Emma's Editorials: Tess's Birthday Continued ;)

Thank you, everyone, for being so understanding, even though this post came so much later than I'd promised! :}  ~Emma

Last Friday started out like any other typical day for all of us here at Mama's house.  But I knew it was different.  It was Tess's birthday, and I couldn't wait to give my friend her gift. :)

Up in their room, Hayden and Jenna were brainstorming about the Literary Ladies Society.  

Since the idea had started with Jenna, she'd become the honorary leader and coordinator of the group, and Hayden was her right-hand doll.  But at the moment, they were both a little distracted trying on some of the new dresses from Mama.  Jenna felt elegant enough for a stage performance in this formal one.

Hayden especially loved her new Kirsten dress.  She's been reading the Kirsten series lately and has really gotten into them.  I think a Kirsten doll is now on her wishlist! ;)

Oh, and we all finally got posters and other wall art up in our rooms!  Jenna had her "The Princess Bride" movie poster and the "Fiddler on the Roof" poster that Hayden made for her.

Hayden had her Aladdin poster, her Northanger Abbey poster (she's been obsessed ever since deciding that her LLS character is going to be Catherine Morland!), and a small poster from "Rigoletto", the Feature Films for Families movie.  It's kinda like "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Beauty and the Beast" combined, with no objectionable content.

Hayden was thrilled to hang this picture up, too. :)

Meanwhile, Charlie and I were in our room.  It must have been a day for trying on new dresses. :)  I was modeling the beautiful new dress Mimi got me from American Girl.  It will be just perfect for our Christmas pictures! :)

I'd convinced Charlie to try on the new sundress Mama got for us.  Of course, my sister still wore her cowgirl boots, her Buzz Lightyear necklace, and her silly bandz bracelet. ;)   

"Look!" I told Charlie.  "Now Cecile and I match!"

I love how beautiful our painting looks on the wall (and no, it's not as crooked as it looks!). :}  It's the "Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir. (Don't you just love saying words in French?  You can't help but feel elegant!).  It's just a print, but still, it makes me feel quite refined. ;)

Of course, Charlie was overjoyed to put up her "Toy Story 3" movie poster. :)

She was very gracious and let me put my Thomas Kinkade "Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love" poster at the head of the bed. :)

On the wall next to our bed, we have Charlie's "Cars" and "Wall-E" posters, and my "Veer-Zaara", Shahrukh Khan, "Emma", and "Tangled" posters.  I love how it brightens up our room and gives it more character. :)

But I'm getting distracted. :}  I should get back to the point of this post. 

"Charlie," I told my sister, "I'm going to go give Tess her birthday present.  Can you round everyone up so that we can give her the present from all of us?"

"Sure," Charlie agreed cheerfully.

You probably won't be surprised to find out that there were no dresses being tried on in Maggie and Rachel's room. ;)  They were too busy trying out our new Rollerblades from Walmart.  They'd pushed Rachel's trundle bed in so they would have more room.

Personally, I don't think rollerblading in one's bedroom is the best idea, but I wasn't about to mention that to Maggie. :}  Rachel might have been a little more understanding, but it wasn't worth risking Maggie's wrath. ;)

Okay, and I have to rabbit trail again, because Maggie and Rachel got a chance to hang up their wall art too. :)  Here is Maggie's "Lord of the Rings" poster from the stage musical.

And here is one of her unicorn posters.

Oh, and I think this is new to all of you, too.  Mama found this shelf at Goodwill and thought it would be perfect for all of Maggie and Rachel's collectibles. :)

Here are their "Lord of the Rings" and unicorn posters.

Beside their bed, they put up two "Pirates of the Caribbean" posters, a Captain America cutout, and a "Despicable Me" poster.

They still have some room on their walls.  Rachel informed me that she wants to keep her eye out for a "Muppets" poster, and maybe some other "Avengers" wall art.  I'm sooo glad I'm in my room and not this one. ;)

And back on track again! :)  It didn't take me long to get Tess's present and head over to her room.

"Happy Birthday, Tess!" I told her.

"Thank you, Emma," she said happily.

I handed her the gift and waited as she opened it.

I noticed that Pemberley had taken over the wrapping paper from Tess's previous gift. ;)

I was a little nervous.  I was pretty sure Tess would like her gift, but I hoped I'd made the right choice.

"Oh!" Tess cried out happily.  "Calico Critter kittens!!  I love them!"

I guess I shouldn't have worried. ;)

I informed Tess that the package said their names were Midnight (in the blue), Peppermint (in the red), and Angelica (in the yellow).  She thought they were perfect names.

She immediately put them on display on top of her curio.  

I thought they'd be perfect since both of us are the oldest of 3 sisters.  Of course, it's not a perfect comparison, because Midnight is supposed to be a boy...but it was close enough.  I explained all this to Tess.

"Thank you, Emma," she said.  But I almost thought I saw her tearing up.  Of course!  She must miss her littlest sister on this special day.  I hoped that Ella would be able to get to a computer to email her.

Before I could say anything else, the whole crew arrived with Tess's final present.  It was something we'd all pitched in together to get her (Mama had picked it out for us).

Tess once again started opening her package.

"Oh my goodness!" she gasped.

We'd gotten her a Calico Critters bedroom set.  It was cute and frilly, just perfect for our friend.

Even better, everything was just the right size for her Holly Babblebrook bunny. :)

"Thank you so much, everyone!" Tess told us.  "This has been a perfect day."

I'm so glad Tess enjoyed her gifts.  Aren't you? :)

P.S.  I always feel like I have to apologize after my posts.  I'm not the greatest at writing things out.  I just read Tess's birthday post, and it's so amazing and detailed and flowery.  But I'm not that type of a writer, I guess.  Oh well.  I hope you enjoyed the post anyway! :D  It's great to be blogging again!

Tess's Tidbits: My Birthday! :)

At last, I've found the time to sit and tell you all about my wonderful birthday last Friday. :)  As you all know, Mama and I share the same birthday, but I didn't really get to celebrate at her family party.  I wasn't really sure what to expect the day of my actual birthday.  Just in case something special was going to happen, I decided to wear one of my favorite dresses, and I put two sparkly pink flower clips in my hair.

First thing in the morning, my little sister Hailey told me "Happy Birthday" and gave me a hug.  She's so thoughtful.  Poor Hailey got rather overlooked this summer.  Her birthday is on the same day as Mama and Papa's anniversary, which is bad enough.  But with all of the extra traveling and everything that Mama's family did this summer, Mama (and everyone else) completely forgot about Hailey's birthday until late August.  I blush to admit it, but even I forgot Hailey's birthday.  This is not quite as atrocious as it would be for you humans, because as you know, our "birthdays" are really more of a formality since we aren't actually born and do not age.  Not only that, but this is the first year that Mama has really tried to honor each of our birthdays, so none of us really tend to remember each other's birthdays without Mama's help.  I still felt horrible, though.  Out of all of the birthdays I could forget, Hailey's should have been the last. :(

Hailey had a really good attitude about it, though.  As the youngest and most content, she tends to get left by the wayside sometimes.  She's not as loud or as needy as some of us, so sometimes she just blends into the background, part of a pleasant, comfortable surrounding.  I, for one, think it is high time for this to change!

Anyway, once Mama realized her mistake, she felt perfectly dreadful.  She'd even had Hailey's presents set aside and waiting for her...she'd just forgotten the birthday completely.  Mama instantly gave Hailey her presents:  a cute Hello Kitty picture book and a little miniature Hello Kitty figurine in a ladybug outfit.  Hailey loved them.

She especially loved looking through the colorful pages of her book, reading all of the fun quotes about friendship.  

Now, the book and figurine sit on her shelf, next to her stuffed Hello Kitty and her pin back button from LA.  

But goodness, that was a rather long rabbit trail.  Back to the story! :)  

Shortly after Hailey shared her birthday greetings, Mama came into the room with a large, sparkly box.  

"Happy Birthday, Tess," she said warmly, handing it to me.  Her grin matched Hailey's.  I wondered if they'd collaborated together about my gift.

Eagerly, I took the package over to my bed and began opening it, keeping an eye on my cat, Pemberley, the whole time.  (And yes, she's named after a certain estate in my favorite book!) ;)  She looked like she wanted to play with the sparkly tissue paper!  

Now, I have to admit, the size and shape of the box looked just about right for an American Girl doll.  But I didn't want to jump to conclusions and end up disappointed.  

As soon as I peeled back the wrapping and saw the American Girl box, though, I couldn't help letting out a little gasp of excitement!  I hardly noticed the happy look that Mama and Hailey exchanged.

Then the paper was all the way off, and I could hardly breathe in my happiness.  "Oh!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air.  "Thank you, Mama!"

Mama beamed.  "I knew you would like it.  It's from Hailey, too, by the way."

"Thank you, Hailey!" I directed towards my sister, smiling my thanks.

"You're welcome," she answered, bursting with pride.

Slowly, I opened the box and oh-so-carefully lifted the doll into my arms.  I'd been dreaming of Caroline Abbott ever since her release in September, and now she was mine! :D

She was so beautiful!  I loved her pastel pink dress, her pretty green eyes, and her long, soft, blonde curls.  It was more than I'd hoped for...I'd never dreamed that I'd actually get a Caroline for my birthday!

The book looked amazing, too.  I couldn't wait to sit down and read it!

"Thank you again, Mama and Hailey.  This is the best birthday ever!" I exclaimed happily.

"It's not over yet," Mama winked.  

But you'll just have to stay tuned, dear readers, to see what she meant. ;)

Tess's Tidbits: Sorry for the Absence, plus Party Pictures

Poor Emma is absolutely mortified that she promised a post over a week ago and still hasn't had a chance to get on here.  I hope you'll all forgive her...she's so embarrassed that she's kind of afraid to come back on.  It's just been super busy and Mama's been using the computer a lot for eBay sales and such.

In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy seeing pictures from Mama's combined birthday party with Grandmama and Mama's sister-in-law.

Mama decided that I should be the one to go with her to the party since she and I share the same birth date.  Of course, for me, it's basically a formality.  I don't ever age and Mama is the one who assigned me my birth date.  I don't mind, though.  It's still wonderful to share something so special with her.  With all of the dolls she's gotten since she got me, sometimes I feel a bit lost in the crowd.  This is the time of year that I always feel special. :)

But goodness, enough of my prattling on.  :}  As usual, the party was held at Mimi's house.  Mama actually got to go over early and spend time with just Mimi, Grandmama, and Grandpapa while Papa got the three human girls ready.  He also brought me, which would explain why I had no shoes or hair accessories for the party.  Papa means well, he really does, but he just does not pay attention to detail like Mama does, at least when it comes to us dolls. ;)

Mimi made some of her delicious cake pops for the party.  She had planned to make s'mores cake pops with Mama's family's Yummy Chocolate Frosting recipe, but unfortunately, the marshmallows didn't melt the way they were supposed to.  They were a big gooey mess.  It didn't take Mimi long to decide to just make chocolate cake pops with some graham crackers on the side. ;)  She took the leftover marshmallow mixture, added some crushed up graham crackers, and drizzled them with frosting.  They were pretty amazing...as long as you didn't plan on talking for the next few minutes after eating them. ;)  Imagine eating a spoonful of peanut butter and multiply that by 10. :}

Here I am, guarding the two desserts faithfully. :)

The cake pops...

...and the as yet unnamed amazing gooey deliciousness. ;) 

It took a while for everyone to get there.  I thought about going outside, but Mama said it was too hot.

Oh well...perhaps next time. :) 

I decided to check out the gift table.  Of course, there were no gifts for me, since it wasn't my party.  Mama said I would get my gift on my actual birthday. :) 

While I was at the gift table, I got to sample the snacks.  There were regular party mints and then these amazing chocolate covered party mints.  Yum! :) 

Someone should have come up with this idea a long time ago! :D 

For dinner, we did a family party tradition:  a build-you-own pizza and salad bar.  All of the toppings are out on the counter.  You start with some pizza dough, add your favorite sauce and toppings, and put it in the oven.  Then, while the pizza bakes, you make yourself a salad and eat that.  By the time the salad is done, the pizza is ready! :D

I didn't get a picture of the pizza I shared with Mama, but here are some of the other pizzas.  Oh, and sorry about the random flower in the picture, but one of Mama's family members' names was written on the parchment paper and was too dark to blur out. :}

Mama, Grandmama, and Mama's SIL got some very nice gifts.  This was the gift Mama got that I was most interested in:  two lovely party dresses, some shoes, and a choker from the Springfield collection at Michael's! :D  Unfortunately, I tried them on, and both were too small for me.  Perhaps I shouldn't have indulged in all of those party snacks...I don't even remember how many chocolate covered mints I had! :{ 

After presents, it was time for cake pops.  Since the damage was already done, I figured I might as well enjoy myself and have one! ;)

They.were.amazing!!!

Oops...I believe I need a napkin! ;)

All in all, it was a lovely night.  I was so glad that Mama invited me to join her.  And the best part is that I still have my actual birthday to look forward to.  I wonder what Mama got for me? 

Emma's Editorials: Wow!!

Wow...just...wow!!  I can't believe we've reached 70 followers!! I know Tess and Maggie would join me in saying thank you. :)

Oh, and hi, by the way.  Remember me?  It's been a while since I've had a chance to post. :}  I was actually coming on here to let all of you know that I've got a post I'm working on.  It should hopefully be up by later this week.

Of course, then I saw that we had 70 followers and got completely distracted!! :D

Anyway, don't give up on us...new posts will be up soon...we promise. :)

Until then!