anyone for a spot of tea?

i have been waiting to post these pictures for about a month now, and i am so excited.....

my friend christina, mama to these pretty girls...,
(remember when i photographed them last year in their princess dresses?)

called me last spring to ask if i would take pictures for their 4th and 5th birthday party this fall.  i had actually been meaning to call her to tell her that she needed to have a "tea party" birthday party for them this year.  i had seen so many beautiful things on pinterest and thought that they were the perfect age for one.  we almost said it at the same time because that was just what she wanted to do.  she wasn't sure just how she was going to do it, though.  

i had just the inspiration for her... 

i started a pinterest board with ideas for little girl's tea parties.

she ran with it....totally.

she and her husband built, repurposed and sewed everything.
and i think they did a knockout job!

here are their two girls this year..

she made most of the food.  the girls had iced tea or lemonade 

poured out of teapots into beautiful teacups...

when christina told her mom that she was going to have a tea party birthday, her mom remembered that

she had a box of teacups belonging to christina's grandmother that she had forgotten about.

they went up into the attic that day and found the box.  her grandmother had passed away earlier in the year so it was even more special that she had them to use.

as the story goes, her grandfather was a big sports fisherman.  every time he went on a fishing trip, he brought his wife back a teacup and saucer from wherever the trip was. 

there were about 20 sets of teacups and saucers in that box.  every one was different and each and every one was in pristine condition.  

it was an omen.....

it just snowballed from there and she started planning, building and sewing.

they had to cut down a tree and cut the logs into stumps for seating.

she made the little pillows for each stump princess chair.

the table was made from two old doors that her boss had in her garage.  her husband made legs and they set them up end to end.

it was set with the teacups that the girls drank out of.

the swing was covered in lace and trimmed with tulle...

and hung from the apple tree.

she hung a pretty frame from anorther tree 

and as each guest showed up for the party, they were seated in a chair set behind it and had their princess picture taken.

how cute is this little one?.....

all of the food was special

in lieu of cucumber sandwiches, the girls had peanut butter and jelly croissants.

christina made the suckers and the buttons adorning each package
came from her grandmother's button jar.

the chandelier was given to her from someone that was going to throw it away.  

 she painted it pink and added the crystals.

the lace covered toy box held the gifts.

the bench below was also something that was rescued from the trash.

the girls all made hats to wear at the hat station where someone was waiting to help them hot glue ribbons, lace and silk flowers to them. 

each girl got a pair of white gloves which they all wore when they drank their tea...

she got to blow out the candle on her birthday cupcake...

and the girls played musical stumps....

it was magical and no detail was left out.  we had a lovely day for the party during a week of really ugly weather.

it was perfect!!!

i miss them.....

jerry and tina used to live next door to me....they moved away about 18 months ago and we miss them like crazy.  she made our family part of her family and introduced us to the fabulousness of greek food and life straight out of "my big fat greek wedding".  we always have so much fun with them and their families always treat us as if we were part of theirs.....

  tina is a personal trainer and she trained me down 3 clothes sizes a couple of years back....

i will be forever grateful to her.......jerry is a pharmacist and took immense pride in his yard.  he and don always had so much in common because of that.

we missed last year's photoshoot when she moved and subsequent chaos that ensues because of it....

we are back in the swing of it now though!!

their little girls are eden and london.....

one is an image of her mama and one is an image of her daddy!!! 

 i think that this picture of london flying with daddy is one of my all time favorites that i have taken so far....it takes my breath away!

 we took the pictures on a windy summer evening at a small local beach 

just as as the sun was getting low in the sky....

 it casts the most amazing light and shadows....

 just gorgeous.....

 eden has a couple of new teeth and was happy to show them off for me.

we miss your family, jerry and tina, and we have got to get together more often..

we are going to work on that, okay??

I've been keeping very busy lately....

i've been doing a lot of photography shoots and processing really takes a lot of my time.  that is why i have been so lame about blogging.....heck, i haven't even been reading blogs for the past couple of weeks.

i love the processing of the photos part of photography.  i get to look at these faces for hours...

i can see their personalities in their faces.....

 big sister sophie, older than her years, who takes such good care of the sisters 

who obviously look up to her...

the serene middle child sadie, who chills while the older and younger sisters run the show.....

 and the sassy baby sister sydney, who isn't going to get lost in the crowd.....

their mama is the most beautiful woman ever, and her house is to die for......

i may have to go back over there sometime and get pictures of the inside to share with you.....

and daddy, the lone y in the forest of x chromosomes, and who totally dotes on all of his girls.

the cutest family ever.   

 i had to spend extra time processing these photos because we were swarmed by mosquitos the entire shoot, even though we were drenched in bug spray, and i had to clone out the welts from their skin.

 totally worth it though.....

we all had so much fun.....

christina and steve...your girls are growing up beautifully!!!!

thank you for letting me document the transformation....