Happy Birthday, Margaret!

Happy Fourth Birthday to Margaret Anne! 

Margaret turns four tomorrow, but we decided to celebrate one day early--both because this was when her grandparents could join us and the solemnity of St. Joseph's feast day does make it easier to celebrate than does a Friday in Lent.

Grandparents and grandchildren

When asking Margaret what she would like to eat for her birthday, I was perfectly happy that she chose something that involved no cooking on my part: Papa Murphy's take-and-bake pizza, Buffalo wings from a local restaurant, and a Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake.

Why did the cake decorator add quotation marks to the inscription?

The candy card

Mary made a creative card which was two layers of construction paper stapled together and filled with candy. The candy may have been already unwrapped and some of it already nibbled, but her little sister thought it was the best card she'd ever received.

Receiving outfits for her dolly Sally

Practicing on her new Grow-with-Me Skates from Grandpa

The ballerina dress

Margaret has lately become enamored with ballerinas. She talks about them often and desired so much to have a "ballerina dress." I adapted a pattern to sew her one myself, sewing for a couple of weeks at night so no children would discover me (maybe that's why I was too tired to drive?).

We have always made it a family policy that only the birthday child receives presents: other siblings do not receive gifts on that day "just so they don't feel left out." So, it was unprecedented that Mary was handed a gift on Margaret's birthday . . . a ballerina outfit of her own! We did this because we knew the enjoyment of Margaret's outfit would be exponentially increased if she had a matching sister with whom to dance.

Overjoyed to be receiving a ballet dress too!

We have no intention to enroll the girls in dance classes, but they will have grand fun being ballerinas around the house!

Hugging the grandparents in thanks  . . .

Let me introduced Sally, Margaret's beloved baby doll. Sally is a simple doll, nothing fancy, her cloth body stained despite washing. Sally didn't even have a wardrobe, something Margaret longed for so she could dress her dolly.





Now Sally has a wardrobe for every occasion, as well as real dolly-sized hangers! I will neither confirm nor deny that I unpacked all the outfits and happily hung them on hangers while the girls set up a tea party.

Sally's new wardrobe from Grampa N.

Doesn't Sally look smashing now in her pink party dress?

The ballerina sisters set up a tea party using the new tea set from their grandparents, with their dearest friends Monkey and Sally (both dressed in the new clothing) as guests.

Birthday tea party