Birthday Tea Party with Belle

The day of the party had finally arrived and we were all ready for a fabulous party.  My beautiful princess eagerly waited for the guests to arrive.  She had literally been planning this party all year.

I ran around like a crazy person putting the final touches on things.  I must say the princess dress and crown cookies turned out beautifully, as did the mini strawberry shortcake roses.  There was only one almost crisis when my good camera's memory card failed.  Before I could panic my dad and Ryan swapped memory cards and I was back in the picture taking business.  We all know that not being able to take pictures would have constituted a MAJOR crisis in my world.

 

While waiting for our special guest to arrive, the girls sat down to tea in the dining room.  Each girl had a teacup place card that Tessa and I had crafted together.  On the menu were cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, scones, cookies, croissants, fruit, cheese and PB&J sandwiches.  The sandwiches were cut out in the shapes of castles and slippers.  The tea magically tasted like apple juice or pink lemonade and the girls had fun sweetening their drinks with sugar cubes.  They were adorable, all decked out in fancy gowns and jewelry, eating and chatting.      

When Princess Belle made her grand entrance, all seven little girls stared in awe.  We have never seen so many girls all be quiet at the same time.  I, on the other hand, was squealing like a five year old.  Once the girls got over their shock, they all started talking.  Belle gave them a quick lesson in tea etiquette including how to hold up your little finger while sipping.  

Princess Belle sat down and joined the girls at the table.  She patiently answered all of their questions and I was impressed with her Disney knowledge.  The girls even put her on the spot asking her to sing all the princess songs and she did.       

All I ever want is to make my baby happy and this is one happy little girl.  A favorite line in our house is "Dreams really do come true."  I tell her all the time that she is my dream come true.

After tea time, we moved into the living room.  There were tea party games, necklaces, rings, bracelets, crowns, shoes, dresses, a "castle" and more for the girls to play with.  We had decorated with Tessa's collection of princess gowns, including the newly acquired Ariel dress from the day before.  We love to play dress up and it's wonderful that G&G can stock my princess with a complete wardrobe. 

I also had a craft station where the girls could decorate a castle with sparkly stickers. 

 

And Princess Belle did makeup for the girls.  I love how Tessa is puckered up for lip gloss. 

I'm having a good time with my little princess.

After the make-up session, we moved to the kitchen for pictures and cake.  The girls all posed like Belle, absolutely adorable.  

Then we did individual pictures with Belle.  Here is Tessa mid curtsy, I love how this picture shows her pretty little high heel shoes. 

Ryan got the joy of helping Tessa open presents this year.  She is happy being the center of attention but I think Daddy got a little claustrophobic with all the girls pressing closer and closer as each package was opened.  Tessa received lots of wonderful craft items and we have been enjoying using them.

Before Princess Belle had to leave, we sang happy birthday and cut the cake.  It is no small feat to serve this kind of cake but my mom did a great job.   

 

Happy Birthday to You!  Happy Birthday to You!  Happy Birthday Sweet Tessa, Happy Birthday to You!!!

The Real Birthday

On Tessa's actual birthday we had cake and presents with just family.  It was almost time for the much anticipated Belle party, but this day was all Ariel.      

Tessa was so excited to have these beautiful presents to open. 

I believe I have mentioned that we love Ariel.  Now we have the new Ariel doll, all of her mermaid sisters, her pink dinner gown, games, coloring books and more.   

This is one happy little birthday girl. 

Thank you G&G for the wonderful gifts.  Y'all are awesome grandparents!

It's time for cake!  Whose ready for some icing?

Happy Birthday Baby!

Tessa Turns Five

It is incredible to think that our precious little baby is five years old already.  Bear with me as I brag about my fabulous daughter.  She is an absolute delight, beautiful inside and out.  Tessa got a good report from the pediatrician.  She remains right in the middle of the growth curve and is totally healthy.  Her little personality is showing more each day, especially now that she is so verbal about her thoughts and feelings.  She is amazingly compassionate and sensitive.  She readily comforts anyone who gets hurt or is upset.  She is a pleaser and (usually) responds well to discipline.  She loves all things princess and still sleeps with about a million stuffed animals in her bed.  She likes her music loud and is thrilled when we drive fast on winding little roads.  When asked if she wants a little brother or sister, she responds "No, we'll get another dog."  She will go to K5 at church this year which means school five days a week.  She is ready for this, even if I am not.  Her favorite colors are pink and red.  Her favorite foods are strawberries, pizza, chicken nuggets and french fries.  She still avoids most vegetables except for beans, those she thinks are delicious.  She loves to read and will sit in my lap while I read entire chapter books in one sitting.  Her memory is unbelievable, as is her ever expanding vocabulary including a few words she probably shouldn't know.  She is graceful and coordinated, has good rhythm, and loves to dance.  Ryan tells me she has good pitch - I can't personally sing at all, so I take his word for it.  Thanks to the summer sun she has a beautiful tan, just a few freckles on her cheeks and blond streaks in her hair.  Tessa is a gift from God that we treasure every single day.        

Tea Time

One of Tessa's friends convinced her mom that she needed to have a party, just because.  How cute.  So we went to her tea party and had a great time.  The girls made hats for their favorite dolls and then posed for this picture.  You can almost smell the sugar and spice and everything nice when looking at these sweet girls.  Then we all sat down to tea and they acted like such little ladies.  It was a lovely afternoon.

How Many More Days?

Party prep starts early around my house, partly because I mail order lots of things and need to allow for shipping time and partly because I just like planning parties.  Tessa kept asking how many more days there were until her party.  So, to get her to understand the concept of time, we did a paper ring chain.  She helped me count out strips of paper, one for each day until her birthday. Then she decorated them with stamps and, with only a little help, stapled them all together.  We hung our finished craft on the fridge and now each day she gets to use her scissors to cut off a ring.  She loves to count the rings to see how many days are left until it's time for her party.

Happy 4th of July

Swim Team

I was thrilled when I found out that Tessa was old enough for swim team this year.  They have a division called Guppies where the little ones can compete on their own level.  They focus on learning to swim and having fun.  The meets have events like noodle relays and kick board races as well as freestyle and backstroke.  It is fantastic!  At practice there are several coaches in the water which takes me back to my own coaching days.  Then, at the meets, the coaches help them swim the long 25 meters as much as is needed.  I am proud to say that, by the last meet, my baby swam freestyle the whole way all by herself.

We had a total of three meets and they had practice every morning in June.  We didn't make all the practices but we made all the meets.  Here is my swimmer lined up for her very first race. 

Swimmer take your mark - isn't that just too cute?!

This is a group shot from the first meet.  Tessa is totally in love with Marshall the cute coach on the back row.  She would usually position herself in his lane at practice so he would help her.  The child knows how to swim but, when he's around, she bats her eyes and acts helpless.  I swear I don't teach her these things!

Since I have already posted a version of freestyle I thought I would post a video of Tessa doing backstroke.  This was at a home meet and Gampa came to watch.  Tessa would swim and then look around for applause and then swim some more.  That's Emily Blake, the head coach, in the water with Tessa.  EB did a fantastic job with all the swimmers, I hope she is back next year.      

Tah-Dah!!!  Part of the fun of Guppies is that they get all kinds of silly rewards like leis, water guns, flip flops etc.  It was a great season and we look forward to our future swim team days.  

Playgroup

When school let out for summer we revived our playgroup.  I had missed this time of chatting with other moms while the kiddos play.  Our SS teachers have offered the use of their backyard pool which is great.  The girls wanted to see if they could all three fit on the baby elephant.  The answer is not for long but they kept trying!

 

Girl's Getaway

In June, the girls had a refreshing and relaxing girl's getaway sans kids.  Our wonderful Sunday School teachers have a beautiful lake house which they graciously offered to let us use.  We were positively giddy on Friday as we packed up and caravanned to the lake.  My child offered no protest at all when I left for which I was mostly grateful.  But, wasn't she going to miss me at least a little?  Ryan had her so pumped about their special daddy-daughter time that she was as excited about this weekend as I was.  Here is a group shot of the girls before we headed out to enjoy our kid free dinner.    

We stayed up late talking and giggling, slept in (like 8:30!) and then soaked up some sun while lounging on the floating dock.  Totally my kind of activities.  We cruised around the lake and even went tubing.  I don't think I have tubed in ten years.  I was laughing hysterically while we bounced around behind the boat.  Having a friend in the tube with you makes it even more fun.  In my head I am still 22, but my sore muscles begged to differ.    

We had such a great time we plan to make this a tradition. 

Father's Day

 Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy! 

And Happy Father's Day to the best Gampa!!!

We kept things pretty low key this Father's Day.  Tessa helped me make a chocolate pie on Saturday.  And on Sunday morning her first question was "Where is the black pie?"  She makes me laugh.  So after church we visited Nanny and all had a piece of our favorite chocolate pie.  Father's Day was a good excuse to buy the new Disney Princess Merida toys including the little bow and arrow.  We like the new books but will not be seeing Brave in theaters, the bears look way too scary for us.     
The real gift was tickets to a baseball game to see the Drive play the Braves.  Get it - Brave and the Braves? 

We like to go to Friday night games because they always shoot fireworks.  We have been having a major heat wave and it was hot, hot, hot at the game.  Tessa was like a little jack-in-the-box popping up every half inning to do something.  First it was to get ice cream, then it was to see the Chick-Fil-A cow, then it was a trip to the playground, then we had to find Reedy Rippit.  We had a blast.  Happy Father's Day!!!