Can I Please Have Some Secret Jam and Toast?

Friday night as I sat in the back yard, staring at the three holes where a dog had decided to uproot two iris and a malva I sighed to myself that apparently I was going to have to go to the store to buy some unsightly fencing or I would have no flowers left.  Gentle Reader, if one wants to have a gloriously beautiful yard  with no holes or uprooted plants, I fear one should avoid acquiring animals of the four legged tail wagging variety.

Somehow the trip for fence supplies turned into a trip to buy goodies for a tea party.  The girls were each having a friend over, and I was desperately needing to mow and do various other projects, but once the tea party idea took root, there was no going back.

As we planned our menu, Bookworm suggested that we most definitely needed jam.  I sat there, stumped and silent for a moment.  "Jam?"

"You know, 'Could I please have some secret toast and jam?'"  she quoted in her best British accent. 

So, of course we had to have jam.  I bought some cheap white bread to make cute shaped sandwiches, and put grape jam and cream cheese on some of them.  It was rather quite good if I do say so myself.

We feasted on fruit salad, tiny crustless sandwiches, carrot sticks, cheese and crackers, mini blueberry muffins, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  We had strawberry limeade, iced tea, and lemon water as our choice of beverages.

I picked up the girls around ten, and then worked quickly to get ready for the party.   As I was preparing my messy porch and weedy yard kept calling my name.  After all, there was never any question that I was going to blog the event.  And undoubtedly those pictures would depict the shortcomings of my yard... I began to lecture myself that if I wait for the perfect moment to have fun, those fun times will pass me by.  Because I'm fairly certain that my girls will not grow up and dwell on the out of control crab grass in our yard, or the mud tracked all over the porch, or even clumps of dirt tracked through the house.

I think instead they will remember an unseasonably warm March morning where we had a tea party with friends, and they all proved virtually incapable of being at all proper or elegant.

But I decided that if they can overlook my weedy yard, I could try and overlook their fingers in the fruit bowl as they fished out bits of mango, or their double fisted clutch of the tea cups...

 After the tea party, they changed out of their tea party gear and had a dance off in the living room, while I continued my hand maiden role and cleaned up the mess we made in our morning full of fun.

Once the mess was cleaned up, it was time to get myself cleaned up so we could head to the movie to see "Mirror, Mirror."  And just in case you are mistakenly reading reviews and considering skipping it, I have to say we all five unanimously LOVED it.  Absolutely laugh out loud LOVED it.

So, all in all, we had a perfectly glorious "girls day."

What special memories are you making with your children this spring?