Merry Christmas

A Birthday Tea

Magdalene and I had been wanting to host a Tea Party of quite some time.  We just seemed to get swept away with life and never got around to it, until Dec. 8th! In honor of Magdalene's 12th birthday (Dec. 7th), we finally hosted a Tea Party! 

To keep the "tea table" simple and uncluttered, 

we set a separate table for the food.

Chocolate is a must for any and all parties! (At least the parties I host)

Magdalene and I made cinnamon scones. We used a tulip

cookie cutter rather than having the traditional triangle shape.

This is the "teapot" cake. I am so thrilled it turned out just as

I had envisioned. I am no professional cake decorator, and I was working without

directions. I just used the pampered chef batter bowl for the pot, an ice-cream cone for the spout

and handle, and a small cake cooked in a metal 1 cup measuring cup for the lid.

I couldn't have been any happier with the results.

Chocolate mini donuts! And mini "fruit pizza" cups.

I found some free printable "photo booth props" for some photo fun.

Each guest had the honor of a photo taken with the birthday girl.

TonyJean

Regina

Madison

Clare

Anna

Dominique

Clare and Madison were the two oldest girls in attendance.

Madison (being the older sister) and Clare, a good friend of both Madison

Magdalene, were asked ahead of time to help me serve the others.

They did a marvelous job!! Thank you both!

CAKE TIME!

I had a moment of "but it's too cute to cut".  Then I just reminded myself, I made it

to be eaten. It was almost as good as it was cute :)

The girls played a dice game and each took home a teapot

or teacup they acquired during the game.

All in all, I think Magdalene and I did well hosting our first

official tea party!

Magdalene... I hope your day was special.

I hope you know you are special to us!

We love you.

And the two shall be come one...

 June was a whirlwind of a month! (July, too, but we'll save that for other posts).  A busy month, a wonderful month! 

June 15th we were married!

And what a great day it was.

I'm not sure Mark was totally prepared for what he was getting himself into, but...

I think he will be able to adjust just fine!

(Pictured here with his best man. And, yes, the "hoods" do have a story! A bachelor party story... we'll leave it at that!)

Here's us girls before we put our dresses on. I gave them each a "hoodie" with their first initial on it so we would all have something easy to take off and not mess our hair. All my girls, including my maid-of-honor has the first initial "M". 

Dressed and ready to go!

The colors of the flowers were chosen by the kids... each their favorite color.

The girls had their shoes dyed to match their color.

Myriah: hot pink, Madison: purple, and Magdalene: yellow. 

And my boy's wore ties in their favorite color... James: orange and Lawrence: green!

 I have to admit... the guys clean up pretty well, too!

Since we were married on a Friday evening, we wanted all the posed pictures taken prior to the ceremony, but, we still wanted to capture the moment when Mark saw me for the first time that day. Mark was "hidden" in the chapel awaiting the reveal. James escorted me to the chapel.

With Mark's back to the door, I was able to walk up behind him.

I was not disappointed by his reaction! 

The look in his eyes revealed all that his heart was feeling.

Our "bouncers" guarding the chapel doors to give us a few moments alone.

Time for posing. Time to be serious and get the pictures done... right??

Maybe not!

                            

                       

The Wedding Party!

Well, we just couldn't wait until the end of the ceremony!

Our first official family photo.

  

 My very dear friend and maid-of-honor, Meredith.  Our good friend and Mark's best man, David.

             

              

A sweet moment with my son.

 My mom and me.

Mark and his parents.

 Hope you enjoyed the pictures so far. Ceremony and reception to follow in a later post (or two).