Party Season

In the second semester of school, Tigerlily made a new friend, a boy in first grade named Ellis. I was delighted at the new friendship partly because next year Tiger will be in a composite class with Ellis and his classmates and partly because he seems like a really lovely little boy (and he's a talented ballet dancer to boot). A few weeks ago Tigerlily came home from school with an invitation to a Christmas Treasure Hunt at Ellis' house. I was unable to go to the party as I had rehearsals for our belly dance show so I only have these few photos of Tiger on her way out the door:

 This Christmas dress has really done 

quite well to survive four Christmases.

I wish I knew where Tiger learned 

this pose, as sweet as she looks I

much prefer her looking like herself 

(you know, screaming maniacally and

running around with her dress tucked

into her knickers).

 

"Don't worry Mama, I may be smiling 

but the mania is always bubbling just

below the surface..."

"Geez Mama, how many photos of

this outfit do you really need??"

Oh yes, good, there she is.

The other big party of recent days was Tara's 6th birthday party which had a 'Princess and Unicorns' theme. I had completely forgotten about the party when I put our car in for it's annual service and this would not have been such a problem had the party not been in Lane Cove (on a day when the trains were all off-line). Tigerlily, of course, was thrilled at the prospect of taking not one, but two buses to the party. By some miracle, the torrential rain that had plagued the city throughout the week and right into Saturday morning disappeared just after lunchtime so at least we were making our way in fine, if hot, weather.

 I am madly in love with the dress that I bought

Tiger to wear to the party: it is a 'Princess Tiana"

dress from the movie "The Frog Princess". It 

looks like a waterlily, it is so beautiful. Bless 

eBay and it's bargain finds!

 

Tiger's initial excitement over the bus trip was 

short lived and soon she was growing bored.

 Wolfie was not exactly loving the experience 

either.

Tiger was enchanted by the giant

Christmas tree in the QVB and it 

made a very princess'ey backdrop.

 Nicky and Tiger had to have a quiet word before

the second leg of our journey (the contents of their 

conversation may have included such phrases

as "Mummy is in a bad mood" and "Don't poke the bear...")

Reinvigorated by the sparkly tree and the excitement

of an entirely new, if identical, bus; Tiger proceeded

to go bezerk. 

 

 

Which, naturally, Wolfie thought was hilarious.

 "Well I don't see why I have to be quiet on the bus

Daddy, they are really terribly noisy."

 "And Wolfie was really enjoying it!"

"Fine."
"Sigh."

 ...soon she was downright depressed by the 

interminable journey. 

(I secretly really love this very un-princess-like

photo)

"How many stops is it now Daddy?"

It was shortly after this photo was taken that we

realised that we had, in fact, missed our stop.

 It was a rather long, rather hot walk but Tiger approached

the task quite cheerfully.

 She particularly enjoyed having to hold her skirts

up as she skipped across rain puddles...

 ...and leaky footpaths.

Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered

I have fought my way here...

This photo says it all really.

 

Tara's beautiful birthday cake.

Eventually we made it to the party where we restored our spirits with cake, pashmak unicorn tails and (my favourite) fairy bread. Incredibly, Kristie had made a hobby-unicorn for each of the guests. She asked each girl to choose a horse and then had them name their new friend. Kristie tied a bell onto each unicorn as they were assigned which lead Tiger to tell me later: "Did you know Mama that when a pony gets an owner, they also get a bell??" I don't remember learning that in Biology.

P.E.T.A may have something to say about keeping

fourteen ponies in a barrel but they seemed happy

enough. 

Meanwhile, Kristie told the girls that the unicorns

were missing horns because they were baby unicorns.

One could not help noticing, however, that there were

a pile of 'unicorn horns' on offer on the treats table. 

Coincidence??

 This is 'Rosie', Tiger's new baby unicorn

(have I mentioned that Tiger names everything

'Rosie'??) .

Kristie also had a table of princess

crafts for the guests to play with and

Tiger made herself a wand.

 Mid-ride.

Tiger and Tara compare mounts.

After Tiger's party, I promised Kristie that I would make Tara a pair of wings for her birthday present. I decided to make a green pair as it is Tara's favourite colour and I based the design on a butterfly that Eliza had photographed. I was halfway through when it suddenly occured to me that Tara has always been associated with dragonflies, "Aha," I thought, "I shall make a pair of dragonfly wings! Simple yet elegant." Thus began a three week ordeal of blurred vision and cramped hands as I hand-painted the veining on four separate wings (front and back). I finished them on the morning of Tara's party and then, naturally, we completely forgot to take them with us in our rush to make the bus. This meant that Tiger had no present to give when they sat in a little circle on the floor for the great unwrapping. As soon as Tiger was on the floor, Wolfie wanted to sit on her lap:

 "And how exactly did you manage

to forget our present Mama??" his

little face seems to say...

 

"I wuv you Tiger, let me give you

a kiss!"

 

Kissing is a skill that Wolfie is yet

to master.

 I love this photo!

We then had to do the whole journey in reverse 

which was much aided by the fuel of a goodie-bag.

Nevertheless, I think Tiger looks wonderfully zonked

here.