The Red Carpet Birthday Party

For Kate’s 13th Birthday, we thought it would be fun to have a few of her friends and cousins over!  Because they love to dress up, a Red Carpet Party seemed like just the thing.

Kate and Alix set the table for dinner.  Kate made elaborately beautiful Menus, with the food listed in both French and English, which she put carefully at each place setting. 

            

 

       

 

                                          

Earlier in the week, Kate had searched fancy hairstyles on Pinterest and found one she wanted me to try.  We gave it a practice try the night before the party and she was happy with it.  She looked fabulous!

And so did her guests!

           

 

Of course the little girls needed to be included, so Olivia and Sophia dressed like the big girls and offered to be their enthusiastic fans. Isabella agreed to be the Interviewer.  I gave her appropriate Press credentials, a notebook and pen.  Kate wrote out several questions she wanted Isabella to ask the girls.

             

 

                        The girls acted like lovely young ladies.

             

                                                                                                                                                                                    

                                                             

                             Well, most of the time anyway…

              

 

                                 Isabella was every inch the Professional during her interviews!

                                    

And her guests were very gracious!  (I wonder if this shot was taken when Isabella asked what her political preferences were….)

Kate seemed very thorough and convicted about her answers!

                                 

After a sumptuous dinner (if I do say so myself) it was time for an elegant game of Hedbanz.

            

 

                           And at last!  The Walk down The Red Carpet!! 

                         

Excitement was high!

                  The devoted fans were eager for autographs!

The paparazzi was ready for dazzling shots of the guests!

                                         The music was swinging!

The boys had made themselves scarce!

 

                        ~Suddenly! ~

 

One of the fans made a mad dash down the carpet to grab the perfect spot for obtaining autographs!

                                  

Ok – Here we go! The procession began amid cheers and applause! (and high fives at the end)

                 Juliette Monroe!   (Kate)

                      

              Zoe Hendrickson!     (Courtney)

  

                            Alyssa!  (Erica)

                   

                                              Dakota Adams!   (Danielle)

                                                       

Roxie Adams!  (Callie)

                             Elizabeth Whittaker!  (Rachel)

                            

                                        Audry Winters!   (Jan)

                                                    

And Sandra!  (Alix)

                                         

                              

As the evening’s excitement wound down a little, the guests changed into lounge wear/pajamas to watch a movie.

         As you can see, the atmosphere was serene and the ladies were elegant.

But, eventually the evening drew to a close and Kate said fond farewells to her guests.

 

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!!  We love you!

Decorating the Tree

Looking at these pictures brings it all rushing back… the mayhem, the ornaments flying here and there, and the hands – lots of helpful little hands.  It was a blast!

           

 

           

                                     

                         

 

  

                                                                                                                                  

 

                                         

 

Ta-Da!

                             

Here is a partial shot of one of the little boxwood wreaths I made.  It was so fun to decorate using our own plants!

         

For each Advent Lord’s Day, we give the kids a little gift before breakfast and take turns reading the Scriptures for that day.  We also light the Advent candles. 

Sleepy but excited!  The first Advent gift is always pajamas – that’s why the packages look so big!  After that, they’re smaller – things like pens, playing cards for the boys, stationery for the girls, Pez dispensers, etc.  Just opening a gift is thrilling in itself – and all of it combines to gear up our anticipation for Christmas Day, when we rejoice in God’s Best Gift to all of us – His Son!

Our First Christmas at Kenilworth!

I climbed into the attic last weekend and retrieved the bins of Christmas decorations. 

And there was great rejoicing among the people!

The kids were like impatient horses at the starting gate – but I convinced them (sort of) to go a little slowly so I could figure out where to put everything.  We started with the fireplace mantle.  After trying a few things, we came up with something satisfying.

Cinnamon-ey pine cones, a burlap wreath I made last year, the white metal angel Glenn got for me at the Christmas Tree farm a few years ago..

                                   

silver Christmas balls and icicle garland…

 

           

 

In the Dining room, I put my favorite red poinsettia wreath on the mirror.  The wreath is made from a soft velvet fabric – I love it!

                

There are pinecones hanging in the windows..

                                and boxwood clippings on the chandelier…

                                                                                                                                                            

a punchbowl just waiting to be filled…

a couple of candlestick pretties..

                                                       and a garland for Glenn’s mom’s secretary ~

                                                 

 

more boxwood clippings for the chandelier in the family room…

 

The girls and I took ribbons off of some old styrofoam balls we’ve had for ages, and wrapped long strips of drop cloth around them.  Alix clipped some branches from the evergreens in the back yard and we used jute string to tie them to the newel posts.  We intertwined long streams of ivory and sparkly gold ribbon, and my favorite gold wire garland all around the stair railings.

 

                              

 

I ran out of the ribbon, so I used last year’s bunting and more gold wire for the railing at the top!

Of course the girls’ pink Christmas tree works best in the loft so all of them can enjoy it.

Glenn and Noah took time out to put together our traditional Gingerbread House!

 

A friend helped me hang garland on the doors, then later Alix added the wreaths, and I hung some more of my bunting.

                          (notice the firewood stacked and ready on the back porch)

I had fun on Saturday, collecting boughs and rose hips, and evergreen clippings from around the yard to make something nice for the urns on the porch..

                  

The jar formerly was filled with pickles!  Now, although you can’t see inside of it, it has a little bit of soil on the bottom and a large pedestal candle nestled in the soil.  The other 3 urns have jars, too – old jelly jars, etc. 

 

Sorry this is so dark – but here you can see all the urns.

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I found the little green pillow at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago!  I was so excited – I knew it would match the ribbon on our wreath. 

                                            See?!!

                    

For the mudroom entry, I’ve so far only hung this wreath..  I think some boughs hanging on the porch lights would look pretty, but not sure I’ll get around to that this year.

We love to read.  Glenn usually picks the books and reads them aloud at night whenever we have an opportunity.  He does a great job and we have all been on many fun book adventures together.  Occasionally I get to pick one!

Here are a couple of shots taken while I was reading The Scarlet Pimpernel to the kids… well, I don’t think the boys stuck with the entire story, but I know that Noah was there for the last half. 

             

Sophia looks sad –  but she’s not, that’s just her “listening” face.

             

The girls all love drawing – so they draw while listening.  Always.

I’ve had this post ready for several days, but I wanted to include the pictures of our Christmas tree.  But our card reader is having issues and I can’t get them loaded onto the computer…so those may just have to wait until later!

That’s all!

I’d love to see your decorations, too – send me a link!