Spring is here! It is making a lovely appearance on both sides of the United States and whether you you are looking at it from afar (like Kimberly’s gorgeous shot) or up close (like my buzzy bee), you can just hear the buzzing hum of Spring.
(photos courtesy of Jam and Addie)
I am so very disappointed in myself. This past week was quite possibly one of the craftiest weeks of my life and I only have a handful of not-very-good photos to prove it. I can’t seem to take good photos – or any photos – when I’m in the middle of throwing a party.
On top of Em’s tea party on Saturday, she had another birthday party to go to in the morning and she asked if I would make her friend Lauren an apron dress like hers. We compromised on a much easier pillowcase dress which sat on my table for two days before I frantically wrapped it Saturday morning, fifteen minutes before she was being picked up. And then, I promptly realized that I had not taken a photograph of it. It turned out cute, too. Ah, well.
I have had two different projects in mind for Em’s birthday – and I did manage to get one done. She wanted a photoboard so she could have her own photos in her room. I just ran up and snapped this photo, soooo the colors are a little wonky. But it is cute purple fabric with a dark fuchsia grosgrain ribbon. A nice, super easy, while-you-are-watching-TV, kind of project.
I just realized she might need some updated photos for it now. But, GAH! Look at her in all of her baby cuteness!
The other project I have put on hold and need to rethink a little bit. I ended up getting a different kind of desk for her room, and don’t need what I had in mind for her – so I will come up with a redesign and feature it in a future CT maybe.
We did an inordinate amount of baking last week. Emma specifically asked if we could do choir snack the week of her birthday so we could bring cupcakes. Which we did – that was Thursday.
And then on her birthday she wanted to bring cupcakes to her class. Which we did – that was Friday.
And I got the coolest cupcake pan from my Mom to use for Em’s garden tea party. Bumblebees, ladybugs and butterflies! But…it only has six cupcake molds, which means I had to fill-bake-cool-repeat, times 5, all in time for her party. In my infinite wisdom, (hoo boy.) thought it should be fine to do it on Saturday morning. Which was fine for the baking part, but left little time for the decorating part. Very little time. I was more than a little disappointed with the cupcakes. They were sloppy and kind of thrown together and I never even got a very good photo of them. You can kinda see some of them here. (And the drippy icing!)
But…the girls loved them. And thankfully there were just enough ladybugs and butterflies to go around…nobody complained and there were only bumblebees left. A minor miracle with 18 girls, let me tell you.
So party favors. I really dislike those birthday plastic bags o’ crap party favors that only end up getting chucked after a few days anyhow. So I made little fabric goody bags for the girls that fit inside our little metal gardening buckets. I used five coordinating fabrics (all in shades of purple) and just sewed up the bags and tied them with little fabric ribbons.
In the little bags we put some seed packets, and then the girls could slide their personalized teacup into their bags to take home.
And the teacups! I finally found very cheap little white teacups/saucers (I actually think they were coffee cups – but they are perfect kid-sized teacups) in Chinatown. And then I doodled and put each girls’ name on their cup. Really? AGAIN…with the no real photos? I had all of them on my dining room table all last week while I was working on them, and not a single photo of all of them. Each one was different, too. But you’ll just have to take my word for it and try to squint and see them in these photos.
The party decor…
You can see that the girls took their bags out and put them on the chairs, and then used their metal buckets to go on a ladybug hunt. Saturday morning J. and Addie planted a few hundred ladybugs in our courtyard area and the girls went crazy. It was by far the best part of the party. Someone who shall remain nameless (cough…Addie!…cough) might have said that ladybugs really like lavender…so my lavender plant is decimated. But, honestly? SO well worth it. That is just good, cheap entertainment, my friends.
We did end up playing pin-the-ladybug-in-the-middle-of-the-daisy…
…and I had a few other games as backups (including the teacup relay – awesome idea, thank you Maggie!) but we never even made it to the other games. It was all about the ladybugs, and the tea, of course.
I kept the menu kind of simple and due to time constraints, ended up buying the tea cookies and scones. I had intended on baking those too, but I’m sure they were just as good.
Each girl got a chocolate dipped strawberry (they were in the tulip wrappers by their plates), and we had tea sandwiches (pb & j and cucumber/cream cheese), fruit kabobs, watermelon, pineapple, scones and shortbread cookies. At least four or five of the girls found out they really like cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches and Em asked for it again in her lunch today.
And that…was the tea party. Perhaps by next Tuesday, I’ll be fully recovered.
This isn’t my shot – I was actually delivering the cupcakes – I think either Jam or Uncle Jeff took this one. But it is the one photo that stopped me as I was downloading my camera tonight.
I just love the look on her face. She was so excited by every little part of turning seven. From having all of her very best friends over for the tea party, to the family date night, to all of the awesome wishes and gifts from family and friends, I think she was a little overwhelmed this weekend, but I think she has decided that seven is a pretty good thing.
Dear Emma Gracie Girl,
Today you turn seven. Lucky number seven. I know I say this every single year, but I can hardly believe how fast time is flying by. I can’t believe that it has been seven years since you made me a mommy.
But what a seven years it has been.
Emma Grace, you are a true dichotomy. And I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if you already know what that word means. It definitely keeps me on my toes not knowing what you will bring to each new day.
Some mornings I have to practically sit on you to get you to open your eyes. “Mama, I’m too tired…,” you’ll groan as you cover your head with your pillow. Other mornings? You’re up with the birds, you’ll bound into our room, climb into bed with a sweet cuddle and you are ready to tackle the world.
At school, sometimes I don’t even get a backward glance over your shoulder as you skip into class leaving me standing at the doorway watching you go. And then other times you smother me with goodbye hugs and kisses and then turn around to make sure I get an extra squeeze and an “I love you” before you head off.
You can recite entire chunks of dialogue, word-for-word, from movies like The Fantastic Mr. Fox, but you still love to sit with Addie and giggle at “poop” jokes from Fanboy and Chum-Chum.
You have memorized most of the Shel Silverstein poems in all three of his books you own (I love how you turn down the corners to mark your favorite poems – except nearly every single page is turned down!) but you cry if we start Addie’s bedtime story without you – even though it is a “baby book” or the Little Mermaid for the 10,000th time.
You long for the sparkliest, gaudiest, rhinestone-encrusted (only fit for a teenager) outfit at the mall, yet at the same time you squeal with delight when I hand you a homemade, sweet, (little-girl appropriate) sundress.
I sometimes worry that you are growing up way too fast, but then again, I think I don’t really have anything to fear. I know you are trying to find your way, spread your wings, test the waters – but I also know that you are so incredibly smart you already feel when too much is just, well, too much. You seem to have a pretty good handle on where the line of a seven-year old is drawn. And I sure am happy to have a front row seat while you figure it all out.
I hope seven is a very lucky year for you, Gracie baby. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.
Happy Birthday.
All my love,
Mama
Both of our girls are celebrating birthdays…tomorrow! Yes, we just realized that Em and Raya have the same birthday. Add it to the list of crazy coincidences between me and my partner-in-crime.
So we decided that grow would be a great theme for the week. I’ll just apologize for putting my girl on top – but how cool that I’ve got Em’s top half and Kimberly’s got Raya’s sweet bottom! Oooh….that shot makes me long for before Em went and decided to grow all up and stuff.
See what others have growing over at:
Help.
Seriously. Please send help. Immediately.
Have you ever had one of those days where your to-do list is so incredibly long, you just feel overwhelmed so you spend your free time cleaning out random kitchen cabinets?
Yeah…me neither. But wouldn’t that be incredibly insane to clean out a china cabinet and all the silverware drawers when you should be figuring out what to get your almost 7-year old for her birthday? Or planning an intimate garden tea party for that 7-year old and 22 of her closest friends? Or paying bills? Or putting together the PTA newsletter? Or making signs for the Silent Auction?
I did try to find teacups today, unsuccessfully. And am on my way to the fabric store for the rest of the party favors tomorrow. But I have nothing to show today.
I’m serious about getting some help from you though, my friends, I need ideas for fun tea sandwiches, scones, and treats to feed these hungry girlies on Saturday. I am doing cupycakes instead of a cake, and it is just a little afternoon tea…not full-blown lunch or dinner.
Also we are going ladybug hunting and playing pin-the-dots-on-the-ladybug, but do you have any other fun ideas?
And because I missed Best Shot Monday yesterday and this is my favorite shot of the week, I will leave you with this…
*Sigh.*
Yeah, now I remember why I do all of this. She is the best big sister. Ever.
Our bunnies are wishing you and yours a very happy and blessed Easter!
Hey, guess who?
Yeah, it is time to check in for our weekly wrap-up again, but I’m feeling all zen and on-vacation and not much feeling like breaking that spell right now. I mean this was our view from our room today…
And while on the beach…
See what I mean?
So just in case you are dying to know what has been happening…
We are on a lovely spring break this week. We took a trip up the coast to a city on the ocean we’ve never been to. We are enjoying doing whatever we feel like, whenever we feel like it (which for the girls includes spending a crazy amount of time in an outdoor pool -I don’t care that it is heated, and it is 70 degrees…it is too cold for swimming!) J. is planning on picking up his birthday present on Saturday (the iPad he has been not so patiently waiting months for), and then we will trek home to spend Easter there.
That pretty much sums it up. Now, back to the regularly scheduled lounging…
Last week my partner-in-crime had a little secret to share (or, maybe a very BIG secret?!) and this week it is my turn. Kimberly chose Supper, as in The Last Supper – fittingly for this week, as our theme. Although out here in La-La land we usually refer to that last meal of the day as dinner. (Because all the stuff you eat while you watch TV isn’t a meal – so it doesn’t count calorie-wise, right??)
Anyhow, you say “supper,” I say “dinner.” In our house if J. is away…it usually looks like breakfast. Not ordinarily as low-tech as just Cheerios like here, I try to throw some fruit in there, as well. And many times it is oatmeal, eggs or even pancakes. But any way you slice it, we LOVE breakfast for dinner around here.
Meanwhile, our wild child friend is serving her little cherubs yummies like this! I even see a veggie or two in there!
See what else everyone is cooking up over at –