Photos etc. from Tara's birthday - or, "fake" birthday

The day started off with presents...

"Fiddler on the Roof" gift set with DVD, soundtrack and music book. Actually the story behind this is, on Friday morning Tara told me, "I think I'll ask Mom if we can go to the library and get Fiddler on the Roof to watch tonight." But Mom had already bought it so she went to the store for groceries and Tara asked her to pick it up. Mom was in a bit of a pickle so she told Tara they didn't have it, and then went and grabbed the one she bought and gave it to her, saying she didn't like to lie to her, so happy early birthday. :-) Then for a joke we wrapped it and gave it to her again on Saturday!

An assortment of chatelaine accessories...

Isabella Alden books - lots of them - both from me and mom & dad

A beautiful "Beatrix Potter" style walking suit

And the crowning glory - a lovely antique music stand. There is a story behind this too. A few months ago we went to a tea room with two of our friends, the Chidlows and Mrs. Linhart. After tea we strolled through a charming antique/victorian gift shop (where I could easily have spent hundreds of dollars if I had hundreds of dollars with me). Tara saw this beautiful stand and loved it and was going back & forth over whether to buy it or not. While she was in another part of the store, mom stealthily paid for it and Mrs. Linhart hurried it out into the Chidlow's car. After that, Tara decided to buy it but lo! it was gone. She told me, "Kathryn, some lady came and bought it!" Hehehe... that "some lady" was Mom. :-) So Tara was very very surprised to find this by the piano on Saturday!

I guess she likes it!

Then Tara made 3 chocolate chip cheesecakes for Sunday, when we had company over. Yum!

And we ate her requested birthday lunch, crockpot stroganoff...

And after some other very birthday-ish festivities such as shoveling the driveway and stacking firewood :-), we headed out for the evening. First stop was Emily's winter voice recital where Tara played the role of accompanist once again for a song titled "Batti Batti." Second stop was dinner out with Aunty Lulu.

This video was taken of Emily and Tara's warm up, which explains why Emily is wearing a knit scarf with her lovely sparkling pink gown, and why Emily gives Tara a thumbs-up at the end of the video. :-)