This little monkey turned 8!

About a month ago, Lucy announced that her favorite animal was a monkey and that she wanted to have a monkey birthday party. It did not surprise us that she wanted an animal-themed party. Her last party was a puffin party! And every week of the whole year at CC, she has chosen an interesting animal or one from a particular part of the world from the Geography grammar that week - the Iberian Lynx from Spain, the silky anteater...
So we were ready to make a monkey birthday happen!

Her birthday was stretched over an entire week this year, starting with our family celebration on Sunday afternoon. Mimi and Pa were in town, and we wanted to celebrate while they were both here. Lucy chose lunch at Cheng Mai, where she ordered the usual - cream cheese wontons and pad thai. The afternoon included watching a monkey show, eating chocolate sheet cake, and opening gifts. She got an assortment of random things this year, since she did not have a single thing on her list! She got marbles, stationary, 1500 stickers, some clothes, a date with Mimi, and her favorite, a very nice monkey stuffed animal from Isaiah and Noelle, which she named Annabelle.

February 25 fell on a Tuesday this year, so Lucy had fun taking donuts to her class and getting to make all of the choices of which subject to do next in class. She also loved having Mimi there and getting to spend the afternoon on their date! They went to BJ's for bbq chicken pizza and a pazookie, painted pottery, then got pedicures. Such a sweet, fun afternoon for this precious girl!

The celebrations continued until Saturday, when we hosted her monkey birthday party. She invited Lucy and Charlotte, Mylie, Ellie, Lylah, Clover, and Meg. We started with Pass the Parcel, made polymer clay creations, played outside, ate monkey cupcakes, bananas, an d pretzels, and opened gifts. It was a very sweet little party and a joy to celebrate Lucy!!

The theme of this week was that Lucy is oh-so-loved! These days, she is very interested in playing with small things like Legos and calico critters. She also gives her stuffed animals a lot of care and attention. She does a lot of art and writing and enjoys listening to music. (Maybe next year we will get her some ear pods because her roommate does not enjoy music!) She starts her day with snuggles with me, then snuggles with her stuffed animal, curled up at the end of the couch, reading with her blue reading glasses on. She still walks on her toes much of the time and hears "flat feet" reminders quite often. She's quick to laugh, does not take herself too seriously, and generally has a very positive outlook on life. One of my favorite things about her is her cheerfulness. Lucy has the gift of good cheer! She's also wise and insightful, smart, helpful, and beautiful! We love Lucy Lu so very much and look forward to her year as an 8 year old. 8 is great!!