Tea Time!

News flash: I'm a huge girlie-girl.

Ok, so maybe that's not really news, but still. I love all things girlie. I loved dress-ups when I was a kid, and even today, I dress up every day for work and wear make-up. Every. Single. Day. My Mother prides herself on having well-groomed children. Although we're all older now, she taught us the importance of manners and table-side etiquette.

I'm a little jealous of my one niece. She got to take Cotillion. While I was never invited, I always drooled at the thought of dressing up in your fanciest party dress, sharing tea with a boy, and learning how to dance properly. You know, since Pride & Prejudice is real life and all.

Since my sister, Christina, and I are the only Aunts without kids yet, I wanted to host a fun "Girls Only" party where we would do all things girlie. It turned into a sisters weekend, since the six of us turned into three sets of sisters. The little girls had fun telling stories about their summer and most of all, I think they liked hearing stories of their Mommies and Daddies when they were younger!

Christina and I don't get a chance to see these sweet girls often enough since we all live so far away from each other, so it was a fun opportunity for us all to get to know each other and spend some quality GIRL time together. My, how these girls are growing up! The tea party itself was especially fun. Before we started, each girl got to pick out a hat out of Grandma's hat box that she sent down. This was great fun, until we realized no one knew how to work a hat pin! Two of the girls are very into the American Girl dolls, and have read most of the books. The doll Felicity, in particular, was the most discussed, since she had tea all the time! It was fun for them each to share a table manner. I think they liked holding each other accountable for the table manners discussed, but that's ok :)

I think we've found our annual girls-only tradition! Thank you to our brothers and sisters who drove the kiddos out to my house so we could make some new memories together!

Here's some of the fun we had over the weekend!

Cuppies!

Of course, we had to have Tea Sandwiches.

Recycling my Starbucks Tea Tins!

As a party favor, each girl got an embroidered Handkerchief to take home!

Beauty Parlor sitting before the Tea Party. Lip gloss and blush, of course!

Lovely Ellie.

Charity asked for bright red lipstick, but I didn't have any...

Pale Pink is just fine!

Patience didn't really like the blush part... it tickled her cheek!

She wanted red lipstick too... but I think she was happy with pale pink :)

Sweet girl wanted to go first SO badly and later informed me that the lipgloss tasted like the Cuppies. She wanted to reapply after Tea.

Miss Mary Claire

Cousins! They were attempting to Curtsey.

One set of sisters: Charity and Patience.

Second set of sisters: Mary Claire and Ellie.

The girls before bed time... they were so happy we let them stay up "late!"

Whew! I'm ready for a nap!

S'more, Please!

Cutest idea ever, no??

I have no idea what I'd do this for, but it looks so pretty! Here's the DIY tutorial on how to do it. May be cute for a children's birthday party favor or even a favor for Halloween!

Check back soon for pictures of my trip to Nashville! Whoops! I forgot to tell you that I went to Nashville. *Slap on wrist* Sorry!

Wick-Whaaa??

Can someone please take me here? I'd like to go...and although I'm rather fearful of any storm, their "Storm Watchers" package sounds intriguing.

Maybe I should start saving now, but this place looks pretty incredible.

The Wickaninnish Inn in Tofino, Canada.

Please, Please, Please

Can someone please buy me this scarf? It's only $375, but it's HERMES. In celebration of the new store opening in Chicago, this fabulous scarf was designed in Paris.

Ah, Paris. Can someone please fly me out to Paris? Ok, thanks...

But seriously. I want to frame this scarf and hang it on a wall in my family room. It has all the colors in our color pallette that we've been using and I love that it resembles "Where's Waldo" but in a much more stylish way. I know that only my sister, April (who lived in Paris and is probably the only one who knows what Hermes is), will appreciate this, but still. I love.

Cheep, Cheep

Found 'em! They were mixed in with some of the thousands of photographs I've taken over the last month.

Our little Front Door Dwellers hatched about 2-3 weeks ago. They started cheeping only at the end and they finally left the nest last Saturday. Now, you'd think these little baby birds were my own. I checked on them every day, shoved a giant camera in their little beaks every so often, looked out for their Mama on a regular basis... I was attached. So when these little babies left the nest, I gave Bobby a pouty lip and said I missed my babies. He gently reminded me that we have no real babies and that I need to evaluate my attachment to animals.

Anyway, these pictures were taken when the little guys were only a few days old. There were 4 total and we've determined that they are, in fact, Sparrows.

Au revoir, my little babies...Ahem...birdies.

It's hard to tell from this picture, but there are 4 birds in there! 2 stayed on top most of the time until they got bigger.



I made a whistling noise to get their attention. I guess they thought I was their Mama because they all woke up and opened their mouths. No noises yet... that didn't come until they were much older (you know, like a week).



There's another one to the right of the first bird!



....aaand this is what you'd see if you were to walk in my front door. It's a little creepy if you aren't expecting it. But this little guy would greet me every day when I'd come home from work. It was so cute!