Today my precious baby Ahnalin turned 8.
I can hardly believe it.
In my mind, she is still this yummy little dumpling.
And I am so grateful that she is mine.
Ahnalin decided she wanted a tea party with a sewing lesson
for her birthday party.
This is a very blurry photo,
but Ahnalin designed, cut out, and created these invitations herself.
And India created the banner to celebrate her baby sister.
I have quite a large stash of scrapbooking supplies
from the days when I actually still made scrapbooks.
So the girls went shopping for supplies in my
stash of papers.
You can order the pattern here:
I didn't get great photos this time because
Ahnalin was so excited about the party that she
was jumping around like a frog!
But I adore this pattern!
Ahnalin chose the fabrics from my stash
and it had to be polka dots.
This dress twirls well!
I had originally added the band of larger dots
so that I could enclose the hem.
But Ahnalin wanted the dress long,
so I just made the teeniest rolled hem.
I love how the piping frames the center panel
of the dress.
Ahnalin has already requested another dress
from this pattern for the first day of school.
And it must be polka dots as well.
Well, yes, of course!
But let's get back to the details of the party,
shall we?
The birthday princess requested
strawberries and Nutella sandwiches.
The tea server belonged to my grandmother.
And she wanted her favorite mango oolong tea
served in my Alice In Wonderland tea pot.
And the sugar and creamer set belonged
to my aunt.
I made honey cupcakes
from scratch.
(Don told me they were too dry,
so I am glad I didn't eat one.)
India picked some flowers for the table.
Ahnalin was so excited because she wanted
a Barbie Doll very much and her friend
Mikayla gave her one!
She also requested Top Ramen!
I am NOT KIDDING!
Her friend Julia made her the sock monkey
and the card and we loved them.
Brynn gave her a little pink caddy
filled with goodies for doing her nails!
Oh the joy and excitement!!
And Annette gave her a bead craft kit,
sticker, and sparkly shoes!!!!
After Ahnalin opened her presents
from her friends,
we had a little sewing lesson.
Ahnalin thought it would be fun for her friends to sew
their own "goody bags" using the leftover
fabric from her dress.
Some of the girls chose to sew theirs
by hand and some chose to try out my sewing machine.
After they finished sewing their
goody bags, they got to fill them with
Hershey Kisses!
After the party, Ahnalin thanked me
and hugged me so tightly.
She told me that this was the perfect birthday
party and she said it was exactly what she wanted.
She loved all of her gifts and was
so grateful that all of her friends were so kind and generous.
This is the first
"friend" birthday that Ahnalin has had in many years.
She was always nervous about birthday parties
and never wanted to have one.
She is usually nervous about attending parties as well.
But she really wanted a party this year,
so we threw it together
just a few days ago.
And my girl handled it beautifully.
I am so proud of her
and so grateful of the progress she has made.
Happy birthday my precious girl.
I love you and am so grateful that
God gave you to me.