Christmas Tea Party 2007

Yesterday our house was transformed. It is now decorated with leftovers from another successful Christmas tea party. Bits of feather boa adorn the carpet throughout our house. Our pantry and refrigerator are stacked high with uneaten tea party treats. If you want to stop by and stuff yourself silly with Christmas cookies and hors d'oeuvres, please do. We'd love to have you. Don't mind the mess. And...if you don't have appropriate attire, we have plenty to share. Hats, boas, frilly girly things, and even a pirate costume if girly-wear isn't really your style. :) Merry Christmas fellow bloggers!



My girl...My favorite tea party guest...










Here is Major in his tea party costume. He was part pirate, part gladiator. There wasn't enough room for the Maje at the girls' table, so he sat on the floor next to the fireplace. He had a little place card just like the girls, except that his place card was decorated with a picture of a pirate and a sword instead of red Christmas ribbons... I felt sad for him to be eating all alone, but he didn't seem to mind.



My sister, Tessa, and her friend, Ashlee, came to get the girls fancied up for the tea party. They put some sparkly makeup on the girls and put fancy jewelry on them. Mary Alice loved her new look. She even commented that her blue eyeshadow looked "just like Giada". I wish I had gotten a better picture of Tessa and Ashlee's beauty shop. The other ones were too blurry to use.:(







I read the Christmas story to the girls. Here they are, painting their edible Nativity scenes. Notice that they used animal crackers in their scenes. I think I saw a seal in one girls' scene. I am aware that seals were not a part of the Biblical account of Jesus' birth. Hopefully this inaccuracy didn't confuse anyone too badly.






Sweet tea party girls....(Notice Major on the sidelines...) Mary Alice's only regret about her tea party was that her "best friend" and second cousin, Megan, wasn't there. If only Megan lived closer!



Silly tea party girls....

Joys Of The Christmas Season

Right now, the kids and I are in the kitchen together, cooking sausage balls, decorating the table for Mary Alice's tea party tomorrow, and listening to some of our favorite Christmas music. What more can I ask for? Life is bliss.

My Little Giada

Today was Mary Alice's ballet class. Her teacher went around the room and asked each little girl what they would like for Christmas and what they were thankful for. The little girls each described one thing on their Christmas wish list. Most of them wanted some kind of a little horse that eats carrots. A few wanted dolls. When it was Mary Alice's turn, she described to the teacher how much she desperately wants this. The thing that my daughter wants more than anything is a pancake puff machine so she can make delicious puffy little pancakes to her heart's content. She told me that if she receives this pancake puff maker, she will definitely be making me breakfast each morning. Sounds pretty good, huh? I'm thinking for less than $20, I can cook one less meal each day.



My girl LOVES cooking. She would rather be cooking than doing nearly anything else. Another thing that she loves right now is the food network. Occasionally, we watch it together. We stayed up late the other night watching a Pie Making Championship. I think that fueled the desire for us to try our hand at a few pies. With the exception of the sour one that I described a few days ago, they have turned out alright. About the food network.... The chef that she loves more than anyone else is Giada on Everyday Italian. She thinks she is so beautiful and creative and wants to be a wonderful cook one day just like her. Anyway.... I bought something at a store the other day and received some free sample perfumes. Mary Alice smelled each scent until she found one that she really liked. She said, "This one smells SO good! You know, it smells just like something that Giada would wear!" So in case you're wondering... Japanese Cherry Blossom from Bath and Body Works will make you smell just like Giada. :)




One more thing.... I just remembered that I never showed you the puppets that the kids made. They had fun performing a puppet show for their Grumpy, Nonnie, Uncle Chad and Aunt Miranda on Thanksgiving. The puppets still had a few issues, just not nearly as many as the first puppets we made together.

Mary Alice's School Uniform

Signs of Early Dementia

Yesterday morning, during church, Mary Alice tapped me on the shoulder to inform me that I had accidentally left a sponge roller in her hair that morning. Here she is, with her hair beautifully fixed, with a bright yellow roller dangling off of the side of her head!

Today, Mary Alice and I were making rolls and apple pie. I got the idea of putting the rolls in the oven to warm. I turned the oven on at a low temperature, then turned it off, thus creating the perfect environment for my rolls to rise. Unfortunately, when I warmed the oven to bake my apple pies, I forgot that the rolls were still rising inside the oven. I turned the oven to 425 with the rolls still inside!!!! Thankfully, I remembered that the rolls were in the oven just in time. Only the edges of the towels that covered the rolls were singed. The rolls still turned out okay, but they almost didn't!!!


Tonight, while coming home from BUNCO, I turned the wrong way onto a one way street. Headlights were coming toward me....quickly. Not to worry....I thought fast and jumped across the median into the traffic that was going the right way.


Back to that pie I made earlier....This particular pie was made to accompany a dinner for a new mom. I made an identical one (dinner and pie) for our family. When I got home from BUNCO, I asked Josh how dinner was. He said that it was great, but that the pie was a little bit sour. I tasted it. A little bit sour??? That was definitely an understatement! A dinner meant to help out that poor new mom just might make her sick instead! I'm blaming it on the apples. With all that has happened over the past day or so, though, I think it might more likely be some mistake I made.

I hope tomorrow is a better day. I feel like I am losing my mind!!