A Ladies Tea Party

At Christmas this past year, all the little girls in our family received some matching, fun dress up pieces from Aunt Susan & my cousin Sami:  a leopard print shrug (?), a black headband and black sparkly purse.  So cute.  Immediately, my mom said "Wouldn't it be fun to have them all wear them together and have a tea party?"  Well, all of the girls' birthdays fall in mid to late spring, so mom thought we should try to plan it in May sometime to fall in between the birthdays.  She looked into it and decided to make a reservation at Clara J's Tea Room in Maumee.  It really wasn't intended to be a Mother's Day thing, but it was the perfect outing for Mother's Day weekend!

The girls wore dresses and brought fancy hats and then we just took pictures afterward with their black dress up apparel.  :) 

We tried a couple of different teas (with our pinkies held up, or course) and had dainty lunches served to us.  Sophie was a bit ornery and we were all a little worried to be in such fragile surroundings with these little girls, but it was a fun and memorable morning and we all had a great time.

Somehow, this is the only picture I have of Casey, Mya & Stella.  Not sure how that's possible!  But I think I was just trying to make sure nothing broke and they were seated at the other end of the table. 

My cousin, Molly, and her daughter, Cora.

Also, my cousin Abbey was there with us.  :)

I'm looking more cowboy-ish in a too-small, child's hat... but Sophie insisted on wearing the red one and that I wear hers. Hence the orneriness I mentioned earlier.

Haha!

The pretty & dainty food presentation was so cute.

Future photographer.

Soph and I walked around the rest of the house, which was partially set up as a gift shop.  Such a cute place!  A little bit "foo foo", but that's part of the fun.  :)

There are a lot of these.  The girls were getting antsy and probably a little sleepy.  But they're cute!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was busier than I would have preferred, but we did get to see both our mothers and my grandma (as well as sisters and aunts) so that was nice.

Mom and Casey and I got out on Friday of that weekend for a girls night to celebrate our motherhood.  :)  We made a trip to The Buckle at Fallen Timbers and all shopped for a new pair of jeans.  I'll tell you what... the girls that work there are denim geniuses.  They know WAY more about the perfect fit of jeans than I ever would have expected!  We all came away successful (Woot! Woot!) and had a lot of great help in making our selections.  Hooray for great new jeans!  After our shopping trip (which also included a visit to Charming Charlie) we had dinner at Granite City. My fish tacos and pomegranate margarita were fantastic!  Yum!

On Sunday, grandma invited everyone over for lunch and nearly all my extended family came.

We took some pictures outside and I was laughing in this picture at the way Craig was standing (with one foot on the sidewalk and one on the side of the house sort of leaning over a bush) just to take this straight on.  ;-)

A goofy pose with my sibs and mama.  ;)

Happy Mother's Day to our beautiful, awesome mom!!

This is the best I could get with my own kiddos.  And they barely sat still long enough for this!

My Goddaughter Stella gave me a very sweet card and even a gift card!  Wow!  Thank you, Stella!

After lunch and visiting (and no nap for kids, of course), we stopped at Craig's parent's house to visit with them for a bit.  Grandma had just purchased these roller racer toys so Will and I tested them out.  :)

Reminds me of these pictures from a few years ago (May '09) shortly after Sophie was born when Will and I had some fun with some other hand-me-down toys that were given to us.  I just can't seem to grow up, can I?  ;)

He was having more fun "pushing" me than riding.

Weee!

While we were there, we hopped in the back of Craig's truck and took a ride (just through the field) out to what Craig fondly refers to as "the triangle" (a ~5 acre triangular piece of land framed by a triangle of trees) where we will one day build our forever house.

It's a field right now and will remain that way until we're ready to build.  One day it will happen.  We'll get there.  Craig likes to come out here and daydream about where the house will set and how the driveway will run along side the line of trees and cross a small bridge over the crick before meeting the road about 1/4 mile away.

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but we've had plans drawn (and frequently tweaked) since before we were married.  I'm so grateful that we've had the time to really live together and think through what aspects of a "dream home" are important to us.

I'm in no hurry to move forward with this.  I LOVE our little home.  But it is fun to daydream and think toward the future.  And some day we'll be ready.

My favorite thing about this spot is the quiet.  It's the same at Craig's parent's house and his sister's farm.  Just so peaceful. 

The tree lines are beautiful too, although there are many ash trees that need to be cut down because of the emerald ash borer that have brought disease to so many ash trees in Ohio.  We're hoping to plant more trees along the triangle (before we even get to building) to keep the "frame" thick with trees.

On that note, my father in law bought me an apple tree for mother's day!  :)  We're going to plant it along the triangle instead of at our current house in hopes that we get to enjoy it there in a few years.

I also got a cute card and sweet, stone plaque with a saying about motherhood from my in-laws that I'll post once I hang it.

Other Mother's Day lovelies:

A homemade vase from my preschooler.

And a suncatcher that the kids made with our babysitter.

This keychain was also made at the babysitter, but Sophie brought it home only to insist that it's "hers".  So... we're sharing.  Haha!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!