Colonial Tea Party

And finally . . . the April birthday celebrations come to an end with a big bang!

This being Ali's 10th birthday, she got a "real" party.  It's the last one she'll get for a while, so it was a big deal!  She decided that she wanted a colonial tea party a la Felicity.  All in all it was a BIG hit!

(Disclaimer:  this is going to be a LONG post . . . )

Before the guests arrived . . . the table is ready to go!

Our evening started out with the curling irons! Lots of curling to do . . .

The finished product! Aren't they darling?

Same shot, but with the dolls.

Ali & Emma

Karis & Graci

Alyssa & Paige

Ready for tea . . .

Eating! These girls can pack away some serious food!

 

One the menu tonight:

Mini Quiches

Veal Balls

Queen Cakes

Lemon Poppy Seed Mini Muffins

Banana Nut Mini Muffins

Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

Sugar Snap Peas

Cucumbers

Strawberries

Grapes

Pink Lemonade

Liberty Tea

Next it was time for some dancing. This is some "freestyle" dancing that they enjoyed while we were clearing the table. Amber and I actually learned the Minuet (or an abbreviated version of it anyway) from Ali's Felicity Cookbook. We taught them that and it was a huge hit! I did get some video of this, but I'll have to add that later.

On to craft time . . . the girls decorated straw hats with flowers. They thought that was totally awesome, but the hot glue guns weren't exactly a hit. I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one who didn't burn myself. : ) Oh well . . . lesson learned!

Emma & Alyssa working on their hats.

Paige & Graci finishing up their hats.

The finished products! Are they a hoot, or what!?

Next it was time for the scavenger hunt. There were 12 clues that the girls all took turns reading. Here Ali is reading the first one.

I do have pictures of the girls at every stop along the way, but they pretty much look like a disorganized mass of girls, each with a different background.  So, I'll spare you those pictures, but here are each of the clues:

Clue #1:

Pull my handle and open me.

You’ll find popsicles and frozen peas.

Clue #2:

I carry your books from here to there.

I even hold some pencils to share.

Clue #3:

With a zap and a zing

and a beep at the last,

I will cook your food super fast.

Clue #4:

Down, down, down this we go.

Shirts, pants and socks

to the basement below.

Clue #5:

I have a mouse, a keyboard and a screen.

I’m the best gadget that you’ve ever seen.

Clue #6:

What has strings you can’t tie,

legs that will never walk,

hammers but no nails

and keys that don’t unlock?

Clue #7:

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I lay my head on this . . . so sweet!

Clue #8:

Scrape the scraps off all the plates.

This machine cleans them up just great.

Clue #9:

I walk and I run

mile after mile

and stay in the same place,

even after a while.

Clue #10:

I have shelves, movies and a TV.

People sit down and stare towards me.

Clue #11:

Wet clothes go inside to tumble and fly.

When the ride is over, they come out dry.

Clue #12:

Hop in this when you are smelly.

You will end up with a clean belly.

This is the whole crew at the last stop. They found a package for each of them that contained a pair of jammies for each girl and a pair of matching jammies for each of their dolls. You should have heard the squealing! : )

Next was cake! Yes, it's another Walmart cake, but it was actually really yummy. I'm thrilled to report that I made it through all of the April birthday celebrations without making a single cake! : )

On to presents . . .

And finally . . . all ready for bed. They spent much time giggling and playing "fortune teller" but I'm pretty sure that they were all asleep by 10:30!

This morning they weren't too bad.  At 6:00 I had to tell them to be quiet, but at 6:30 I let them put in a movie.  For breakfast we enjoyed smoothies and some super fantabulous cinnamon rolls.  They played for a little while and then it was time to wrap things up!

Like I said . . . it was a fun one.  But, boy oh boy, am I glad it's OVER!  : )  I'll be going to bed EARLY tonight!

Happy Birthday, Dear Julie!

Birthday celebration #2 for my little Julie Bean.  Wow.  I can't believe that kid is four!

Julie doesn't get a "real" birthday party until she turns 5.  So this year's celebration was a low key pizza dinner with the Alligoods.  Mrs. Callan even made the cake for me (Thanks Carol!)  The pink frosting was quite a hit!

Time for presents . . .

I love this picture.  Each of the Alligood kids made a card for Julie.  Here Jonah is reading his card to Julie.  It was so sweet.  He's such a big boy!

Littlest Petshop from Meg!

A mermaid Barbie from Ali & Emma - she was REALLY hoping for a mermaid Barbie!

A boy Polly Pocket from Mom & Dad.  Yes, there's a story behind this one.  Meg & Julie love their Polly Pockets and they only had one boy (named Roy!) but he broke.  We hunted high and low for a new Roy, and finally ordered one off of Amazon.  She opened it up and said, "This doesn't look like Roy!"  The funny thing is that his shirt says "Rick" on it.  So, they aren't sure whether they want to call him Rick, or pretend that he's Roy.

Soccer set from Mom & Dad.  I love this smile!  When I was taking this picture I said, "Hey Julie, look at Mommy and say 'I played soccer once!'"  - which she promptly did.  (I know some of you are missing the joke, but for those of you who know what I'm talking about, it's pretty darn funny!)

And finally, a scooter from Great Grandma & Great Grandpa Rother and Great Grandma Ruth.  She had some very envious sisters.  : )

The kiddos spent the evening playing outside until it was pitch black . . . but they had a grand old time.  There's nothing like a night time soccer game to celebrate a birthday!

Happy Birthday Julie!

Wishing the very happiest of birthdays to my sweet little Julie!  I can't believe it's already been 4 years!

Birthdays and Easter #2

We celebrated Easter a week late with the Klarners this year and combined it with birthdays.  Specifically, John (my brother-in-law), Austin (my nephew), Ali & Julie.

This makes Easter celebration #2, Ali's birthday celebration #2 and Julie's birthday celebration #1. 

Have I mentioned that this time of year tends to be rather chaotic for us?  : )

The afternoon began with our traditional egg hunt, where Grandma got over-zealous and hid WAY too many eggs!  : )

The Patton girls.  Have I mentioned that I think they're fabulous?

The Klarner side cousins (minus Kevin, who was unwilling to cooperate)

A watch from Aunt Brooke

Littlest Petshop from Aunt Brooke

Clothes from Grandma and Grandpa.  She immediately hugged them up into her arms!  It was hilarious!  She also wanted to change into all of them right away.  What a nut-job!

And last but not least, Polly Pockets from Grandma and Grandpa!

Austin turns 12, Ali turns 10 and Julie turns 4!

Blowing out the candles.

More celebrations yet to come!

Ali's Birthday: Celebration #1

Ali's birthday was on Sunday, but our day was jam-packed.  So, we decided to do a little family celebration on Saturday night.  It was pretty quick, but it was better than nothing!

A Disney Fairies book from Mom & Dad

I love the look on her face here!  We got her a tea set with service for 6 . . . she can't wait to use it for her Colonial Tea Party.

Funny story:  Meg and Julie bought the game "Pictureka" for Ali.  Unfortunately, Julie is the world's worst secret keeper.  When I told them to give Ali her present, Julie exclaimed:  "Yeah!  Pictureka!  Pictureka!  Yeah!"  Ali burst into tears.  She was very disappointed that Julie had ruined the surprise.  (Of course, she was up until 10:00 the night before and then woke up at 5:00 a.m. thanks to an overnight with Grandma and Grandpa!  Thanks a lot Mom & Dad!)

Of course, no birthday celebration is complete without cake . . . even if it is yucky cupcakes from Wal-Mart  : )

Happy Birthday Ali!

Ten years ago today, I met a little girl who changed my life forever.  I love you sweet girl!

A Big Day for Our Little Megan!

Meg just exclaimed, "Daddy, this has been the best day!  I finished reading lessons and I won Pictureka!"  What a doll!

Yes, Meg just finished up "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and is oh so proud of herself.  She has been eager to read for a very long time (that's what comes of having 2 older sisters who are insane readers!)  She was probably the easiest of the 3 to teach, and is frequently found reading a Dr. Seuss book. 

We are so proud of her!  Way to go Meg!

Reading her very last story.

Once she got throught the first 75 lessons, we started keeping a sticker chart.  Here she is with her book and her chart.

Colonial Dresses

I have 4 little girls who love to play dress-up.  Unfortunately, 2 of them aren't so little anymore, which means that they can no longer fit in any store bought dress-up clothes.  We have improvised with Goodwill prom dresses, etc . . . and they love that.  A few years ago, Emma said that she would like to have an Elizabeth (her American Girl doll) dress that was her size.  That got me thinking, and kind of created a monster : )

Right now, we are planning a Colonial Tea Party for Ali's 10th birthday, so I started sewing again.  Here is our collection thus far:

Felicity's Holiday Gown

I made this one for Ali for her 8th birthday.  It's actually on loan to a friend right now, and this is the only picture that I have of it.  : )

(She is wearing a t-shirt underneath it.)

Elizabeth's dress (the one that she comes in).

I made this one for Emma for her 6th birthday.

Felicity's Gala Gown

I made this one for her to wear for her birthday party.

Elizabeth's Tea Dress

I made this one for Emma to wear for Ali's birthday party.  It was also pretty cheap.  I'm pretty sure that I got the fabric for just $2/yard!  : )

Same dress, but with the shawl.

This is what I like to call my $11 dress!  :)  It isn't modeled after an AG dress.  I just wanted to have an extra dress on hand to loan to girls at the party.  The purple fabric was an additional 50% off of an already clearanced price.  The white fabric I already had on hand (from Elizabeth's dress).  I took the zipper out of an old blanket sleeper that didn't fit Julie anymore.  The ribbons, lace and jewels I had in a box of craft stuff that Aaron's aunt Linda gave me years ago (Thanks Linda!)

The only drawback to ths dress is that it's made of crushed satin, which is very heavy, so it really needs a petticoat to poof the skirt some more.

Here ends "Andrea's Adventures in Colonial Dresses"  : )  It was great fun!