Theater and Tea

Today, three generations of ladies went to the theater and out for lunch and tea. I had the pleasure of going on an a truly spectacular date with my mother and my daughter. We went to a children's theater production of The Princess and The Pea.

Seeing my mother holding my daughter's hand is a very touching site for me knowing that I am the link that connects the two of them.

My mother was able to get spectacular seats for us. Below is a picture she took from our seats before the show started. We had a completely unobstructed view because we sat in the front row!!! The actors were so close we could have walked right up on stage with them. One of the actors actually laid down for part of the play on the stage right in front of us. My daughter's eyes were as big as saucers. I think she may have thought that he was going to plop right down in her lap.

The performance was very well done. Very funny and it kept the little one's attention from start to finish. Afterwards, we got too look at a few of the props. The girl was amazed to touch the bed and find out that it was as hard as a rock. This probably really confused the story in her mind. I can picture her thoughts now... "That girl wasn't a real princess. No one could sleep on this tower of brick mattress with or without a pea under them!"

Then, we went to a Tea Shop that I had wanted to go to for some time. The Tea Shop lunch was actually my mom's Mother's Day present. We've had a tough time scheduling a time to go!

The girl LOVED the presentation of her lunch and was thrilled to get to drink her apple juice out of a real teacup and saucer.

My mom and I ordered the same wrap and it was delicious!!! We had a Smoked Turkey Mango Wrap. It was made with fruit mayonnaise, avocado, sprouts, mango, and lettuce. It was so tasty! I had Chicken Noodle soup and she had Mushroom Brie soup. Both were equally delicious.

Mmmm, I can't wait to go back again. What a memorable day!

Conversations and Stories

Today at MOPS, we made Conversation Starter Boxes. I had never heard of such a thing before. In essence, it's a box of suggestions for starting conversations with your kiddos. Basically, we started with a tin container, much like the old band-aid containers we used to use as kids. Then we used scrap booking papers and embellishments to decorate the outside of the tin. Then, we were given sheets of conversation starters to place in the tin to pull out to start a conversation. I like the conversation starters that we were given, but I may need to add to it as my kids get older. I found some lists here and here and one that I really liked is here. The last link has some storytelling starters which were particularly interesting to me.

I like the concept of this tin but I don't think we have much use for it now. The three year old does not need any prompting to start conversing. She handles that quite well on her own!

Another thing I learned today is that Spring Equinox is also World Storytelling Day. We celebrated by telling stories around the dinner table tonight. Our daughter loves stories and will ask for them non-stop. I love to hear, "Momma, tell me a story about..." She is getting quite good at storytelling as well. She loves to retell the stories that we tell her. Her favorites are stories from when we were children. She loves to hear about the funny and crazy things Mom and Dad did as kids. She is also getting quite good at telling her own stories. Some of them are stories of what has really happened to her but most of them are made-up. I love to listen to her tell a story using just her imagination as a guide. Her favorite audience member is her baby brother. Many times a day I will catch her telling him some sort of story while he quietly watches her enamored by her facial expressions and voice inflections.

This image is the World Storytelling Day logo, designed by Swedish storyteller Mats Rhenman. I love how it blends people together into a circle representing the stories that connect us around the globe.