Animal Crossing New Horizons

Chickadee Thursday

When I visited Chickadee’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons island for my birthday last week, we wore matching dresses in our favorite colors:

I think this is Mommy & Me style at its best!

Happy Birthday to Me!

It’s my birthday…I woke up to a party this morning!

My family gave me some wonderful presents (as always!):

The one thing I really wanted to do today was go somewhere interesting and see something beautiful. I decided on the Lafayette Square neighborhood of St. Louis, where we got to see a charming park and some stunning architecture (plus a little history thrown in, for fun!):

Since we were visiting a park named for “America’s Favorite Fighting Frenchman,” I wore my French Market skirt from Pinup Girl Clothing, and accessorized with my favorite color, purple:

When we got home, I attended an all-penguin birthday party on Gloriana:

I’m so happy Roald came to my birthday!!!

We watched one of my favorite movies this afternoon (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), and I kept that theme going with a Chicago-style pizza for dinner:

Speaking of Chicago, my birthday cake was a copycat of the Portillo’s chocolate cake recipe. Bunny baked it, Ladybug frosted it, and Chickadee sprinkled it:

I ended the day watching our favorite pitmaster, David Sandusky of Beast Craft BBQ, compete on the premiere episode of season two of BBQ Brawl on Food Network (he advanced to the next round!), and visiting Chickadee’s island for a birthday celebration at her house:

I had a great time celebrating my birthday with my family!

An Island Tour

For the last year-plus, I’ve been working hard to make Gloriana the home I want it to be…now it’s time for an island tour!

Let’s begin with my house:

Just outside my door, I have a rainbow tulip garden:

Roald’s house is right next door…he’s the best neighbor!

I spent a long time creating an initial garden with my favorite flowers:

The plaza is the center of island life, and hosts many events (like the New Year’s countdown):

The museum is one of my favorite locations, and I love the fountain and flowers out front!

I do most of my shopping at Nook’s Cranny:

But if I need clothes, the Able Sisters store is the place to be!

There’s a pumpkin patch and apple orchard to visit at any time of year:

I have a Japanese garden:

And a tea garden:

I love the various seasonal shrubs I have planted all around my island!

It’s Christmas all year long on Gloriana!

My ice bar is also up all year long, but it looked the best when there was snow on the ground:

My cherry blossom viewing area is also my bell orchard:

It’s Festivale all year long on the dance floor:

And the table is always set for Thanksgiving:

I love welcoming visitors at my campsite:

Gullivarrr helped me a create a pirate-themed area on the beach:

And I have a Mario set-up on the cliffs:

Just because there are endless beaches doesn’t mean I don’t also need a pool for spa days:

I really love my cozy dog park:

And I have an über-fancy black and gold rose garden:

Since I couldn’t have a beach volleyball net, a basketball court was the next best thing!

Celeste helped me create a space exploration area:

There’s also a wedding corner:

I love a beach cookout!

It’s nice to take a break in my outdoor café:

I have some whimsical palm tree lamps to go with the actual palm trees:

I also enjoy having a picnic under a palm tree on the beach:

I’ve had fun collecting springy ride-ons:

And just in case I get bitten by the travel bug, there’s a terrific little airport…but it’s always nice to come back home!

I hope you enjoyed my tour of my favorite locations on Gloriana! If you’d like to visit for yourself in your dreams, my address is DA-5313-0640-4319.

The Graduates

The big day is here…Turkey and Bunny are now high school graduates!

We had a small, family celebration, but I tried to make it as special as possible.

Bunny also had an Animal Crossing graduation party!

I made their favorite dinner:

And java chip Oreo truffles for dessert:

I don’t know where the years have gone, but I do know that I am very proud of them, and excited for the next chapters in their lives!

2020-21 School Year–Week Thirty-Four

Hymn of the Week–“Go, My Children, with My Blessing” (Lutheran Service Book #922)

This is the final wrap-up for the 2020-21 school year!

On Sunday, we visited the Missouri Botanical Garden…not really a field trip, but we’ve gone so few places in the last 15 months, I thought it deserved a mention.

As for the school week, we just worked on finishing everything up. Turkey, Bunny, and Ladybug submitted their final final papers…I was very impressed with the wide range of topics they chose (Turkey looked at the character of Frank Burns from M*A*S*H and why he’s no longer a caricature and thus no longer funny, Bunny wrote about whether Benedict Arnold was a hero or villain, and Ladybug discussed major events of WWII). Moose finished up his year of distance learning…it certainly wasn’t an easy way to experience his first year of high school, but he did a great job! Turkey, Bunny Ladybug, and Chickadee all finished their final science chapters. Ladybug and Chickadee were also excited to take a look at the crystals they’ve been growing:

And then the day I’ve been dreading all year…Turkey’s and Bunny’s graduation day. I’m so proud of them, but I can’t believe I’m losing half of my students at once!

As always, we ended the year with a Lego set…this time, the Medieval Blacksmith. It’s a really cool set…I especially love the color scheme!

One last time…my students:

This year has been, at times, impossibly difficult, and I wasn’t always sure how we’d make it through. Now that it’s over, though, I find that I’m sad to see it go. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime situation, with all five children learning at home all year. While I hope never to live through a pandemic again, we definitely made a lot of memories, and there are things I will definitely miss.

To end the school year, I will leave you with some wise thoughts from Wade:

Twenty Years

Today, Ryan and I are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary!

The traditional 20th anniversary gift is china, so Ryan gave me this beautiful vintage brooch (from England!):

I had Cardinals jerseys customized as my gift to him:

We’re still not comfortable eating out, so we had Portillo’s Italian beef and sausage shipped right to our door:

And I made s’mores bark for dessert:

We couldn’t go on the trip to London that Ryan had planned for our 20th anniversary (maybe next year…or the year after), but he could take a trip to visit my island of Gloriana, which I had ready for a wedding celebration:

It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years…I hope the next 20 don’t fly by quite as quickly!

Penguin Pajama Party–Part Two

It has been nine months since my first “Penguin Pajama Party” post, where I shared pictures of four of my penguin villagers having a pajama party with me. In the interim, I’ve been waiting, and waiting, and waiting, to finally get a photo of Sprinkle at bedtime…she seriously must hardly ever sleep! But I did finally catch her, so here’s a look at the remaining four penguin villagers who reside on Gloriana having a slumber party:

We also did a photoshoot at Harv’s island, so we could have another big pajama party. Stay tuned for a whole group shot with all eight of my penguin neighbors!

I have to admit, I’m kind of glad that this little project is finished, and I don’t have to keep staying up late trying to figure out when everybody’s bedtime is!