sock monkey soiree

"i loved my birthday party, mom!" music to my ears. it really was a fun afternoon and was the first party where olivia and i really joined creative forces to make the day a success.

olivia made adorable handmade invites, a sign for the front door, frosted the cupcakes, colored in the paper plates with sock monkey faces, glued sock monkey faces to the cups and helped ready the house for her guests. at nine years old, she's a huge help to me around here! she also learned that putting together a party takes a lot of work and preparation.

our friend miss angela and her son connor came over early (thank God) to help with the last minute scurry, which included housefly killing and mixing the monkey poop. yes. monkey poop. amazing no bake cookies made with cocoa and peanut butter and oats. actually, they look more like cow pies, but i can't say i've seen a lot of monkey poop.

we feasted on monkey bread, monkey poop, ambrosia, banana pudding and the cutest darn sock monkey cupcakes ever. the girls made an adorable hair tie, played pin the tail on the monkey and hot potato (well, we used a little stuffed monkey, so i guess we played hot monkey) and spent some time on the trampoline to round out the day. she received a lot of craft supplies, some gift cards, candy, flip flops, t-shirts and a snuggly new blanket made by our neighbor samantha. how good it is to be a 9 year old girl: 99% sweet and 1% monkey!