FIVE!

Wow the time sure flew by.

That little baby in my avatar is five.

(and yes, I'm wearing the same dress for our portrait)

We wrapped up a week long birthday celebration with a "Tinkerbell Tea"

Originally we'd planned to have it in a grape arbor outside, but due to my run of bad luck with thunderstorms and events I plan- after a summer long drought- we had a big storm 45 minutes before the party was to begin. The last time we had a good rain was way back in mid-July when I had planned a seminar to introduce people to AnySoldier. (There was even a thunderstorm at our outdoor wedding in 1995) Had I picked up on this trend sooner I might have planned something earlier in the summer and we'd have had rain when it could have helped! So the party was moved inside to Grandma's apartment.

Instead of floating around inside the leafy walls of grape vines of the arbor- the giant fern stood in as a Fairy environment and I think it worked out very well, combined with their little notes, the whole thing reminded me a lot of "the Chuckle Patch" from the Magic Garden (does anyone remember that show?) There were seven Fairy guests, and six little girls. (One special fairy is for a friend who could not attend) Each fairy had a note which told her name, her special talents and loves, who she was attending the party with and where we might find her in the future (in a tree overhead, dancing with autumn leaves, collecting raindrops from a rainbow... etc)

The fairies were a Dollar Store find- only a buck... but no wings. The winged porcelain dolls they did have were, frankly hideous... they looked more like trolls than fairies, so I got the ballerinas and took on the "figure out how the heck to make fairy wings" burden on myself.

Of course crafty readers I will tell you my solution: I got some iridescent crepe type fabric in a few shades and some white floral wire. I taped the floral wire to the fabric with wide packing tape and simply cut the wing outline- the upper wings are long and leaf shaped and the lower pair are smaller and rounder. The tape is clear- it prevents fraying and adds just a little stiffness. This will not hold up to regular play- but it should be fine for ornamental or decorative uses. I did wings and flowers for the seven fairies in under and hour. Composing their notes took a little more time.





One aspect of Birthday parties that always bums me out is that your precious birthday child inevitable turns bratty during the present opening scene- and all the other kids seem longingly left out. So we kept the presents to the family party and at the Tinkerbell Tea every girl got a gift. Each bag was tailored to her age and personality as well as her fairy's attributes (or was it the other way around?)

I was concerned that the bags may not have been perfectly fairly balanced in terms of whatever the heck it is that can make these things turn sour- but to my delight, each girl seemed to respond as if she had gotten the very best gift.

See ya (see ya!)
Hope you had a good good time...(na-na!)
Hope you have a good good morning, to ya
Hope we get to see ya again!
(Nah nah! Na-nana-na-nana-nah)