Mad Hatter Tea Party

My amazing friend Laura took pictures at Ashni's birthday party. Her eye is SO much better than mine. I really appreciate it Laura. Here is her view of Ashni's Mad Hatter tea party:

"Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin," thought Alice; "but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!"

The decorations were so whimsical!

Everything was so colorful.

March Hare: Have some wine.

(Alice looks around and sees no wine, only tea.)
Alice: I don't see any wine.
March Hare: There isn't any.
Alice: Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it.
March Hare: It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited.

But this was no ordinary mad tea party...

... it was a birthday (mad) tea party. Or was it an un-birthday?

Alice wasn't fortunate enough to have her very own chair at the Mad Hatter's tea party.

Queen of Hearts: Who's been painting my roses red? Who's been painting my roses red? Who dares to taint with vulgar paint the royal flower bed? For painting my roses red someone will lose his head.

There was tea and terrariums.

And adorable little mushrooms.

"It was all very well to say `Drink me,' but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry. `No, I'll look first,' she said, `and see whether it's marked "poison" or not'; for she had read several nice little histories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they would not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your finger very deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked `poison,' it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later."

Fortunately, this bottle was labeled "Pellegrino," so Ashni was more than happy to take a sip... or five.

Alice: If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?

In other words, there were rocks... chocolate rocks.

Yum!

"Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words `EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants. `Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, `and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!'

"She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, `Which way? Which way?', holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing, and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size: to be sure, this generally happens when one eats cake, but Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way.

"So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake."

Of course, it wouldn't be a mad tea party without hats.

Much better

Time to eat...

And drink tea...

While wearing hats.

And dads rejoiced

But better than scavenger hunts, and hats, and juice, and chocolate rocks, and cake, and hummus sandwiches, and Pellegrino - yes, even Pelligrino - were friends.

Shy friends.

Baby sister friends

And mommy kisses.

And make believing.

"Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said: 'one can't believe impossible things.'

'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

And bubble blowing.

And an abundance of birthday smiles.

The King: ...go on till you come to the end: then stop.

Thank you, Laura, for capturing our day so well. We could not have asked for a better afternoon. AND after two days off from school, I think I am finally recouperated. Whew! No more birthdays until August...