In Which We Celebrate a Special Birthday...

Birthday dressing and hair styling by Nancy... 

...And so sweet Miss Rebekah celebrated her sixth birthday amidst lovely gifts, dear people, pretty decor, flouncy princess dresses and delicious party food...

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Thank you, dear friends, for the gracious birthday wishes for my precious little sister, Rebekah!

She had a very special sixth birthday, and certainly one she will remember for many years to come...

Mommy wuth her precious little girl...

For weeks before her birthday, Rebekah asked for a princess party and a castle cake...

Nancy found a wonderful idea for the cake, and I baked it on Wednesday morning so that we could decorate it that evening when the girls were snuggled up in bed...

Big sister...little sister ~ Rebekah and I...

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It is a much loved tradition in our home that the birthday girl goes to be bed without catching a glimpse of what we are working on, and awakes the next morning to the wonderful surprise of her special birthday cake...

 

This time Nancy and I worked together to decorate her castle cake as it was a bit more intense and time-consuming than either of us had anticipated!

We had a lovely evening laughing and working on the cake together...  I also baked a few of the eats for the next day whilst we were in the kitchen.

We ended up finishing at 11pm, and just in case you are wondering, cake decorating is our forte and my mother has happily passed this job on to her older daughters who thoroughly enjoy the creative process...:)

We decided to colour the castle pink, with pretty flowers arranged on the light green grass...  

We used plastic icing for the outside of the cake, and a buttercream icing to join the two layers of rose-flavoured sponge cake together...

 

Mother-of-pearl food colouring was used for the turrets and to dust the steps leading to the castle...

Silver balls lined the pathway and added charm to the castle itself...I also cut out little dark pink windows and a big double door from plastic icing...

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We decided to do a very small party, only inviting one other family who have three girls, two of which are close in age to my younger sisters...

Nancy organised paper crowns for them to decorate...

Busy little hands...

...And I baked star shaped biscuits with Sofia and Rebekah for each little lady to decorate...

I made light pink and purple royal icing for them to use, and placed each biscuit on a popsicle stick before baking...

 

Then we enjoyed the delightful party!

Princess Sofia...

 Princess Gabrielle...

Simple crown shaped sandwiches...mini homemade chicken pies...devilled eggs and fresh juice were the simple refreshments, and of course there was cake!  

 Nancy decorated the living room so beautifully.  She hung a princess mosquito net up and strung pretty bunting across the room...the table was simply decorated, but the elegant touches she added were perfect!

Oh, and don't forget pink party balloons...

We played music from the new Cinderella soundtrack for all our princesses to enjoy, and much chatting and laughing could be heard from our home on Wednesday afternoon!

Once the guests had left, the girls and I ran around to tidy up and start supper which was homemade pizza, as requested by Rebekah...

After our lovely dinner, we cuddled up on the couch to look at photographs of Rebekah as a baby, and you can see many of them on my posts under the label 'Rebekah'...

Rebekah was the first baby to appear on my blog, and I have journaled her life from infant till now - it is very special to go back and see how she has grown!

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Thank you for visiting me today, sweet readers!

I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of this special birthday celebration...

The sun continues to shine after a week of heavy rains and stormy weather, so I hope to take photographs of all my recent projects to share in the upcoming week!

Have a blessed Saturday!

~  Our bodies are made of clay, yet we have the treasure of the Good News in them.  This shows that the superior power of this treasure belongs to God and doesn't come from us.  2 Corinthians 4:7 ~

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  This Post May be Shared with...

~ The Art of Homemaking Mondays, Roses of Inspiration, Wise Woman Link-Up, Raising Homemakers Link-Up and Modest Monday ~

A Little Princess Turns Six...

This precious little lady is celebrating her sixth birthday today...how time flies, my friends!

Surely it was just the other day I was writing of our great excitement concerning the new little life in my mother's womb...?  
I can remember the incredible joy and satisfaction in holding my darling baby sister for the first time; delighted by her every move, her chubby newborn face and utterly entranced by the noises she made...

It seems like the years have whisked by without us even realising it, and here sweet Rebekah is, six years old and a beautiful little maiden for the Lord Jesus!

I wrote a character sketch on Rebekah the other day for a school assignment, and I thought it would be lovely to share it with you so that you might be able to form a picture of her beautiful, unique personality...

Rebekah is the second youngest little girl in our home and a dearly loved sister, daughter and friend…

She emits love, acceptance, and sunshine wherever she goes.

At almost six years old, she has adorable red lips, like a rose that is yet to unfurl its delicate petals, and her skin is tanned light brown, changing to a darker hue in the summertime.

Her gorgeous brown hair is cut to shoulder length as she detests having her hair brushed, and knots and tangles don’t bother her as they do Mom.

Her slight lisp, cheerful little smile and soft dimples only add to her sweet personality, as does her infectious laugh.

We often call her ‘Madam Rebekah’, as she likes to assume lady-like airs, not out of vanity, however, and always chooses the dress that is both flouncy and puffy and also very regal looking.

She feels deeply and despite her sometimes obstinate nature, she has a teachable spirit and comes to realise her mistake far sooner than any of us ever have, humbly asking forgiveness and admitting wrong.  Likewise, she freely forgives those who have wronged her.

Rebekah is usually quite happy and contented in her own little world, only drawing in those persons she holds dear, or whom she has compassion on.

Unlike her sisters, she prefers to play quietly on her own with her precious soft toy leopard, Rory.  She treats him like a child, brushing his fur, giving him cuddles and tucking him up into bed at night, like the gentle soul that she is.

Often she will sit at the piano and compose a charming tune, quite unaware of anyone or anything, just so absorbed in the music she creates with the simple movement of her fingers.

Rebekah forms strong bonds with those she loves and is incredibly loyal.

Her caring and sensitive personality means she very quickly senses when someone is unhappy or in pain, and seeks to uplift their spirits with a giant hug, a picture she has drawn - and wrapped in numerous layers of paper and tied with the biggest ribbon she can find - or a note which one of her sisters has written for her as she is yet to learn how to read and write properly.

She is genuine and sincere in her affections and adds a very special and important dynamic to our family.

Dearest Rebekah...you are truly loved and adored, and we praise the Lord for placing you in our family!
We pray that your sixth birthday and seventh year of life is as special and beautiful as you, dear, beautiful princess for Jesus!

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Thank you for visiting today, sweet friends!  
Today is a day of celebration and thanksgiving, so I must be off as there are still plenty of things to be done before we can give Miss Rebekah her little birthday party...
I do hope you will stop by again for some birthday celebration fun coming soon!

~ Blessings ~

"...Children a reward from him..."  ~ Psalm 127:3

Rebekah on the beach.

Yesterday morning we went for a leisurely walk on the beach.  I took my new camera along to get to know it a bit more...  Here I just played around and snapped a few photographs of little Rebekah.   I thought she looked too adorable:)

Nature is Beautiful:)

Yesterday afternoon our family went to dear friends of ours for an afternoon braai (barbeque).  After lunch Nancy and I went for a walk with Aunty Anne-Marie to one of the dams on their farm.  Uncle Terence and Aunty Anne-Marie live on a beautiful farm a little way outside of Sedgefield where they grow their own food, raise most of their own meat and try to live a greener lifestyle.  We really enjoyed our time – walking, taking photographs and picking fynbos to fill our vases back home.

{I love this picture so much}

Nancy loves being in nature.  We call her our ‘flower girl’ as she just thrives in the fresh air and beauty of the outdoors!

The flower girls...me...

And beautiful Nancy!

We found so many different flowers and grasses!

...And lots of bugs:)

Nancy used Aunty Anne-Marie’s camera to take photographs of a few different flowers she had found.

Buta, their big dog, came along for the walk too.  I’m not much of a dog lover, yet Buta kept coming to me and getting in my way!  He really is very sweet, though!

Nancy and I – a ‘sister’ portrait!

While we were walking, Nancy kept calling me as I was at the back of our little procession all the time.  Maybe it was because I was taking photographs of the beautiful flowers or maybe because I’m terribly unfit...could be either one or both! Ha!

When we got back, we had dessert and rested a bit!  The three younger girls and I played outside taking photographs of each other.  The deal was ‘I take a photograph of you, you take a photograph of me’.  Everyone was more or less happy with that arrangement!

Beth age 7

Gabrielle age 4

Rebekah age 2

Beth took this photograph of me with Rebekah and Gabrielle.

Gabrielle ‘took’ this one...in other words I got it ready and handed the camera to her.  All she had to do was press click!

This photograph reminds me of Maria in the 'Sound of Music' singing ‘the Hills are Alive’!  I'm entering it into Silla Jo Photography for 'Inspired by a book or movie'.

These are my two gorgeous little sisters, who played their hearts out on the hilltop!

At the end of the photo session we were a bit dizzy:)

We had a lovely day:)

I also received this really lovely award from Se7en!!  

Thank you so much Se7en!

Blessings,

Kelly-Anne