Tales of a Tea Party

Mother's Day weekend was a busy one for all of us so although the girls got to see their grandmothers briefly that Sunday they weren't able to shower them with true Mother's Day specialness.

(Though I'm quite certain Mookie and Nana would say just getting a hug and kiss from these girls was more than enough specialness!)

Instead the girls presented invitations to a Mother's Day tea the following week.

Monday morning they got right to work - mixing and rolling...

Cutting out cookies

(Of course they chose the princess cookie cutters!)...

Icing cookies oh so perfectly....

Icing Mama's table, too....

Eating runaway sprinkles

(It's a hard job but someone has to do it!)...

By the end of the day we had a plate full of beautiful cookies!

The girls were SO proud and coud not wait for their tea party to commence!

Finally, the time arrived!

Piper helped set the table.

The bouquet in the middle is actually a science experiment but I'll share that with you later!

It made the perfect centerpiece to our table.

Piper picked out the table cloth - bright red, please and thank you!

And she used her tea set plates as well as the tea cups and pot for her and Tait to pour their own 'tea'.

Here's our little tea party with Mookie, Gran Nana and Nana:

This is my place setting.

Adorable, right?

The girls also made fingerprint hearts on those little easels for each grandmother.

It was so sweet how Piper and Taitum were able to put all the effort into spoiling their grandmothers!

I think both parties were delighted!

I NEVER thought I'd say this but tea parties are fun!

Before having 3 girls, tea parties were the last thing I was interested in.

Now I'm on the lookout for some real china tea cups!

Haha!

I do believe many more tea parties are in our future!

For My Mom

I think I surprised everyone, including myself, when I became a mother.
I took the role on with not just excitement but ability.
And although the task of mothering three girls is daunting, it doesn't scare me.
In fact, I delight in getting to be Piper, Taitum and Renly's Mommy!

I've since wondered how that happened exactly.
I certainly wasn't prepared for what motherhood would entail.
Was it just instinctively ingrained in me?
Like something switched on the moment I popped a baby out that caused me to be passionate about and capable of raising them?

I remember walking through the mall as an 8 or 9 year old girl.
My Mom, brother and I were on a mission for rubber boots.
I was old enough to be aware that we didn't have a whole lot of money.
And smart enough to realize the money my Mama pulled out to pay for our new boots was gift money given to her for a birthday or some such event.

"You're using your birthday money, Mom?", I asked incredulously.
"Yes.", she replied.
"But Mom, you're supposed to buy yourself something with that money!"
Her answer: "But you need boots."
Simple as that.

What was so logical to her seemed outright ridiculous to my young mind.
But then does a mother's heart ever really make sense?

How she would sing a requested rendition of "Baby Tender Love" at the end of a long, tiring day?
How she'd choose to stay home even though it might have made more financial sense to go to work?
How she wouldn't laugh at the hamster's funeral but take it all seriously and then haul out the egg dying kit to help heal our grieving hearts?
Or how she would scrounge up enough money to buy me the name brand jeans I had to have in order to 'be cool' (and which I inevitably would end up finding uncomfortable and not wear)?
How she'd agree to spend hours upon endless hours sewing together a wedding dress for a strong headed twenty year old who knew what she wanted and wasn't about to change her mind on a single thing?
How she would gladly get roped into all the projects that resulted from a hyper active nesting preggo?
Or how she would wait and grit her teeth and cry beside said preggo as she brings forth new life over and over again?
None of it makes a whole lot of sense until...

I became a Mom, too.

And yes, maybe some of it is maternal instinct.
But most of it is from having grown up next to a serving, giving, sacrificial and loving example.
Little did my Mama know.
With each memory she made, each thing she gave up to provide for us, each opportunity she took to help and hold, she was teaching me to be a good Mom to my girls.

Thanks, Mama, for this gift.
I love you.

This post is my gift to my Mom and part of the 1000 Moms Project.

Mother's Day Recap

How was your Mother's Day?

Mine was so very relaxing!

But I'll tell you about that in a second!

First, let me share what Piper and I did for our beloved Nana, Mookie and Gran Nan!

(In case, you're worried that Taitum got left out, you should know, all Mother's Day crafting was left until the day before. At nap time. Partying will do that.)

Pipey worked very intently on creating a lovely flower adorned card for each grandmother.

Then she and I assembled these pretty little Mother's Day flower brooches!

Here is Nana and Gran Nan wearing theirs! Don't they look fantastic?!

My main contribution in helping celebrate the lovely ladies in our lives was these framed silouettes!

They turned out a billion times better then I thought they would! It was the first time I 'd ever used an exacto knife so I made sure to have a back-up plan (and loads of bandaids at hand!) but in the end there were no dire emergencies or feelings of failure! Yay for homemade gifts working out! And the grandmothers all loved them!

Now, about my special day - it actually began the night before when I got to pick out any movie I wanted (so of course I got a super girly one!) and before going to bed my baby girl came waddling out with a big bag of my favorite chips! Chips that I love so much that I try to avoid them at all costs lest they magically disappear....

Except when its my day! Yum yum yum!

 Then the next morning I got to sleep in (again. Matt gave me 2 sleep ins!!)  I woke up to the smell of apple crisp baking and coffee brewing! I was informed that I was to do nothing for the day (um, ok!) and the girls gave me some lip gloss (compliments of Piper, the lip gloss queen) and a gift certificate for an eyebrow wax, my most favorite aestetic thing ever!

I was one delighted Mama.

And then I opened the card that they made for me.

And I cried.

Yup, I pulled the blubbering Mama on Mother's Day morning.

The kids didn't seem to notice.

Pipe was too busy demanding I try my new lip gloss.

And Taitum was a little distracted with trying to escape the high chair.

But my hubby saw and understood.

I am moved by the simple acts of kindness my little family shows me.

Reminding me that I am loved and cherished and never overlooked.

Not just on Mother's Day

But everyday!