Boisterous boys and a princess party

My head is still spinning. I feel like I went through some sort of warp-speed travel. I had two of the most opposite days you could imagine this past week.

Boisterous boys
First up: A field trip to the zoo with Brandon's class.

I signed up to go along as a chaperone. I was in charge of a total of ONE child--my own. Wow, tough job. I paired up with a few other parents and we lugged five boys all over the zoo. Or maybe we just followed them around in the hopes of keeping them out of any major trouble...I can't quite remember.

Six- and seven-year-old boys are hilarious! It is always comforting to find that there are lots of other little boys like Brandon out there. One of the little boys was pretty mellow and hung out near his dad most of the time, but the other four were just as active and crazy as B.

This was the best group photo I could get.
They don't hold still.

The black bears held their attention for a few minutes, though.

The funniest part was when they decided to form a
conga line in between exhibits--complete with
singing and leg kicks. Cracked us up.

We had a really fun time at the zoo, but it was hot. Really hot.
I think the high that day was 85. I was grateful I didn't have Whitney
to push around her stroller, but even lugging Caroline around in
utero was getting exhausting by the end. (I'm still wondering
if I made the right decision about trying to do the Race for
the Cure in a week and a half!)

I felt like such a broken record all day.
"Brandon, stay on the walkway."
"Stay where I can see you."
"Stop pushing him, please."
And the one I feel like I shouldn't even have to say once,
"Don't spit on that!"
Another shoulder shrug... boys!

Princess party
Then we had about the most anti-boy experience you could imagine on Saturday when we celebrated Whitney's FOURTH birthday with a princess party here at the house. Whitney invited a few of her friends over and they all dressed in their finest princess gowns.

There was a surprise appearance
by Prince Eric. Ooh la la. I think
I have a new crush.

We painted fingernails, decorated magic
wands and took pictures.

We also made tiaras, necklaces and bracelets.
The girls enjoyed it, but I needed to have a more
active princess activity like a treasure hunt.

The girls improvised and took a break to
shoot hoops in the back yard. It was too cute
to see them all dressed up and scoring baskets.

We had a princess pinata. It was a
pull-string one where a bunch of ribbons
hang from the bottom and only one of them
opens up the secret compartment. The girls
all took turns pulling ribbons and we got down
to THE LAST one. I figured it was a dud
and we were going to have to break out
the bat, but I was wrong. The very last string
opened the compartment and all the goodies
came tumbling out.

The girls were very
lady-like in gathering up the prizes.
Very different from Brandon's party last summer.

It was so cute watching Whitney's face as
her friends sung Happy Birthday.
This was the first time we had an actual
party for her birthday and she LOVED it.

She was a very enthusiastic gift-opener, too.
This princess sing-along book is a big hit.
Both her and Brandon have gotten LOTS
of use out of that little microphone over
the past two days.

Phew, I'm tired just recapping those events. I think I'll go snuggle up with Prince Eric and some left over birthday cake.