Party for a Princess

We had a garden party for our babygrand Penny.  Notice the vintage children's table and chairs.  We found them  at Urban Farmgirl's Main Street Market in Rockford on Saturday.   It was through a comedy of errors that it was the ONLY thing we purchased at the sale, but it was THE perfect thing for our girl, and this vintage loving grandma.  To make a long story short, we found it at the second booth, used all the cash we had, and spent the rest of our time looking for a ATM.  We found one that was out in the middle of the road, connected by an extension cord.  Throwing caution to the wind, honey put his card in...and we waited...and waited...the sun was so bright we could not read the screen.  A line started forming behind us...waiting...waiting...Someone behind us gave us a shirt to use as a cover, over my honey's head like the old time photographers used to use...waiting, waiting. Finally, ERROR!  We never did get any additional cash, ended up leaving the sale with our one and only purchase.  (It was so crowded that we were parked  at the very last row of cars in the parking FIELD. The entire field was full. There was no way of coming back after leaving.) There is more to the story, as we tried to go to another sale, but had no luck there.  Oh well, maybe a story for another day...

Back to the party... I saw the balloon idea on Pinterest.  Though it was so romantic.  Penny thought so too.

 I had pink roses on the tables, to remind us of the day Penny was born, and the roses everywhere in Manhattan.

 I did regular balloons, not helium like on pinterest, and hung them from the tree with thread.

We also hung the garland and I wrote a colorful message on the blackboard.  I set Penny's table with crowns and roses. We had a table for snacks and lemonade.  The food was indoors,

 This was at 8am.  I wasn't sure what time Penny would arrive and I wanted it to be magical.

The yard looked so fresh and green, even my potting barn (broken down, crumbling shed that it is) looked charming.

 A vintage embroidered tablecloth covered the princess'  table.

 We put the playhouse on the deck. When it's on the lawn it becomes a place for spiders to live and the girls freak out.

Penny's cake was chocolate as per her request with peanut butter cream cheese frosting. I found the figures as a string of lights at the thrift.  A soapy wash and they made the cake.  It was one of the best cakes I ever made...seriously, there are leftovers calling to me from the refrigerator downstairs.;-)
On a picture perfect spring day, with the family, a brand new baby, crazy cousins, we had a birthday party as special as the girl we were celebrating, our four year old grand daughter Penny.

When we  finally sat down  at 8 p.m,  we were exhausted but happy.  My honey and I  throw a nice party.

One more thing...My Guild was visited by a rep from Ryan's Case for Smiles last week, the group we support as one of our service projects.  Vicky took this photo of us, and posted it on their facebook page.  We have made 2,410 pillowcases for  sick children in 6 area hospitals.  I couldn't be prouder of this wonderful, generous group of ladies.  That's my SIL Elizabeth next to me on the  right..  I'm holding a stack of pillowcases. Love you guys,(left to right) Mary, Shirley, Karen, Jean,  Diane, Carmella, Donna, Kathy, Elizabeth, Susan, Jane (hiding) and Theresa.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy this beautiful day