Tea Fun

My mom sent special scone mix a few months ago.  We needed it for at least one tea party while she is here.  Yummy!  We don't know (how to make/or even what it really is) ANYTHING about clotted cream so we used the squirt can whipped cream.  Delicious!

 Do you see our weird little bowls of random things?  The girls (I mean the guests) ate it all.  WE ate our scones and their scones. 

Great Granny helped a lot.  She's a natural table setting expert and food producer, too.  The Peter Rabbit tea cups and plates survived the tea.  Yay!
I have had such a good visit with my mama.  We talked and talked and talked.  We both LOVE all that talking and connecting.  I'm SO thankful.  She flies away today and then we'll go to Millie Rose's third birthday party.  Whew!
December is TOMORROW!  Wow!  Pause in Advent will begin.  I can't wait.
Thank you so very much for popping in and saying hello, friend.

People Love

 Thanksgiving Day!  My mom helped me set the tables and we moved furniture around a little so "sitting comfortably" could happen.  

 Here's the star of the show.  Beautiful!

 Hello, Atticus!

 My dinner = scrumptious!

 Here's Great Grandma with some of her Colorado grands (my sweet niece lives in Boulder and she has four cherubs, too!)

Here's Cadence the First (of the nine, almost ten!) with her Grampy!  Grampy did all the dishes.  He's amazing!
We're having a small tea party today, so this Granny needs to get moving.
I hope my American friends had happy feasts and I thank my global friends for wishing all of us Happy Thanksgiving!
People are very good.

Pumpkins

 When I was five or six, I made you a pumpkin. Smile.

 Somebody made this cute porch decoration a few years ago.

All this to say that the pumpkin pie is in the oven and the cooks are tired and ready to sleep.  We're getting up early to put Tom the Turkey in the oven!
See you tomorrow!  

Lunch

 Hello enduring readers!  My daughter-in-law, April the Wonderful, made a cupcake for us to share today.  

 Take a whiff of this quilt blowing in the cool autumn air.  Smell good?
Let's have lunch together and build ourselves up for the food prep ahead.  Let's invite our global friends.

I love five day weekends.  Smile.  

Turkey Plans

 Thankful greetings to you on this Thanksgiving week's beginning!  Many people I know are not having turkey for their feast.  One is having fish, one ham, another is making a cranberry pork tenderloin.  I am a little preoccupied with the logistics of serving our Thanksgiving meal.  My mom and I will put our heads together and find a way to accommodate the eaters. I usually want to give a little speech before we eat.  It goes something like this:
"This food took a long time to prepare.  Please eat it slowly."
Yeah.

This image was on Pinterest.  It makes me want to lose myself in a story.  Are you reading a particularly good story right now?  

Birthday Rose

 Uh oh!  I missed a November day of blogging.  I have been enjoying every moment of visiting with my mom.  Talk, talk, talk.  I love it.

 Now my mom is up in Boulder, visiting with my niece.  She will come back to us tomorrow.  I am going to go to the Store Stump (Brambly Hedge name for grocery store) and buy the turkey and the other holiday trimmings.  I might take my camera (and YOU!) along!

Today Samantha Rose is four years old!  Hooray!  She is a precious cupcake!

 She is Samantha Rose so Kelli gave her a rose coat.  Millie is Millie Rose so she will have one, too.  I want a rose coat, don't you?

And so begins the Thanksgiving week!  I have two days of teaching and then PIE DAY (Wednesday) arrives.  We will have food, fun, little children, two grannies (my mama and I) and GRATEFUL hearts!
See you tomorrow!

Arrival Day

 Tweet!  I found this bird at the teacher store. It has a sensor on the bottom and it tweets when you hold it in your palm.

 The reading class watched The Snowman (no words) and analyzed the characters, plot, and conflict.  Yesterday was really our first snowy day of the year.

 My friend Marjo is a secretary at our school.  She came in to show me the advent quilt she made.  Isn't it pretty?  

 Some of the little green seams are pockets!  Clever!

 The back is super cute, too!  Sweet Santas!

Here's a selfie.  I like the gold-ball earring,do you?  I'm so freckly.  I'm looking at you!
I must put my walking shoes on and wrangle the vacuum cleaner one more time before my mom comes.  I'm picking her up this afternoon.  Wheeee!  Let the Thanksgiving begin!

Reruns

 Blogging every day is amounting to quite a few reruns of my photos.  Nasturtiums are my favorites (peonies are a close second) and the orange here is stunning.  I think I shall wear orange to school today. 

 If someone said to me, "You can go to New York City and stay in Times Square or you can go to Maine again.  What do you choose?"  I choose Maine.  Oh, I LOVED it so much two years ago and I still cherish the memories.

 I found the whale watching expedition invigorating!  The air was cool, the wind was friendly, and the whales showed up!  

 The kids at school are SO nice, really.  They love to be loved.  They enjoy sharing their thoughts.  I feel right at home in the classroom and I am VERY thankful for this particular group.  I'm thankful for the textbooks our principal purchased for us.  I put little sweaters on them.  Do you like?

 Yesterday we read "Names, Nombres" and we shared out beautiful words we know from other languages.  My favorite is abuelita which means little grandmother in Spanish.  The students shared phrases like "my mother is beautiful" in Arabic and Spanish.  They have sweet hearts.

 In keeping with this random style of blog posting, I thought you could use a taste of fresh (I must begin taking my camera to the grocery store again!)

 I found this baby photo of Miss Bug.  Isn't she a shiny little cherub?

And this is just to say that it is snowing. I must bundle up and slide my sled to school. The students will be cold today, so I'll use my brilliant friend MK's idea and project a crackling fire on the screen as we read.
Take care, kind reader!  Thank you for your visit and your cheerful comment!

Smudgy Little Face

 Hello, Sweetie Pie Face!  Do you love Ann's grubby mug?  I bought her at an antique store in Washington over twenty years ago. I do not know who lovingly stitched her face and her heart, but whoever that person is, I like her.

 Sometimes I open my books and find leaves.  Sometimes I find zinnias!  Dusty and gorgeous.

 This is last year's Christmas tree.  I am going to use the fairies again this year, but I shall make tiny red and white bunting for our tree instead of the bigger bunting (which is now on the living room walls).  I joined Betty's angel/fairy exchange so I must get busy making a tree topper for my friend Nancy.  

Bye for now, Fairy Queen.  All the leaves have fallen here, so I have my winter view of sticky trees and cloudy morning skies.  The sun will come out later.
Our students are putting on a dinner theater tonight, so I won't be home until late.  Oh well.  Tomorrow is Bill's birthday!  Woo hoo!  The next day . . . my sweet mama flies in!  
Let the happiness roll!

The Sea and a Dose of Quiet

 I remember when we went to Maine.  Ahhhhhh.  It is so beautiful and right about now I could do with a glimpse of the sea.  What do you do when you want a sniff of the salt air?  

And what do you do when you find yourself wishing for a little quiet and candlelight?  I am not exactly wishing for quiet just now because I am excited for my mom to come and visit with me for a week.  I have been thoroughly enjoying my evenings with Bill.  Sometimes school is a bit noisy, but there are breaks in the day.  Do you think we might NEED a little quiet, even if we don't think we do?