Tea Party

 The sick finally found our family.  We were so blessed to get through the holiday season without being sick (okay, Adam was really sick Christmas Eve and Day, but he is absolutely the easiest sick person ever, so it almost doesn't even count), Adam and I were terrified for school to start because we knew it was only a matter of time before we were finally infected with one of the various plagues that everyone seemed to have.  I literally didn't even know one person whose household didn't have some strain of yuckiness.  Besides ours. 

And, as expected, the kids were only in school for a week before it came home with Isaiah.  Luckily he seems to have his father's immune system so he was feeling better almost immediately.  But not before he passed it on.  First Max, then Lily, and now Katie have all had a fever, runny nose, and general awfulness. Just awful enough that we don't dare go anywhere for fear of infecting others, but not awful enough to not care about being cooped up without friends.  As our sweet neighbor Bridget said in reference to our "yes, we can play/sorry we can't play" sign on our door, "It's red light every day now!"  

So when we heard we were missing a tea party at Toddler Time last week, we were very disappointed. Anne and Porter were over (Porter is sick, too) and she mentioned that Porter hadn't ever had a tea party.   That did it, we had to have our own tea party!  So I threw together an impromptu "tea" (water) party with finger sandwiches (pb&j and cream cheese and jelly, cut with sandwich cutters) on the kids' plastic tea set and we practiced our very best manners. 

(Note: I am still practicing with my new camera lens.  These pictures are very blown out, so just keep in mind that I'm still figuring it all out.  It's tricky to shoot in front of a sunny window.  I tried to fix them in post, but realized I didn't shoot in RAW, so there wasn't much I could do.  Bah!  But I am really glad I've got pictures at all.)

Max was trying his best to be the "hostess with the mostest," and what he lacked in politeness he made up for in bossiness (and, to be fair, he was awesome at cleaning up Lily's spills).

"Would you like some more tea?"  "Oh, yes, please.  These sandwiches are divine!"  (Okay, no one used the word "divine" that I can remember, but this is the general gist of the conversation.) 

Such a dapper fellow, wearing his best tea party apparel

Hmmm...where did that "tea" go?  And why am I soaked?

Hard to tell because the picture is so blown out, but Katie was an excellent role model, being the most experienced tea partier, with her pinkie out. 

Porter's reaction to the whole affair was priceless, he was so excited and attentive.  And it really was impressive how the "please"s and "thank you"s carried over through the rest of the afternoon.  I'll have to remember to throw a tea party the next time the kids' manners are lacking!