A Birthday Party

Over the weekend, Karina got to go to a birthday party for a friend of hers from church. E just turned 4, so she's about a year older than Karina.  She is just the cutest sweetest little girl.  Karina has known her ever since she started going to Musikgarten classes, when she was about 6 months old or so. 

It was a Barbie tea party, and she was invited to come in a pretty dress and bring play clothes.  We've been to E's house before so we knew there was a ton of fun to be had in the backyard on their great swingset.  Karina loves the slide, and she learned how to climb up the fake rock wall to get up to the top, so she was really looking forward to going to E's house.

We got her all dolled up, including painting her nails (all 20) purple (yes, really purple; would you expect anything less from my purple-loving girl?) and she wore a beautiful dress that is one of 4 my sister in law had sent her last Christmas and were too big yet.  When we arrived, we were some of the first guests, so Karina got to play outside a little and in E's room.  She got to check out E's play makeup and dress up shoes, things Karina knows pretty much nothing about, being a car/truck girl. 

Once everyone else arrived, the girls were seated for tea (and E told Karina that she should sit next to her, which I thought was really special, since E had a bunch of friends there).  Tea was really pink lemonade, but it was served in a real teapot which I thought was such a cool idea.  Makes me want more teapots, but that's another story.  They had little sandwiches, sugar wafer cookies, cute little cups of fruit, cheese cubes, and some Jello cups.  There was other food too, like spinach cups and some other things for the adults.  Karina tried several of the things she'd never had before, but wasn't crazy about them.  So she had water, fruit, cheese, and one bite of a mini hot dog in crescent roll (I forgot those when I was listing the food just now).  After the food, the girls all put on play clothes and went outside.  Karina was ecstatic.  She was up that swingset faster than I could follow her out the door!  She had the best time playing outside.  The weather was just perfect, mid 70s and sunny with a nice breeze.

After a little while, E came out and told us it was time for cake.  You should have seen Karina make a beeline for that kitchen table!  It was hysterical!  She was the first one in the door!  E's mom had made a Barbie cake herself, and it was great.  She made it look like a beautiful yellow dress with pink ruffles.  E was so cute while everyone sang Happy Birthday to her.  Her dad told her to make a wish, and she told him emphatically, "NO!"  That was pretty funny, and then she blew out the candles.  Karina devoured the cake.  The adults got to have some too, and it was really delicious.  After cake, they went back out to play for a few minutes and then E was ready to open presents.  When they came in to do that, Karina went straight to the kitchen table.  We had to go get her and tell her E was opening presents in another room.  All the girls went in and sat down in a little row next to her.  I thought Karina was going to cry when E opened the gift from her, because she had wanted to keep the princess stickers for herself, even though that was what she had specifically told me to get for E!  But she was fine, just tired. 

After presents it was time to go home, and E's mom gave Karina her party favor.  This was the most amazing thing:  the favors were tea party Barbies!  She got them on sale a while back, and swears she would have spent double if she'd done a pinata or goody bags, but still, it seemed like such an extravagant favor.  Karina loved it; the first thing she said was, "She needs to meet Green Truck.  She will like Green Truck."  In the car she told me her name was Pink Doll but she later changed it to Alice. 

Overall, it was a really fun time and she was pretty wiped out.  I think it was a special day for E, too. 

I feel so lucky to have friends with children who are so sweet and who are so kind to my daughter.  I hope that this family will be able to stay in our area for a very long time.  I would love to see the girls all grow up together (they have a younger daughter as well, who is about 18 months).  Later I'll let you all know about Karina's birthday party plans and some other things we have going on around here, too.