We Did It!

We finally had a successful afternoon tea! Third times a charm I guess. I think the kicker was that I completely lowered my expectations and did the baking beforehand. There's something about enjoying tea and muffins, minus the mess, that makes it oh so much sweeter.

Bobo has been asking for Dinosaur information recently, so I decided to use that as our theme. Tea is as good a time as any to tackle some of those extra interests that come up and we don't have any other plans to cover in our regular lessons.


After our dino-wrapped muffins we read a few picture books and attempted some Sculpey prehistoric creatures of our own. Everyone wanted to make a T-Rex; no one truly succeeded. Fun anyway!

Is it Me?

We attempted another tea today. Our last try at this seemingly simple tradition resulted in a house fire. That was way back on Ascension Day; today we tried to honor Mother Teresa.

Getting ideas from Elizabeth, I decided we'd make the Indian sweet bread and read Mother Teresa by Demi. We had a great time making the bread; eating it was not quite as fun. We obviously didn't roll it out enough. We ended up with doughy silver dollar sized 'cakes' smothered in sugar. No one was willing to take more than a bite, except baby. He got his hands on this unusually textured, gooey glob of dough and couldn't let go.

I love the idea of weekly teas and am not quite ready to give up yet. I may have to lower my expectations greatly, bake without the children (for now at least), and just enjoy another time to come together around the table.

Best Laid Plans

Inspired by Dawn, we were all set for our Ascension Day tea. Egg whites beaten to nice, stiff peaks, our "light as air" cookies were ready to be popped in the oven. My two year old was seated up on the counter, "helping."

"Mom, fire!"

Sure enough, through the oven window, I saw flames engulfing my oven. I swung the door open and found the problem. That same two year old, now so sweetly being Mom's Helper, had left at least 10 plastic plates in the oven -- yesterday. Ten! Plastic was literally dripping from the lower oven rack.

Needless to say, instead of tea time we had a massive clean up project on our hands. All was not lost: we still had a chance to talk about how when Jesus ascended into heaven he didn't leave us alone, without a helper. Even in the midst of the everyday messes, he sends the Holy Spirit to grant us love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, self control...

Did I mention PATIENCE?