Tonight was Laurel’s 7th birthday party.  It was a big girl affair, not the American Girl party she talked about a few months ago. Instead, she wanted it to be a “dance” party. Sigh…..
The ham bone in the purple leggings is Laurel, now 7.
In September, she added jazz to her ballet and tap dance classes. Her cautious mother, Shelly,  made certain that this program would be done in good taste and age appropriate and it was. Now, her favorite colors are red and black (NO!!!! Those are Georgia Bulldog colors and she is a Gator Girl!!!!). She tells me that those are “jazz” colors.  She suddenly seems to be very grown up.
 
I volunteered to make the cake but had misgivings when I discovered that the color scheme was for black and hot pink.  What!#$&*!! I have always used pastels for her cakes and didn’t even have Wilton’s black paste icing color in my cupboard. But I got it and I did it and I don’t like it but Laurel loved it. And that’s all that really matters.
Shelly said all the girls’ teeth were black from the frosting! Of course, Laurel has 2 less to worry about.
It reminded me of a shopping trip with my daughter Rebecca when she was 6. As we were walking out of JC Penney, where we had gone  to get her a new Brownie uniform, she was awe struck by a girls purple dress hanging at the aisle. “Look, Mama!” she gasped. So I looked.   It was a vulgar monstrosity weighted down with no less that 200 yds. of crunchy purple lace. All I could think of was a pinata. Without thinking, I blurted out, “That is the ugliest dress I have ever seen!” Rebecca looked up at me with shock in her huge blue eyes. “Ugly?” she questioned. I realized then it would take some careful tutelage to  school her to my vision of good taste. Laurel’s appreciation of the cake was very similar to that.
I’m so fortunate that my daughter-in-law always includes me in the party plans and preparations. She had ordered the dancer disc and musical notes for the cake, to continue the theme.
Shelly always has the most creative, fun, elaborate birthday parties for the children. This gala schedule began with music and dancing under a rotating disco balloon, followed by swimming, homemade pizza, face painting, a Tinkerbell movie and finally, slumber. She had pink stemware for the homemade strawberry lemonade, chocolate covered pretzels for movie time and goodies galore for the girls.
I had a big time making matching pajamas for Laurel and her doll Molly. While sewing pastel blue pajamas, I was in my comfort zone. Time was so short that I didn’t get a picture of the doll jammies but they will be shown in my next post. I had hoped there would be time for a little doll slumber bag but life got in the way of my sewing.
Robert, 5, is spending the night with us, away from all the giggling girls. While his sister and friends party, he’s having his own fine time with Nana and Granddad–pizza, cupcakes, a movie, ice cream, late bedtime. Life is good.
“When grandparents enter the door, discipline flies out the window.” Ogden Nash
