Kenna's Almost Tea Party

Kenna has been saving since September for an American Girl doll that "looks like her". Unfortunately, there wasn't one that looked like her (dark brown hair, fair skin, blue eyes, freckles). So she was torn between choosing medium brown hair, or no freckles, as a "close enough" look alike:-)

Enter Grace. She's a new doll, and the "American Girl of the Year". And she is exactly Kenna!

So when I asked the kids about their upcoming birthday cake "themes" for this year, I got three doozies. American Girl, Calvin & Hobbes and BeyMax. It's like my kids think I am a magical cake fairy or something:-) We like to keep birthdays small and family oriented, but I do definitely like to give them a cake that is central to their favourite things from that year.

Getting closer to March, I googled American Girl Doll Cakes, Parties, Themes - Google is usually my friend! I am usually given enough inspiration to make a go at something decent. This time? Flop. All the AG themed cakes are cakes of the box. The red and pink box with white stars that the doll comes in. Super lame. Some people can make impressive boxes and gift bags out of cake - but still. Lame.

I posed my problem to Kenna, and wondered if she had any other theme in mind. She didn't really, other than Frozen, and she wasn't that jazzed about it. So I suggested maybe we could have a real tea party. Dolls, tea parties. They go together, right? :-)

She loved that idea. And then a few days later, she came to me with an idea of her own - "Since Grace is from France, why don't we have French food, like you know, a baguette" I smiled to myself realizing that a baguette was the only French food she was aware of, and starting googling recipes to round out the meal.

When I was in the throws of recipe collection and internet browsing, Brian becomes aware of the plan after I told him that Grace was from France, so we'd do a French theme. "Grace is from France? Grace is not a French name" he says. Oh, well true..."Hey Kenna" I inquired, "How do you know Grace is from France?"

"Oh, Grace Thomas, the American Girl Doll of the Year? I saw it on a commercial. And she has a Paris thing on her shirt"

As one who goes through life believing 98% of what commercials tell me, this seems like proof enough to me. I guess that's why we have Brian, the resident cynic realist:-)

Another google search reveals that Grace Thomas is an American who travels to Paris, and is there inspired to become a pastry chef. Whew. We can keep our theme:-)

So we started in on the plan! (I'll post recipes in another post)

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Gratin Dauphinoise Potatoes

A fresh salad

A baguette

Tea

sugar cookies

cream puffs

ombre cakes

small chocolate bowls with a scoop of sea salt caramel truffle ice cream

We made little chocolate stars for the toppers of the ombre cakes - made in the reds and pinks of the AG boxes

We invited another family (of 6) to dine with us. They have two little girls, just older and just younger than Kenna, so it was perfect!

Fresh flowers - so pretty!

We got down all the fancy dishes, we polished silver spoons, we ironed linen napkins - it is going to be a lovely French meal and dessert!

Every thing was perfect!

The salad was made! (My boys adored this best of all!)

 I was thawing the ice cream for a quick second, getting ready to scoop it into the chocolate bowls and put back in the freezer, so all would be ready! Cream puffs were filled with French Vanilla cream (because, well, France, of course), and I was about to melt the chocolate for the drizzle. All the last minute details, as our guests would arrive in about 20 minutes.

Cream puffs - left abandoned and drizze-less :-(

 And Kenna threw up. All over the den floor. She had literally been a fine, chipper little helper all day long and was soooo excited for this party. She claims to feel fine, but she started not looking good pretty quickly. We called our friends and let them know - we have to cancel. Kenna was devastated, naturally. And truthfully, so was I. We'd worked so hard on it all.

We decided to postpone the dessert and tea party part until another day. Obviously we have to eat all the food we made, as it was ready to go. And there was a ton of it. And I spent $37 in cheeses alone! Such a huge disappointment.

On the bad news side - she is really sick. She can't keep anything down and her ears are killing her (possible ear infection brewing). On the plus side - she's feeling so badly that all she's doing is sleeping so she's not thinking about the great party we didn't have. We're doing all the meds and oils we can do to try and get those ears draining! Hopefully she'll be on the mend soon. poor baby.

While Kenna slept on the couch, the 4 of us ate the food, and boy oh boy, was it ever goooooood! Apparently expensive cheese makes ALL the difference in the world!

So grateful these two little guys are best buddies and love hanging out together

And the sicky. Not a great way to spend your almost birthday, that's for sure. She's got cough drops, gingerale, Netflix, kleenex, a humidifier, a barf bucket - allergy meds, oils, and garlic and evoo for her ear. Lets hope all the efforts work fast!