A Gaggle of Girls

This weekend we were besieged, taken over by a group of gorgeous, giggling and, at times, goofy girls! Friday night we celebrated Madeleine's 9th birthday with a pyjama party bonanza. We simultaneously hosted two of the most adorable little girls in our home for a long weekend while their parents had a weekend away alone. Between the party festivities and the little girl weekend-long sleepover, it was a full on weekend! But oh so much fun!


If the birthday cake is any sign of a great party ahead, then this one was sure to be a winner!


My Über-talented friend has become quite the cake boss lately. Having gotten rave reviews on her own children's cakes word on her talent and skill has gotten out, and she's now got a little cake biz going. My only instruction to her was something girly, that we'll be painting nails at the party, oh, and of course chocolate!


She really hit all the marks with this cake. Not only was it just perfectly adorable, but unbelievably delicious!


And seriously how rad is it that the nail polish bottles she created for the cake topper exactly matched the polish we bought to use for the party!


The party started with a perfectly girly craft, decorating tote bags.


It was so cute watching all the girls glamourise their bags.




We then had a dance-off (not photographed) followed by free-play in our back garden. It was so fun watching the girls all play so well together. Such a great group of girls, so nice and cheerful.


The party guests (minus our littlest houseguests who got a "Wii" bit distracted inside:). Friends from school and church, this group consists of two Norwegians, one Ugandan, one Peruvian, one Australian, one American and one English/American.




The little people finally joined in the outdoor fun, and little two year-old Natalie was pretty much the party celeb. Madeleine's friends just adored her, which pretty much sums up the theme of our entire weekend with this little one and her five year-old big sister. I can't remember how many times people offered to adopt them. They are ridiculously cute!


I mean honestly, isn't she so sweet?!




I could have done an entire photo shoot with this one, but oh yeah, I had a party to attend to . . .


Back inside we carried on the fun with nail painting!




No way was Trevon going to miss out on that!


Pampering clearly works for him.




Marisa (our five year-old houseguest) certainly knew the nail-painting drill!


Natalie patiently waiting her turn.


She was pretty happy to have Madeleine dress her up as a princess . . . um, every single day day! Each night the girls laid out a different princess costume. They don't fit Madeleine anymore (nor is she still in the princess stage) so it was fun to have princesses in the house again :)


Cake time! Love the reaction to the sparkler candle!






As the four-hour party came to a close, I loved this final scene (dusty, finger-printed desk area aside!). I mostly loved it because it was so sincerely benevolent. It was just so sweet how all of Madeleine's friends so wanted her to open her presents in a true spirit of giving. They were each so eager to see Madeleine open her present and excited for her to receive it.




Likewise Madeleine's response to each and every girl's gift was so loving and genuine. She read each card, oohed and ahhed over each gift and then gave each friend a hug saying "thank you." Totally unsolicited, and I was merely a spectator. The whole scene of friendship and sharing was really lovely to watch.




Such a nice group!

With the birthday party a wrap, we awoke Saturday morning and set off on a fun day outing with our two little guests . . .


We took all the kids to a farm park in Surrey. It's such a fun place where they have indoor/outdoor play areas, bounce houses, giant slides, a maze, a giant jumping pillow, animal feeding, tractor rides and so much more. Pretty much kid heaven.




The trampolines were a favourite by all!




She was a keen observer of the "do" and "don't" signs.
















It took this one a while to get the courage to go to the top play area, but once she did she was so proud of herself!


The slide was another group favourite!










Lunch break!


Time to see some animals


The kids would have all stayed feeing the animals forever. They had so much fun, even though the goats like to steal and eat the food bags!










Bedtime story on our last night with our cute little guests