That morning we had done Jim’s Christmas gift activity, the afternoon we did Lynelle’s.

Lets give credit where credit was due, this was all Malia’s idea. The whole trick is, “what do you give someone who already has everything?” We put our thinking caps on and Malia, brilliantly, came up with a tea party. And not just any tea party, a proper one with tiny sandwiches, tea cookies, little cakes, and fancy english hats to boot. The preparation started MONTHS ago. We acquired two tea sets, one from DI, and one from a lady on KSL that I picked up. (Don’t give me too much credit, Malia found it, called the lady, and paid for it. I just drove 7 blocks from my house and picked it up.) We found our fascinators online and had them ready for the party. AND the day before Malia and I went to the store and got all the stuff we would need to make everything. We also went to Kneeders to get special Christmas themed cookies for the little girls and fancy cakes for everyone else.

That morning, before the escape room, we had gotten up and started our prep, we brought the tables in from outside, made the tiny cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, and cleaned up the kitchen. After the outing for Jim, we sent the boys away, got back, changed, and started set up in ernest.

I think our efforts paid off:

The thought was cucumber sandwiches for the grown ups and tiny PB&J for the kids.

The tables were set and our guest were arriving. Rosie needed to make sure that the beads were  real.

Danielle and Aubrey in their adorable white fascinators. Mirah and I in ours.

The guest of honor arrived, and Malia was so happy. She picked out a pretty pink one for Grandma Baney. Pink is her favorite color you know.

Picture time!!! All the ladies in their fascinators.

Music was turned on and the very proper English High tea began.

We did it!!

Finding a tea is very tricky business.

As our oldest little lady, Mirah sat with Me, Grandma Barney, Grandma Hite and Malia. She looked very cute.

I think she was sad to not be with the other little girls.

We were having fun at our table, but there was a party with all those little ladies.

Miss Aubrey was ESPECIALLY excited about her reindeer cookie and was telling me ALL about it.

Everyone was being VERY fancy.

One thing expereince but not photographed was how Rosy wanted to try ALL the fancy cakes. It was hilarious and really cute.

Well, with little kids things started to fall apart 🙂 After tea was over, we ended up playing in the house for a while and chatting on the couches.

Mirah Ginger and Aubry having very important conversations.

Ginger jumped in too, and we attempted an all ladies picture.

We really had such a nice time. Congratulations to Malia! it was a success!

 

Meanwhile back at the ranch…

The boys had HAPPILY skipped the tea party and had gone to a local trampoline park to release some wiggles. These are pictures required from Zach and Karl. By all accounts they had a blast.

 

Luke is about to get kicked in the face at any moment.

I think he had fun going down this slide with his ball.

I mean Ethan and Sawyer were doing flips off the swings…

BUT, you can see Lucas, Judah and Asher playing in a foam pit having a PRETTY good time too.

Back together again we got our puzzle on and had a TURKEY dinner.

Sean! Yes Sean had been around too. He didn’t go to the trampoline park with the rest of the boys, rather, he did what all of us secretly wished we could do and took a nap.

While we were puzzling the kids watched a movie, played in the garage, and basically made poor Lynnelle’s life a nightmare. At one point she came and told Betsy and I that she found Asher and Mirah locked in the bathroom together. She said she didn’t think anything had happened but that she thought we would want to know. SHE WAS ACCURATE. I found Mirah immediately and however innocent it was we went over bathroom rules and locking doors stuff. She did tell me about what happened however.

Apparently while the boys were together, Sawyer had said that “Those girls  don’t deserve ice cream. They were just drinking tea while we were working our butts off!” Asher was socked at the insinuation, and had to share this hot goss with someone. He had tried to tell her in a bedroom but they had been interrupted, so then he took her into the bathroom and locked the door, to make sure they wouldn’t be interrupted and that the other boys wouldn’t hear him spilling the beans. (Hahahahahahaha)

The boys apparently had been promised ice cream. So Grandpa was dutifully sent out to get some for the group. HE had gone to work after lunch in Yuma, then come home, made dinner for everyone, then sent out again for ice cream. The poor man was BEAT, so after he gave the ice cream to his adult children he went to his room and was not seen again that night.