A Grand Affair

It was most definitely a grand affair...for us.  A proper tea party of sorts thrown by the hostess with the mostest, Perfect Pink Polkadot Princess Sara, in honor of her glorious birthday.  And why not throw a party with tea and scones and hats?  We aren't heathens!

I have to confess, I googled "tea party etiquette" before writing this blog post and discovered, as I really already knew, that we did not, in fact, have anything close to a proper tea party.  So let's call this the Midwestern Proper Tea, shall we?  The kind in which you lick your fingers and laugh too loud, while your children eat too much chocolate and run about screaming.  Why yes, the perfect Kansas tea.

 

Rose helped Aunt Sara in the kitchen, while Mommy and Monga did everything wrong that was requested of them by the party princess.

 

Yes, Rose was a big help, but she did abandon her aunt once it was time to get ready for the party.

 

Rose looked radiant and proper in all her froufrou.

The guests started arriving with their delightful hats and children.  It was lovely.

Ammy Alice with Cale, Bo with Jordan, Katie with Ammy.

 

 We had such a splendid time.

 

A proper splendid time, that is.

 

What a marvelous table Princess Sara set up for us, with treats and sweets galore.  Why, it was absolutely lovely.

 

"Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things." -Chaim Potok

 

Rose was just a precious as can be, giving gentle kisses to baby Jordan.

 

Everyone was proper and happy, delighting in their lovely tea.

Even Cale was a perfect gentleman.

But then.

Whose filthy child is this?  How improper.

They all ate the chocolate though.  The children, that is.  And it led to this.

That's right, it was the chocolate's fault and had nothing to do with the lack of adult supervision.  Oh, and don't let this picture fool you, Miss Lily was there, oh yes.  In fact, it was probably her idea.

Then it got worse.  These horribly obscene women started cackling in the living room.

Lovely ladies, come along and join us.

 

How totally improper.

August at Home

For a few weeks, Firefighter Dale made it his mission to put out the fires in our backyard.  Somehow the same three trees kept catching fire, and Dale was called to the scene to extinguish the flames.

 

I am kinda digging this backlit photo.

Rose kept close to me, knowing that Dale wouldn't dare get his Mommy wet for fear of hose and/or lollipop banishment.

 

But Dale was getting braver with the hose.  He was no longer a firefighter.  He was evil tiger Dale with water fighting machine.

 

 

Apparently Dale has figured out a way around the "No spraying Rose with the hose" rule.

 

He's not spraying at her, he's spraying near her.

He finally couldn't stand it anymore and got his poor sister good with the water.

Time to go inside!

 

Once we had all settled down, I knew it was time to break out our new watercolors.  Dale and Rose agreed.

 

They were both very hard at work, trying to figure out how to balance the water and paint.

I was dying over the cuteness of little hands hard at work.

 Things went great for about five minutes.  Then Rose started doing this:

 

This is Dale's "serious" face.  Also, don't you just love his little freckle?

Dale got bored with the watercolors quickly and wanted markers instead.  I obliged and somehow managed to get him to write!  Here is Dale's very first written name.

Ta-da!

 

And finally, here are a few videos of my children hanging out at home...

 

 

 

Balls and Bubbles

The morning after cousin Stefanie's wedding, we had a few hours to spend chilling with Grandma in the backyard.  Dale loved playing baseball with his Grandma.

 

I think Grandma loved it too.

 

Rose didn't spend much time playing baseball, but she did enjoy licking rocks and blowing bubbles.

 

After we left Grandma and Grandpa's house that morning, we had other fun encounters.

 

There was an awesome painted alley...

 

And a yummy pizza place...

Pizza makes my kids very happy.

Pizza also makes my kids very messy.  And yes, this is Rose's "smile" lately.  I guess I deserve it after laughing so hard at Lily when she went through this phase.

 

Stefanie and Andy's Wedding

The day of Stefanie and Andy's wedding was a beautiful one.  There was a friendly breeze, and the heat seemed to chill out a bit just for the day.  It was marvelous.

 

Going to weddings isn't easy when you have children, but we still hung in there, and our kids did the best they could.  They looked so darn cute in their fancy schmancies, and even though Dale was hot, he suffered along with the rest of the big boys in order to look "cool."

 

 

It's important to bring your flashlight to a wedding.  You just never know.

 

While the ceremony quietly went on in the front of the church...

 

 

There was a lot of this going on way way back in the back, where the naughty Garners were sitting.

 

It's impossible for us to sit still.

 

Congratulations Stefanie and Andy!

 

Yes, I get in the photographer's way to get my pictures.  I'm that person.

 

 

This is as good as we can do for family portraits.

 

Rose is crying and Dale is touching himself.  Yep, that's us.

 

Stefanie was radiant and beaming with happiness, and both Stefanie and Andy wore huge smiles the whole day.  They were truly a happy couple enjoying the moment.

 

Stefanie's bouquet was a piece of art, with family heirlooms and beautiful trinkets adorning the flowers.

LOVE the picture on the right.  Just love it, love it, love it.  Although, I have no idea what Stefanie is laughing at.  She's clearly drunk.

Matthew, Mary.

Robert, Annie, Mark.

Aunt Paula, Aunt Mary.

Aunt Barbara, Aunt Liane.

 

Patrick, Tom.

 

Britney and Scott.

 

The cake was divine, the flowers were exquisite, and the napkin said "Have a 'brew' and let the good times 'flo.'!"

A whole bunch of cousins.

While the ten hours of speeches went on inside, Max and Matthew were kind enough to entertain Dale and Rose with their seriously cool dance moves and poses.

 

Then there was dancing.

 

Phil and Stefanie.

 

 

And then the real party started.  You know, the one that involves funny kids and intoxicated adults making fools of themselves on the dance floor.

 

Dale aspires to dance just like Matthew.

 

My kids had a great time at the wedding reception.  Dale cried when we had to leave, and Rose was in a dance party coma.  So.  Who's next?