Little Ladies Come for Tea

What a party! Five little girls descended on our apartment in their prettiest dresses and proceeded to act like little hurricanes... I mean ladies. :) They were so excited. The nanny that accompanied them looked exhausted, though. Mostly because none of the girls took their naps. They were supposed to nap from 1-3, get ready when they woke up, and then come to our apartment at about 3:30. They were all so excited that they were dressed at 1, wouldn't sleep, and incessantly asked "Can we go yet?" until they finally left at 3.

It was so much fun. I'll tell the story through pictures. Unfortunately, they're mostly in reverse order. I don't want to mess with trying to rearrange the pictures, so if you want chronological, start at the bottom.

Five beautiful, giggly girls. From left to right, Cheryl, Leah Hope, Julia, Olivia, and Emily.

Cheryl carefully paints her nails; and she wasn't half-bad!

Julia has an older foster sister who has taught her the fine art of nail adornment. So, Julia is an expert painter (demonstrated below), and even knows the proper "nail drying" procedure.

I helped Emily out with her nails... and then she helped me with mine.

Olivia painted Caroline's fingers --- I mean nails.

For snacks we had chocolate cupcakes that the girls decorated with various kinds of candy, proper tea cookies, and a fruit plate. And, we had peach juice served in pretty tea cups.

Cheryl was a little suspicious of the frosting. She spent most of her time poking it, and never actually tasted it. She did like the candy that was meant to be put on top, though!

We gave the girls little party favors -- new hair "thingies," bejeweled bracelets, and stickers. Olivia's readjusting her bracelet.

Such pretty little ladies! We even had candles on the table. They thought that was quite fancy. And, there wasn't a single broken plate, cup, or platter among the group! I was proud of how well they did.

OK - this is downright funny. Notice the carefully pursed lips? Well, that's because she'd been allowed to generously apply sparkly lip gloss, and was quite worried that the slightest lip movement might disturb the gloss. This plight kept her from eating the cookies and cupcakes for a fair amount of time... until her hungry belly's better judgment won out and she realized she could reapply the lip gloss later.

Olivia's always so particular... her placement of each candy on the cupcake was carefully considered and evaluated. It was a work of art in the end!

Even I made a candy-coated cupcake!

When Julia first arrived at my house, she wasn't too happy. Turns out she'd been ready since about 2pm (the party started at 3). She was so worried that we'd forget to pick her up at her house and she wouldn't be able to go. Her foster mom kept reassuring her that we wouldn't forget, and that she'd take Julia if we did for some reason, but it was no consolation. Evidently Julia cried with worry from 2 to 3! She was just getting over it when they arrived at my apartment.

So you might have already noticed that the party also involved makeup application. How could you miss those bright blue eyes!?