Cousins Tea Party

     Today my sis-in-law, Amy, and I had a little miscommunication!  I thought we had a date to talk on the phone about an upcoming double-birthday party and she thought we had a date to meet at my house!  I had 10 minutes notice before she got here and Sarah, Dan and I went into 10,000 troop army action!!!  We sweeped through every room of the house where nobody was napping and tidied it up like a bunch of Mr. Cleans!!  I was so proud of us.  It was fun, also, because Sarah and I had decorated for fall yesterday, so the house felt festive, all tidy with pumpkin candles burning!

     Tuesday is our new tea day here after naps.  Sarah had already set the table for the 6 of us when we realized cousins were coming!  So she quickly added more plates, tea cups, cream and sugars and more cookies and peanuts!  Our favorite tea flavors here are Mint, Red Raspberry and Constant Comment (which I was thrilled to find in decaf because Jacob loves it!).

     Amy and I did our party planning while the kids all ran around playing in their cousin groups: Rachel and Leah playing ballerina mommies with dollies, Dan and Isaac playing legos or war dress-ups with guns, Lizzy and Zanna playing barbies, polly pocket and American Girl, Jacob and Naomi playing Darth Maul-Barbie-horse-who-knows-what-4-year-old-pretend.  Now that one was amazing to watch.  Jacob and Naomi are both 4 and in the past few months have become the best of friends!!  They tell each other what to pretend and they go about it, incorporating dolls, Lego Bionicles, dress-ups, stuffed animals--it is amazing!! I love seeing them together!!  As for Sarah, she usually hangs out listening to Amy and I or telling Amy EVERYTHING that is going on in our lives(holeshotting me ALL the time!), though today she did her computer time and worked on the tea food.

     The tea itself was typical:
*I had to tell the kids to talk quieter-it sounded like a 3-ring circus(Gabe was sleeping so it was just 9 kids!)
*Leah knocked over her full cup of tea which I had to wipe half the table of.
*I said to Naomi, "Naomi, please take the handcuffs off before you pick up your teacup."  Now that was a first! :-)
*The boys were shooting guns before they even left the tea table-wonder where they were while they were eating??
*Amy and I got about 3 sentences to each other the whole time.
*What we discussed had to do with the kids or medical situations.  Very typical!
*All the kids but Leah and Rachel wanted 2 cookies
*No one finished their pumpkin pie but Amy and I
*Rachel added about 8 spoonfuls of sugar to one cup of tea: I doubt she was the only one!

     So much fun!!  The kids hoped to do it once a month.  Amy and I just looked at each other and smiled!