Happy Birthday, Tressie!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday, dearest Tressie!

Happy Birthday to you!

Tressie, Mommy and Daddy and your sisters love you so much, and we're so proud of the little lady that you are becoming!

It's so hard to believe that my baby is now five years old! She's still an itty-bitty thing, so I can still wad her up into a little ball and hold her like a baby...which she actually enjoys our doing to her!

Celebrating birthdays is a big deal on my side of the family, and thankfully my dear husband eagerly agrees...after all, who doesn't like feeling special!?! And having two daughters, my dad, my grandmother, my cousin as well as several close friends all having Christmas birthdays, I don't want their special day to go unnoticed! Who would?

So the evening before Tressie's birthday, the girls made plans for the next morning...to have her stay in bed while they would eagerly prepare the birthday girl her favorite breakfast and hand-deliver her birthday cards and gifts!

The next morning, Tressie stayed in bed (most likely pretending to be asleep!) and awoke as she heard us coming in to greet the big birthday girl! After enjoying some time with the birthday girl, we began to get ready for her birthday party! It was a really, rainy day, so it was all too easy to move slowly and sit around and snuggle!

As the day flew by (as it often does when Daddy has stays at home!), I glanced at the clock...and it was nearing the time for guests to arrive! Aghhh! I had spent the day loving on our "baby," finishing up the birthday cake and doing last minute preparations for our birthday party and my parents to arrive for Christmas! I still have NO idea where the time went, but before I knew it...I was living everyone's nightmare! You know...the one where you're standing there naked in front of others! Poor Eric was still working on the swords that we were making for the two little fellas that were going to be at our "princess" party. Macy was ever-sp-helpful and rushed upstairs to help the girls get dressed while I ran to get in the shower! And as I was desperately praying for "a few more minutes" I continued whispering under my breath, "This is a nightmare!" As I was stepping out of the shower, the doorbell rang, and there were some of our bestfriends, Kendall and Shelley and their adorable baby Carter-man! I'll never be able to thank them enough for stepping in and hanging up this and that.

Kendall sent me back upstairs to get my make-up (and clothes!) on while she finished up this and that...and as I came back downstairs, the rest of the guests began to arrive! And what a fun, cute, little party it was! We had little cucumber-dill tea sandwiches, orange-cranberry scones, pecan sandies and pink lemonade.



We read The Princess and the Pea and played a princess/pea game; the little girls made little princess tiaras while our two princes decorated their two wooden swords. Tressie opened up the gifts that her friends so graciously gave her; and she blew out her five candles (I still can't believe that there had to be five!), and then Mimi and Pawpaw arrived!

After dining on salad and a few pizzas that dad and Eric ran to get (I seriously think they were looking for any excuse to get out of the house!), Tressie opened a few gifts from Mimi and Pawpaw, we had our devotions, got ready for bed, and fell fast asleep! A long day!