Happy Birthday, Mary Ashley!

"A daughter is a gift of love." ~ Anonymous

Today is Mary Ashley's 10th birthday! I cannot believe my little girl is a "tenager." The above image -- one of my all-time favorites -- rests on my night stand. It is difficult to believe that I took this photograph five years ago. Is it possible that at 10, Mary Ashley is twice as sweet as she was at 5? What a blessing she is to our family!

You might remember that we celebrated the boys' 10th birthdays with surprise parties. We gave Carson a Rockin' Surprise Party (here), then bowled Christian over with birthday wishes (here). For the girls, we are skipping the surprises in favor of a much-anticipated milestone. Tonight Mary Ashley is getting her ears pierced! We will commemorate this special event Saturday with a party, so look for all the details in upcoming posts.

Congratulations to Paula Romer, who won a signed copy of Afternoon Tea from the editors of Teatime Magazine magazine. And best wishes to Kathy Pollard, who won the Whittard Tea giveaway. Ladies, please contact me at alittleloveliness@gmail.com.

Christmas Candy Tea

Happy New Year! We have enjoyed a great holiday break with lots of family time, extra rest and a few creative projects I can't wait to share. But first, here are a few photos from the tea party the girls and I hosted for our friends the Browns.

Most of our sitting room furniture is still in Wetumpka, but I took advantage of the empty space in our new house to set up a card table in view of my sitting room tree.

A simple menu of mostly storebought treats helped us manage planning a party in the midst of the holiday rush.


 

I tied extra wreaths to the chair backs with pink ribbon and set the table with pastel linens and dinnerware.


 

Candy ornaments from Wal-Mart made sweet favors for the four girls.


 

Our menu included tea sandwiches with chicken salad and pimento cheese from Zoe's, chocolate cupcakes from Publix and strawberry petit fours from Edgar's Bakery. Fresh strawberries and pineapple rounded out the simple fare, served with Ascot Floral Afternoon tea from Whittard.


 

And a candy cane at each place reiterated our candy theme.


 

I filled a cake plate with extra teatime treats so Stacey and I could visit over a cup of tea in the kitchen while the little girls enjoyed their tiered server in the sitting room.


 

Stacey brought blueberry and cranberry-orange scones for the party, and I served them with homemade lemon curd. Find the recipe here.


 

We have gone through many transitions this year, but we are grateful that our friendships with Stacey, Emma and Lizzy remain constant. We are already planning our next visit with these sweet girls!



 

Speaking of sharing tea with friends, in my next post I will announce the winner of my giveaway from Whittard. Find the original post to enter here. Also, the book Afternoon Tea from the editors of TeaTime was not claimed, so leave a comment below and I will select a new winner from this post.


Happy New Year!