Impomptu Tea Party

On Saturday morning of Grammie's visit, and after we went to the farmer's market, Grammie and Arabella hosted an impromptu tea party. Grammie had planned the whole thing and surprised Arabella with all the fixings of a tea party, including fancy hats that she made and brought with her! It was so adorable to see Arabella and Grammie setting up fr the party. We had table cloths, fine china and tea cups and yummy food. Even Grandma Kay, Jay and Maxton joined in the fun!

Such a pretty table!

Love, love, love Maxton in his adorable hat from Carrie in Montreal! How stinking cute does he look in it!

And Arabella loved her hat too! She looks so beautiful in hats!

We had so much fun and enjoyed all our delicious food. The pink lemonade was perfect and the sour cream pound cake that cost $13 from the farmer's market was well worth it! It was a great morning! Thank you Grammie for planning such a surprise, we loved it and can't wait until we can have another one with you!

Independence Day Weekend

We had a great 4th of July weekend despite the off and on stormy, rainy and humid weather! Mom and Grandma Kay drove up from Florida to spend the long weekend with us. Arabella was soooooo excited to have Grammie here for a visit. She couldn't stand waiting all day and when she saw her in the driveway, she just ran right to her and gave her the biggest hug...it was so sweet! Our weekend was very low key. We enjoyed spending time together which is what holidays are all about. Jay got into the spirit by showing his colors for Canada on the 4th of July...he joked that it was the right color so that made it OK!

Max has found his feet and thinks they taste yummy!

Mom, Arabella and I went to the Waxhaw fireworks. It was fun and they were pretty nice. We just wished they had started them earlier because we ended up getting rained on and having to leave before they were finished. Arabella was so excited to see them and there is just something about fireworks that I love. It must have something to do with all the Summers spent at the beach in Westbrook and the fireworks there. The 4th of July was such a big deal and we celebrated like there was no tomorrow...I sure miss those days.

Arabella even had her very 1st sparklers! She was a bit afraid at first but once she got the hang of them she loved them! I love sparklers too...so much fun!

And then, because we live in the South and Jay wanted to be like the rest of our neighbors and light off fireworks in the street and he thought it would be fun, he decided to light off an old flare that he had and wasn't sure if it was good anymore. Seriously...so WT!

Max and Grammie had fun playing with all the toys and being silly on the front porch in the rain. And Max got into eating his pears!

And Grammie introduced Arabella to a fun American game and something that I consider "Southern" - Corn Hole. I had never even heard of it until I met Jay so it could also be Midwestern...we never played it growing up in New England. It is a lot of fun and it is too bad it was raining so much, but we made the best of it and played a modified version of it on the front porch. We all had a lot of fun and boy is Arabella competitive. She loves to win!

We had a great weekend and are very thankful that Grammie and Grandma Kay joined us to celebrate the 4th of July. Happy Independence Day!

Burning Off Energy!!

This is about as close to a trampoline as we will ever get in our yard. I found it very, very reasonably priced at a kid's consignment store and it is a great way for Arabella to burn off her energy. She was super excited when she found it at the store and I was hesitant at first since even this small of one can be pretty dangerous, but she is pretty good at knowing the rules. I guess it helps that she is used to the trampoline at gymnastics. She has a lot of fun and will spend what seems like hours just jumping away on it. And that is all that matters!

Mr. Maxton

Trying to escape from his seat!

Wearing a "hand-me-down" hat that Uncle Mike used to wear at the beach!

Yummy pears!

Fairy Garden

Arabella has been interested in fairy's lately due in part to a book that we read at bedtime called "Ten Little Fairies". She and I have been having fun learning about them.  We both think that fairies are in her bedroom at night helping her to be safe while she sleeps.  There has been magical and sparkly fairy dust on her head board in the morning and she has written the fairies a letter. And they even wrote back and brought her a fairy garden to make for them. She was so excited...what a fun Summer project...and she was even more excited to do it with Grammie during her visit! He has been growing up a storm and we found fairy dust on it one morning this week!

After a few days growing!

Young & Old

Last weekend, when Mom and Grandma Kay visited for the 4th of July, I snapped these pictures of them holding hands.  I'm not sure what it is about the pictures, but I really like them.  I just wish the second one wasn't so blurry.

Thursday's Thoughts

Hearing: Thunder and the down pours of rain.

Seeing: A water logged yard that we want to play in.

Tasting: Fresh asparagus.

Smelling: The Southern humidity after the rain.

Feeling: Very, very sleepy.