laura ingalls party

this morning miriam and i hosted a few of her friends for a "laura ingalls tea". for almost two years now, daddy has been reading her the Little House books at bedtime, and now that they are approaching the end of the last book, miriam asked if she could have a party to celebrate completing the series. most of the girls dressed up and brought along their favorite horse to play with. i had them help me roll and shape dough for cinnamon raisin bread, and then while their loaves baked, they played, we read a Little House story, and then they drew pictures inspired by the story. i also found a Little House songbook and cassette at the library, so we had songs like "pop goes the weasel" and "yankee doodle" playing in the background. i think the girls had a good time and thoroughly enjoyed their hot chocolate "tea". :) (pictured below: elise, miriam, grace, carly)

the only thing that distracted slightly from the ambiance was the lingering aroma of burnt plastic... after preheating the oven just before the girls arrived, we discovered the remains of levi's play from the day before--baking some pretend food in mommy's real oven!