Tea Time Menu

What I believe about tea time is back here and here



Today was a very simple tea time. We actually did something fun on Sunday {I'll blog that later in the week} so I kept tea time small. It was still just as wonderful to sit on our porch. Perfect weather... ahhh



Yesterday was Scott's birthday so I made him his favorite: Carrot Cake! This Susan Branch recipe is so so good!



Simple. Lovely. Yummy. Perfect. Tea time.



Other tea menu posts are here and here and here and here and here and here and here  and  here  and here  and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here 

Grateful For

messes

my little pony

magnatiles

playmobil

glittery pipe cleaners

pompoms

a huge imagination

no screens



and someone who still loves to get lost in playing

SAT

Anna will be taking the SAT test on Saturday morning at 8:00 am. Finally. It has been cancelled due to the pandemic over and over, but tomorrow is THE DAY!

How did we get from here?



to here



to here



to here



to here where is his giving herself 4 hour practice tests each week?



I sure am proud.

She has studied and each week has given herself a 4 hour practice test at home. She's scored it and grown so much since her PSAT.

I am so excited for the future. But it sure is a lot of pressure that the number she gets on Saturday morning determines where she can apply. I will pray for her, love her, wish her the best. Knowing that it's all in His hands.

Books and Weather

Today was the perfect weather day. In the morning I needed a light sweater over my tee.

The windows were open and the breeze was blowing in all day.

The sun was shining and there was a hint {a tiny hint} of fall crisp in the air... the perfect weather for decorating for fall.

Abigail helped me all afternoon and was so much fun. We decorated the porch swing and shelf above, the kitchen, the baking center, the mud room, the family room and the living room. There are two huge piles for me to deal with... the kind that when you walk over them you think, "why did I do this"? Well, we know it always looks a mess before it looks better. One pile is summer waiting to be packed away. The other pile is fall spilling out of bins - things from different years that still might get used, but might now. You get the idea.

But it was so wonderful to see all of the things that I love, and to begin to get my home cozy for fall that is coming soon!

Each Wednesday in the summer I've posted what the girls and I are reading. It's been so fun doing this!

Abigail is loving this book:



Anna finally finished all of her summer work for her upcoming AP classes and now gets to relax and read {when she's not studying for the SAT that is on Saturday)



And I just started the sixth book in the lovely Anne series. I love these books!



Yes, this summer has been home. We didn't take our big trip but we've had so much time for beautiful days together. We have so many memories.

Getting Ready

On my blog this summer, every Tuesday, I blogged bits and pieces, here and there, around my home. I love to remember the place we were in- my motivation to always remember our home.

Today I began taking a few things down, and I'll be starting on autumn decorating soon. I don't decorate all at once, for life doesn't work that way for me. It's a little here, a little there as I'm inspired to do. So over the next few weeks I'll share my start to my autumn home.

Most of the coloring stays. I love pastel. I'm not a fan of grey or black colors when decorating as is the trend these days. But by now, if you've been here for more than one Tuesday home post you know that romantic and pastel and vintage makes my heart happy. Now I'll add a pumpkin here and there.

Ten Years!

My first post on this blog was exactly ten years ago today! August 24, 2010.

It's back here in case you want to see it.

I had a seven year old and a three year old. I thought seven was sooooOooo old I could harldly stand it!

I wasn't sure what this whole blogging thing was all about or even how to 'do it right', but I logged on, quickly gave myself a name and dropped in some pictures from our Storyland vacation.

I am so glad I did.

Tea Time Menu

What I believe about tea time is back here and here

It was a lovely tea and a bit of stop on a Sunday in the middle of swirling. For sure our whole Sunday doesn't look like this - there was food shopping and heaps of laundry and other normal life. But where there is tea, there is always pause.



Today I served: 

Homemade Egg Custard Tartelettes. 



Homemade scones 



Homemade Cookie Pie bites 



Now I always make one new thing each week (this week the tartlettes) I find that if I freeze the scones or a dessert the day they are baked than they usually come out wonderfully. That way I'm not baking 3 things each Sunday.

Other tea menu posts are here and here and here and here and here and here and here  and  here  and here  and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here

5 Pretty Interiors

These are not pictures of my house. But I think they are lovely. There is something about them. I'm sure I'm drawn to the natural beauty of wood. It's so warm.

(that vintage painting, the big wooden shelf, the baskets)


All of last year in my classroom I began the slow process of taking out all of the vibrant colors. All of the rainbow. As much of the plastic as I could. I took out the blue rugs and the bins of bright green. I took down all of the posters and the laminated letters. I slowooooly began adding all things 'natural'. Natural colored baskets to hold math manipulates. Wooded letters for the titles on my bulletin boards. A wooden lazy susan in the middle of tables for supplies. And you know what? Every time someone came into my classroom they said, "it's so calm in here". And that is exactly what I was going for calm. Children need a calm environment to work. And anything hanging in the classroom should be their work.

(that big wooden hutch, that table and chairs, and of course allll those teacups)


I saw it work right before my eyes in room 124 of my school. Like magic. I got so motivated to keep going I was often in thrift stores buying all of their baskets.

(old cabinets - you can't buy them like that - and that stove) 


I think the same can be said of home. Wood is calming. And for me, vintage can be too.

(the table, the view, the old radiator) 


Of course more than any way we decorate our homes it is the attitude and the atmosphere that is more critical.

"... what they most need is a warm secure home where they feel safe, arms to hold them and assure them that our God is in control, love that generously embraces who they are as they are, home that is a haven of goodness, beauty, with stories that bring light and hope. But someone is needed to conduct such a life. We must be intentional if this place that store's goodness will be a reality. Oh, that we might give our lives that our children will live to have hope and become virtuous". Sally Clarkson

(the sink skirt, the vintage trays, that wooden wall) 

Endoscopy

Since she was 22 months old.

Games with daddy in the waiting room.



Gloria... her favorite nurse



IV like it's nothing



After they take a biopsy of her small intestine, stomach and esophagus we wait for her to wake up



Wheeled out to the car



Sipping her slushy

Books on a Glorious Afternoon

Today is the perfect weather day - no humidity, not too hot, puffy white clouds in a bright blue sky.



Perfect for a long reading session on the porch.



I am still reading Anne's House of Dreams.

Abigail started a new book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. (she read book 2 first and now is going back to book 1)



Anna is reading for her AP high school class that will start on September 8th.



It was such a lovely day that I decided we should have tea out of the porch with the rest of the scones I had tucked away in the freezer.

Home ~ To ~ Me

Usually this week, the almost end of August time, is me in my classroom. Sweating. Setting up. Laminating. Organizing. Stressing.

But there is nothing really I can do this week in my classroom until we have our first teacher training days to see how we are going to 'open'. There will be so many changes and new rules and regualations that I just can't do anything until I know the new 'rules'. Then it will be 'game on' and I'll have a lot to do. I'm starting my 13th year in the classroom (9 years before daughters, 13 years home, 4th year back) and yet this year feels like it is the first year. I'm sure that all classroom teachers across the world feel the same way.

For now, it's all about flexibility. And patience.

And that means that I'm still home. And loving that part. I love that I still have time to decorate, sew, read, and be with my girls.

I've made a bunch of changes to the kitchen. Took off the cabinet doors under the sink and sewed a little skirt with matching curtains. I love how it breaks up all of that white in a row.

Hung a vintage fruit plate on the backsplash that makes my vintage heart so happy. Since this photo I've hung a few more.







And my baking center is so happy with this new vintage toy stove. So charming; I'm in love. 💕

I've been looking for one for years and this one was in the most amazing, perfect condition, still with the original pots and pans. Adore!



And when there's not a real pie cooling on my pie cooling rack, this saves the place. I squealed when I saw this in a thrift store for $3. Who could ever give this strawberry cream pie away?







Baking is "home" to me, and I bet many of you feel the same.💞 There are very few things I would rather do, than bake for others. It's my love language. My art. My therapist. My best girlfriend. My mother. My grandmother. My family. It's spiritual. It always takes me where love, peace and tranquility is. Baking is joy. Gratitude. Sharing love. Nothing is better for my soul than baking for my family.❣️

Tea Time Menu

What I believe about tea time is back here and here









Other tea menu posts are here and here and here and here and here and here and here  and  here  and here  and here and here and here and here and here and here and here