Christmas Tea

For the past several years, I've attended a Christmas Tea at a local church. Brenna has come with me three years now. This year's theme was "Celebrating the Gift".

They go all out decorating the sanctuary:





Here is a centerpiece:



They serve a wonderful tea. This year's menu included:

Cranberry Apple Scone with Devonshire Cream
Smoked Salmon Mousse in Cucumber Boat
Beef Canape with Dijon on Pumpernickel Bread
Stuffed Cherry Tomato with Ham Salad
Rosemary Chicken & Spinach Pinwheel
Green Chili & Black Olive Pinwheel
Parmesan Cheese Straw
Star Fruit with Pomegranate Seeds
Peppermint Twist Cheesecake Bite
Truffles
English Tea or Cider


Here's a picture of the food:



I was proud of Brenna for trying a bite of everything. I think the only things she didn't like were the scone (can you imagine?? oh well -- I got to eat hers, too) and the beef canape.

We attended this year with my good friend Rachel and her daughter Anna. Here's the girls at the table:



Here they are in one of the decorated areas:

Showing off their fancy dresses:

After we eat, they put on a wonderful program. Our pastor's wife speaks and inbetween each portion of her talk, the band comes out and sings.

It's always a lovely time and even more memorable now that my daughter can go with me.

Saturday

This morning Scott took Conner to a nearby town's festival to get shots for his dog. They offer them for a very small fee.

Meanwhile, I took the other kids to a church garage sale. There we met our friends to swap kids. They took our daughter home to play with their daughter and we took their 2 boys. We drove back to get Scott and Conner and spent some time at the festival. The boys participated in a few of the activities but it got very hot so we headed home.

Josiah trying out the Fireman course, spraying a hose

Joshua bouncing down the slide

Conner and Aiden building a wooden racecar

At home, they spent the time alternating between the small pool, trampoline and GameCube. I

I have to say, for having a total of 6 boys around today, it was pretty quiet.

In the evening, we met for dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory to switch kids back. We haven't been here for a few years and forgot how much we enjoy it. It is set in an old cable car building and furnished with wonderful, old pieces of furniture. For a very reasonable price, you get a salad, entree, bread, drink and dessert. And it's yummy!

Norbert and Rachel

It was a fun, busy day.

those summer days

In the summer, we try to get together with friends once a week or so. We've had a great time this summer: swimming, going to the movies, the museum, the Butterfly Pavilion. But alas, our friends must return to school next week. So we had one final outing today to the APEX Center. They have a great swimming pool, with two large slides and a water playground.

Everyone had a great time. I took Zane in the small pool with me and he loved it. But he wore himself out:

Now it's time to focus on curriculum and scheduling our fall activities.

Free Summer Fun

Today we took advantage of one of the free movies several of our nearby theaters offer during the summer. Then the kids played in the fountains.

Tea

Today, Brenna and I attended a birthday party for my friend's daughter. It was held at the cutest little British tearoom, called The House of Windsor. They really gave you a lot of food with their "Full Afternoon Tea". The girls couldn't eat half of what was on their plate.

My favorite is always the scones. I bought a mix to bring home, and a jar of their Devonshire Cream. Yum!!


Thanks, Rachel, for the fun afternoon.

Butterflies

Today, we went with friends to the Butterfly Pavilion. We haven't gone in a few years, since Aiden was an infant. So he was excited. I wasn't sure how he'd be about their resident tarantula, Rosie. But when asked if he wanted to hold her, he said "Sure" with no hesitation. He sure doesn't get that from me!! Brenna was a bit squeamish, but finally joined in. It didn't bother Conner a bit.

Then we moved on to much nicer things -- the butterflies. I have pictures from a visit in 2003 where me and the 3 older kids each had a butterfly land on us. And one even landed on Aiden who was a baby then. I showed them to Aiden last night, so he had in his mind that it would happen again.

He tried so hard to be still in the hopes one would alight on him. But although they seemed to like the heads of me, Conner and my friend Rachel, none landed on him. I promised another visit soon to try again.

This one liked Conner

Zane was fascinated by all the butterflies flitting about

With my friends' children Anna and Joshua