kids just go to town and beat it up. 

Tanner was the one who finally busted it for us. 

The kids all gathered their treats and very happily claimed their last passport stamps. 

That was it. We visited five countries in five days, we learned a lot and had so much fun. 

Spring Break was a big success and we had a great time with lots of friends. Until Spring Break next year!!