Deborah turned 10 years old on September 22. Mommy and Daddy gave her a new set of American Girl books. Unfortunately, she had read all 6 books by lunch time!
Since we had recently seen the American Girl movie called Felicity, Angela suggested to Deborah that for a birthday party we invite a couple of other girls and have a fancy tea party with the girls all dressing in colonial-era dresses. Angela then got busy for the next 3 weeks making three beautiful dresses as seen below being modeled a few nights before the birthday party.
On the afternoon of the party, the girls asked if they could go with me to get the other girls for the party. They assumed we would take the van. What they didn't know was that I had hired a tuk-tuk and turned it into a fine carriage.
With a little imagination, the moto became a horse, and off we went to retrieve their three friends.
When we arrived, of course everyone had to admire the others' dresses and we took a few pictures before climbing back into the carriage and heading back to our house. The three friends are Rhadee Ruppel (far right) and Abby and Ashley Freeze (tallest and shortest, respectively). Their dresses were made by Sopiep, a young lady in the Ruppel's church.
After a fun ride through town with people gawking and pointing (and our driver, who was a total stranger, looking very pleased with himself for his role) we arrived back at our house to begin the party.
Angela has laid out a beautiful tea party for the girls, using her best china. The ambiance was amazing! A semi-dark room with several candles burning, beautiful classical music playing, and a canopy of white netting hanging from the ceiling fan over the table. She served petit fours, cinnamon scones, mini quiches, chicken salad and cucumber sandwiches, and of course...tea. With plenty of sugar cubes!
The girls had a marvelous time talking, laughing, eating, and practicing their manners and their British accents.
After the tea party ended, the classical music and the fancy dresses inspired some spinning and twirling!
This was probably Gabby's favorite part of the day.
After awhile the girls gave presents to the birthday girl. She got a badminton set, a Boyd's Bear figurine, a real tea set, some snacks and candy, and of course...books!
Candace was so excited a few days before the birthday party when we found a second hand bookstore. She found 10 books in a series that Deborah enjoys, so she bought all 10 and wrapped them up real pretty (below).
Here are a few more pictures of the girls.
We are so thankful for 10 wonderful years with Deborah. She is very precious to us!
Absolutely adorable!! I love it!
ReplyDeleteI have to say that it made me very nostalgic and a little teary as I remembered the American Girl days with Audrey, and also the many fun birthday parties with her MK friends (Julia, Leah, Hadessah, and others). Those days fly by so quickly...cherish them all! Loved the post and the pictures. What a blessing for the MK's here to have such a wonderful group of friends!
WOW!!! Love...love...love it♥. All the dresses turned out BEAUTIFUL! Your kids have very creative and special birthday celebrations. What an elegant day for the birthday girl.
ReplyDeleteSarah and I had dresses that same style that we wore for Old Fashioned Sunday at Sequoia. Ron wanted his girls to look like "ladies" rather than "cowgirls". So, that was lots of fun. I'll send you a picture....she would have fit right in at the party =)
Do you remember that I wrote you about my idea of an American Girl birthday party for Sarah??? All your ideas turned out FABULOUS...the flowers, toole, tea set, and of course the "carriage". I'll be tucking some of these ideas away for Sarah's birthday. She wants a Samantha birthday.
Well, we really enjoyed the pictures and hearing about the party. So glad you got them all posted for us to see. The picture of Gabby enjoying the "twirling" time is priceless. Actually, ALL the pictures turned out wonderful!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEBORAH!!!
Looks like a ton of fun! Although, I must say, Stephen, a man shouldn't even know some of those phrases . . . "petit four" "cinnamon scones" "mini quiches". Tsk, Tsk.
ReplyDeleteIt's a blessing to see a bunch of girls together having great fellowship without having to act like the world.
Hey, when you live in a house full of women as long as I have, you pick up a few things! But I DID farm Stephen and Seth out to the Ruppels for the afternoon so they wouldn't be messed up too badly:)
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