You're Invited to a Good Old-Fashioned Birthday Party

For Tess' 5th birthday she wanted a "pink party". When we started making the guest list I realized that more than half of the kids that she wanted to invite were boys. What little boy wants to come dressed in his party dress to a party devoted to all things "girly"? So, after much persuasion, I convinced Tess that we needed to plan something fun for all. We decided a good old-fashioned birthday party was the way to go.



When the kids arrived. We met them at the door with party hats. They played with the Thomas Train with Grandma Connie while waiting for the party to begin.


Our first game of the day was Pin the Tail on the Donkey. What could be more traditional than that? I picked up a fancy 99 cent version at the party store. It may indeed be the same version that we played at my 5th birthday party.


Next we read one of Tess' favorite stories, "Little Red Riding Hood". As you can tell by the picture of cousins, Lucy and Cade, the children were captivated. Could it be the part of the story where the wolf eats Little Red in one gulp or the part where the woodsman uses a knife to slice into the belly of the wolf to free Little Red and her Grandma? I just don't know.


After reading the story, we gave each child their own "basket of goodies" to deliver to Grandma's house. Grandma Sherrie and Grandma Connie were great stand-ins. The baskets were lined with gingham material and contained a pb&j cut into the shape of a flower, a couple of carrot sticks and apple slices. They washed everything down with a bottle of Orange Crush in a glass bottle with a straw.

After lunch it started to drizzle, so we headed inside for a jolly game of "Button Button, who's got the Button?" and a cake walk. Then the kids headed back outside to sing to the birthday girl and eat cupcakes.


Tess loved all of her presents. Especially, the fluffy skirt that twirls, from Aubrey and the press-on nails from Aunt Shanel. We were picking fake nails out of the carpet for a week!


For parting gifts, we gave each little girl a "Little Golden Book" with a retro cover. We recently discovered these books at my doctor's office and Tess loves them. They also received a lollipop, button candy, pixie stick, and Mary Jane taffy. All the old-fashioned candy was purchased at Cracker Barrel. I made each little girl a flower clippy from retro fabric.


The boys left with a lollipop, slinky and candy. I wanted to add a retro matchbox car but I couldn't find any.

While waiting for parents to arrive, we lined the kids up in two teams and played a rompous game of "Red Rover". They seemed to have a ball.

Aunt Shenise called all week leading up to the party with fabulous ideas like renting a pony and renting a cotton candy machine. But, when it came down to it, the kids had a blast with the simple party games that we planned.

Thanks to Aunt Shanel, Grandma Sherrie, Grandma Shirley and Grandma Connie for all their help.

Happy Birthday Tessa Boo

Who knew that the little girl, who arrived to this world weighing a scrawny 5 pounds, 5 ounces would become such a big 5-year old girl. A girl who brings such delight to all who know her, especially her parents.

Maybe it's the way she bewitches us with those dreamy sky-blue eyes or the way she lightens our spirits with her mega-watt smile. But whatever it is, she holds an uncanny ability to charm her way out of every situation. How else would she be able to have fruit roll-ups for breakfast followed by a healthy dose of "Sponge-Bob" for dessert. She definitely gets away with things that Mitchell and Rylee only dreamed of.

Here is some things you may not have known about Tess.

• Her favorite color is purple. It used to be pink, but that was so last year.
• Her favorite food is spaghetti. Replacing last year's favorite, mac and cheese.
• Her favorite board game is Trouble.
• Her favorite thing to play is dress-ups. She is almost always dancing around the house in character, either as a princess or a queen. Just the other night she paraded into the family room in full garb, pointed her finger at Aunt Marion and said, "You may do my hair!" Then turned to her cousin John and said, "You may rub my stinky feet!"
  
• Her favorite story is anything I dream up that has a beautiful little princess that is running away from an evil step-mother, giant, monster, or wild animal. She loves the story of Red Riding Hood, even though it meant she slept in my bed for two nights after hearing it.
  
• Her favorite movie is a musical production of "Daniel in the Lion's Den".
  
• When she grows up she would like to be a "cute" ballerina. Just like her Aunt Jen.
• When asked what her dream bedroom would look like it included one pink wall and the other one rainbow. I hope for her sake that rainbows make a come-back because she would be in heaven. Remember Pamela's at Cottonwood mall, she would have loved that store.
• Her favorite breakfast food is oatmeal or Cream of Wheat. I have to cook up a double batch just to keep her satisfied.
  
• Her favorite candy is old-fashioned lollipops.
  
• She loves to watch me get my blood drawn. I think she may be a "closet phlebotomist"
  

Happy, happy birthday Tess! I love you!

For Tess' Birthday I made her spaghetti and meatballs. She donned the official "Birthday Hat" and ate on the official "You are special Today" plate. She had to wait for Saturday for the real fun and games to begin.




When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner she said, "leftovers!" What a sweet little girl. Then I asked her what kind of cake she wanted and she said, "white and pink cake with chocolate, pink, and blue decorations." Not complicated at all!

Birthday Suit

I was at Walmart, scratching off the items of my birthday party "to-do list", when I came across the pattern for this darling dress. I thought, "My, wouldn't it be fun for Tess to have a new dress for her birthday party tomorrow!" No thought of the 4 beds that needed changing and the towels that needed washing to prepare for the party guests. So, I purchased the pattern and headed to my favorite fabric store, Broadbents (which claims to be the oldest department store in the U.S. and still sells the same merchandise and employs the original mean-old-ladies from the 1850's) to make my fabric selections.

Of course I didn't finish the dress until this week so it never made it in the birthday party pics. But, I wanted to show off my darling daughter in the finished product.

If you are looking for a super simple sewing project, Simplicity 2711 was a good one. It took about 4 hours start to finish and that was only because my machine was on the fritz.