The friend party was Saturday. Normally, we insist on the party being on the birthday, but it just wouldn't happen this year. That's one of the many concessions I made. We went to a bead shop downtown with six of Emma's friends (and their moms) and made bracelets, had cake and opened presents. It was simple and wonderful.
I complicated it by making this banner. It says "Happy Birthday Emma!" in cute fabric letters. And I had leftover fabric, so I made drawstring goodie bags to match and I still had more fabric, so I made a little log-cabin-quilt-block-style table linen.
This is what I'm talking about when I say that I made an easy thing pretty hard. I'm actually quite adept at complicating simple things.
The cake, though, is a Publix special. Everyone asked me if I'd made it. Apparently, I have enough of a reputation that people think I can pull off a cake like this:
The cute kid, though, I absolutely insist on taking some credit for. But again, not the cake.
Aunt Mindy came, too. She made a very sophisticated bracelet that impressed the girls in the shop. Of course. Aunt Mindy has such a natural sense of style. Sometimes I wish Aunt Mindy could teach me that.
The girls had so much fun browsing the beads and putting their own designs together.
I think a couple of her friends have already requested their next party be at the bead shop, which is good. I can only handle so many more pieces of paint-your-own pottery, you know? That's sort of been the birthday party thing that everyone does the last couple of years.
I have a really adorable photo of all the girls together, holding up their bracelet-clad wrists, but I didn't ask anybody's mom if it was okay to show their faces online, so I'd better not.
At any rate, Emma and I made three dozen cupcakes yesterday afternoon and decorated a bakery box in order to have birthday treats for her class, and we will have a special, family-only dinner out tonight on her actual birthday. Oh - and also cake. I'm taking one more stab at the homemade rolled fondant thing. There is a pink blob of it and an orange blob of it sitting in my fridge right now. I plan to spend some of my Making Monday working on the cake. If push comes to shove, we'll re-visit Publix. Whatever.
Today, I am well aware that this has been year number eight tacked on to what could have been the end of my life. Emma's arrival nearly took the both of us out. When we have communion in our church, we each mention something we're grateful for. I like how Chris put it yesterday morning - "Eight years ago, our family almost turned into a boys-only club."
I'm sure glad it didn't.
DAILY BLISS: an unexpected couple of hours with a friend and cooking up some fun with Emma in the kitchen
2 comments:
I can't believe she's 8 years old - wow - the party looks fantastic
what a fun party......i wouldn't have missed it for anything! and thanks for the lovely compliments.....but, girl, you know you don't need any schoolin' when it comes to style! ;]
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