Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Midsummer's Eve

During our first summer at Hummingbird House, we started the tradition of celebrating Midsummer's Eve with a dessert party and bonfire for family. Some year, maybe next, I would like to enlarge it a bit to include more family and a few friends---but this year was not quite the year for that, as this week and last have been a little more focused on other things!

Nonetheless, we had a fun dessert night with Amie and Boppa, and of course, half the fun is anticipating the bonfire and change in nighttime routine all day. Katie helped to make our fairy cakes, and she loved dressing as a fairy this year.
We began the day with our dance class, and it worked out such that the ballerina outfit Katie wanted to wear for class was also a good costume for Midsummer's Eve. So she got to be a fairy all day!
She even went to our local craft/fabric store in her fairy regalia (minus the wings). We picked out several crafts for Eric's room (name letters, window covering material, ribbons for trimming the lampshades, etc. and also a project I hope to work on soon for Katie).
Home again, we tried napping but it wasn't in the cards today. Miss Fairy wanted to help with dinner prep, and we also got our fairy cakes baked and cooled.
I think I will let our pictures do some narrating, even though they are uploaded out of order:
Decorating our fairy cakes, which have to be small enough for fairies to eat them! Katie chose teal icing and purple icing.
Watching the growing bonfire.

Katie, Eric's bump, and I enjoy our grape sparkling cider syllabub.


Talking with Amie.



Katie wanted to share one of her fairy cakes.




Helping to line the mini cupcake tin.



Side view of Eric's nesting place.




Putting the finishing touches on the fairy cakes.


Touching her toes at dance class this morning.



Happy party!




Amie surprised her with some toy dog figures today. Katie's favorite animal is the dog. She put one on a fairy cake and said, "It's a doggy cupcake party!"


Boppa and Bill drinking syllabub, sometime before we made s'mores on the bonfire.



Bill on Midsummer's Eve!


Amie and Katie




Before we made s'mores, Katie said to Amie, "I'm going to let you let me have a marshmallow." Ha ha.

So it was a busy day, and with everything going on it has been tempting at moments to let Midsummer's Eve go this year (Bill's birthday is this week, too, and we have a couple of days of celeration dedicated to that, as well as nursery decorating, classes, and more). However, I am glad we kept the new tradition. I really love it, and dessert is low key and informal. The fairy cakes whip up in a cinch, so there isn't a whole bunch of prep to this holiday. It gives us just a little bit of magic, though, as summer begins...and I can't wait to keep celebrating it as the years go on.