Are you being served?

For her sixth birthday, Katie wanted to have a tea party and I have to admit I was totally excited. Who doesn't love a tea party? We pulled out all the stops, making hats, applying make-up and hiring a British servant for the night to explain the rules of a tea party and serve all those lovely delicacies (okay, I was the servant, but I was quite proper-no rubbish, you know). With that in mind, enjoy her pictures along with a few quotes I've found about tea.

“Come oh come ye tea-thirsty restless ones - the kettle boils, bubbles and sings, musically”

“Polly put the kettle on, we'll all have tea”

“Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors.”

“There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea”

“Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage.”

“May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you and all your heart might desire.”

“Tea pot is on, the cups are waiting, Favorite chairs anticipating, No matter what I have to do, My friend there's always time for you”

“Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.”

Halloween

I hope you all had a happy Halloween. For us, it started on October 1st with decorating and delivering cookies to our friends on holiday plates. It's been a fun month and it went quickly. The kids were invited to a birthday party where they were asked to dress up, so they broke out their costumes early. Here we have an angry alligator (that gator is easily put out these days), a fairy and our favorite witch. Colored hairspray was important this year.

The eldest informed me that when she turns eighteen, she would dye her hair pink. Rebellion started in the womb with that girl. When I told her that she should color it for Halloween, she gave me a shocked look and asked if I would really let her do that. When I said that I wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise, it was a joyful moment and I haven't heard a word about when she turns eighteen since then.

This costume was actually mine when I was little and my 'bama' had made it for me. It was fun to see one of my kids in it as I can remember trick or treating in my great grandparents neighborhood and wearing it. Afterward, I'd go back to their house, dump out my candy and organize it into piles of 3 musketeers, reeses, etc. It makes me think that somewhere, my great grandparents were smiling watching my son wear it.

I have the cutest Han Solo, don't I? Originally, I wanted us to be Lily and Herman Munster, but there's always next year. Nate is young enough that he wanted to be a part of our cool group, so he dressed as Luke.

On Halloween, Nate was a clone. By the way, it was nippy noodles out there. We should have dressed for the ice planet of Hoth (a.k.a Norway). Our neighbors invited us over for a party before trick or treating and then out we all went. We zipped around the neighborhood for an hour, then we came home. Seth built a fire, I made tea and the kids dumped out their candy and organized it into little piles. I watched them and smiled, remembering my own little piles.

How was your Halloween?

My birthday lasted a week!!

I have perfected a system wherein my birthday lasts a week. How? I'll tell you. First, we go to Pennsylvania for a weekend for an Arts Festival that my mom, sister and I attend every year. We eat yummy gyros and truffles. Sometimes we buy artsy stuff too. Meanwhile, my dad, Seth and the kids go to Pumpkinville. I went to Pumpkinville every year as a child, though it is way cooler now.

There were no cow rides when I was growing up. Or pumpkin donuts. I love that my kids get to go the same place I went as a child.

The first time we measured Kylie against this pumpkin she was 16 months old.

As part of my extended birthday we went back to State College to visit. It was so wonderful to be back. This is Kylie's old school.

Our great friends, the Waynes, invited us to dinner. We all enjoyed being back at our old home.
We had to visit Seth's Alma mater, and no trip would be complete without a photo with the Nittany Lion.

Since we hadn't driven enough already, we spent part of Columbus Day visiting friends in Hershey and a few tours through Chocolate World. We ended up driving 1200 miles over 4 days.

We took the tour about four times. Something interesting happens when you smell chocolate for over an hour--you don't feel hungry for it anymore. Therefore, my hypothesis is that I'd be much thinner if we lived in Hershey or worked in a chocolate factory.

My gurlz

My birthday ended yesterday when me and my friend, Deborah, visited Salem. We had such a fun time.

Yup, I got to see the House of the Seven Gables. I think I'm going to have to reread Hawthorne as I read this book in the seventh grade.

She's real, people!

The final thing we did before we left Salem was watch a mock trial using the transcripts from the 1692 trials. It was sad. Truly sad. This woman was accused of witchcraft by one of her servants and would've been hanged except that she was pregnant. The hysteria ended before she gave birth and therefore wasn't put to death. But a lot were.

Whazz up?

Okay, for some reason I was weird about this book. Despite the fact that I have loved every book Stephenie Meyer wrote, I didn't think I would like this one. I loved this novella and the perspective that it provided into Eclipse. The funniest thing is for each copy of this book she sells, she's giving a dollar to the Red Cross. He-he. That kills me.

Our 1997 Nissan Altima has been stranding us off and on for awhile now. We loved this car, her name was Sally. Like Lightening McQueen's girlfriend. You know, the Porsche? Well, they were both bluish and that was all that mattered when Nate fell in love with that movie. RIP, Sally.

This is our new Honda Civic. It doesn't have a name yet, but when that changes I'll let you all know.
The project that never ends. Sorry about the crooked shot, but you get the point. WE FINISHED THE FRONT. Sort of. We still have to do the door/frame and put up the black shutters. But still. It's progress people. Hope you have a great week!

September

September is that magical month where children in Little Rhodey go back to school. This year, Katie started Kindergarten and Kylie entered third grade. Both girls like their teachers and are doing well. Kylie brought home a note on Friday asking that we get her eyes checked. She's thrilled. She wants glasses. Who knew?

Katie was so excited on the first day that by the time I'd gotten up she was dressed (with shoes) eating her breakfast.

We've also started painting our house. Whose horrible idea was that, you ask? Erm, it might have been mine. But anywho, we've got great little helpers.

We started on the back of the house and everyone was part of the scraping for the first day.

Don't you love the goggles?

Now we're working on the front of the house. We've had to cut down most of our bushes and have stepped on the rest. We'll figure that out later, but the color on top Spanish Moss is our new and improved look. I'm also taking two classes at RIC, so I've been feeling super busy.

On another note, Nate has started dressing himself for Sundays. I didn't used to let him because he wanted to wear holey jeans or sweatpants, but I think he's got the idea now. In his words, I look like a little Daddy.

Snap shot of a summer.

We've had a LOT of crazy things happen this summer...starting with these 11 babies born to the "sister" hamsters we got from the neighbors. They were really cute, but no.

We were so lucky to get a visit from some of our State College friends before they move to Malawi, Africa. Here they are at the zoo.


This is the day of Kylie's baptism. I can't tell you what an amazing experience that was for our family. We were so happy to have both sets of grandparents with us for that special day.

Kylie wanted a low-key party-love that girl. So she had a Nancy Drew party. Here are some of the detectives.

I'm only showing the gifts because she got so many books. It warms the heart. It really does.

One of the things we did while the grandparents were visiting was take them to Newport on the Cliffwalk where the Vanderbilts, Astors, etc. built their summer homes.

We also visited the Museum of Natural History when we took Seth's parents to New York City.

Nate has moved from a toddler bed to a twin bed and therefore got his room painted. He decided on 100 acre sky and...(drum roll) Cars bedding again. He loves that car with all of his little man heart.


What have you been doing this summer?