And they all lived happily ever after...

Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess;

but she would have to be a real princess.

He travelled all over the world to find one,

but nowhere could he get what he wanted.

There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones.

 There was always something about them that was not as it should be.

So he came home again and was sad,

for he would have liked very much to have a real princess.

One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and lightning,

 and the rain poured down in torrents.

Suddenly a knocking was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it.

It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate.

But, good gracious! what a sight the rain and the wind had made her look.

The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that she was a real princess.

 Well, we'll soon find that out, thought the old queen.

But she said nothing, went into the bed-room,

took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom;

then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea,

and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses.

On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was asked how she had slept.

"Oh, very badly!" said she. "I have scarcely closed my eyes all night.

Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, so that I am black and blue all over my body. It's horrible!"

Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds.

Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.

So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a real princess; and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be seen, if no one has stolen it.

There, that is a true story.

On Saturday, we celebrated Anna's 7th birthday with a Princess and the Pea pajama party at Bounce U.  All the kids came in their jammies and we had such a good time.  Anna was so excited and said it was the best birthday she'd ever had.  You have to love her enthusiasm...according to her every party we have is always the best ever!  I always like to have our parties here at the house but Anna wanted to invite her entire class and I was worried we might be too crowded here at home.  I still wanted to decorate...you know I like to decorate.  So,  I made or attempted to make tablecloths to look like the stacked mattresses from the story.  I measured the tables at Bounce U and thought I could whip something up quickly...as I've mentioned before, it always seems like a piece of cake in my head.  It's never "that easy" once I sit down to make it happen.  I thought I'd start with jammie bottoms for Anna and so I made her ruffled pants.  I then convinced Doug we needed to take our dresser along with us to Bounce U to put the cake and pea on....he must love me a lot because I also convinced him we needed to paint it and add pea like knobs the morning of the party. 

 I'm telling ya....he's definitely a keeper!  I also made a chalkboard (although not a very good one-I must have picked up the wrong type of wood) for an open frame to display on an easel with part of the story written on it. 

There weren't many surfaces for display at the bounce house and so it stayed behind.  I also had printed the story in sections on cards that I wanted to hang with ribbons from white balloons.  I meant for there to only be one card with the line about the prince marrying the princess and that card was to be suspended from the only green balloon in the room. I ran out of time and didn't get my balloons. :(  I still think the tablecloths turned out cute though

and Anna loved the crown on her "pea" cake. 

When all was said and done, the prince had his princess, Anna had her party, I had resolved to never attempt to make any more tablecloths to fit tables that are 145.5 inches long and we all lived happily ever after.  The end.

Here are a few more shots from the party: