Galentine’s Tea Party 2019

I forgot to include this in yesterday’s post, for whatever reason, so Hello, February! Today’s post is a long one, with tons of photos, so let’s get to it!

Daddy and Emmie had donuts for breakfast at the kitchen counter this morning. Jeff drank coffee, and Emerson drank her favorite pink milk.

And them I got busy on the final preparations for our 3rd Annual Galentine’s Tea Party! I started this tradition in 2017, and have hosted this for the past three years. The first year, I made all the food myself, but the last two years, all the ladies have offered to bring stuff and that was made it so much easier on me!

Look at this tiny little pianist! She’s looking at the books in front of her as if she’s actually reading music, and it’s adorable!

And here’s our finished chalk-painted table from last weekend! Well, I still plan to so one more coat on the top, and then use a spray lacquer to seal the top really well, but we set it up to look pretty today, even if not quite complete.

My sister got me this letter board for Christmas, and I used it for the first time for the party. It’s so cute, but it’s harder than it looks to get it looking just right. (Especially for someone with slight OCD.)

Here’s all the yummy things we had… It was wayyyy more food than we needed, but it was all absolutely delicious!

• Mini macaroons, bought at Trader Joe’s
• Savannah salad (made by Uncle Keith in Aunt Suzanne’s absence)
• Chevre cheese log with blueberries, from Trader Joe’s with multigrain crackers
• Gluten free brownies, made by Grandmommie (my sis is GF)
• Ham & muenster cheese croissants, made by yours truly
• Feta & caramelized onions tarts, from Trader Joe’s
• Chocolate covered strawberries, brought by Aunt Jane
• Fruit & cheese tray, made by my MIL Nita
• Angel food cake (my all-time fave!), made by Grandmommie
• Homemade pimento cheese sandwiches, made by my Mama
• Caprese salad, made by moi

Emerson for really tired about halfway through the party, and Grandmommie did a great job getting her down for a nap.

After we all ate brunch, and dessert, and each drank a pot of tea, we sat around talking for a long time. We had a lovely time all together and I’m so thankful and grateful for these amazing women in my life. (We missed Aunt Suzanne a lot, but she was dealing with some important family stuff this morning.) Grandmommie and Nita washed and dried allllll of the dishes, while Mama & Aunt Jane put away all the leftovers. I hardly even had to do anything, for which I am also very grateful!

Emmie woke up about an hour after going to sleep, but even a short nap makes her happy! Grandmommie stayed the longest, and she got some special time with Emerson after her nap.

Since she took such a short mid-day nap, around 3pm she was ready for another one. She went down at 3:15, and then Jeff and I both napped too, and it felt so great to just nap! I woke her up at 5:15, so she wouldn’t sleep too long since it was getting so late. We wanted to get out of the house, and Jeff suggested window shopping at the mall, and dinner at the food court. We haven’t been to the mall in forever, so we thought, “hey, why not?!”

But oh my goodness it was crazy there tonight! There seemed to be multiple high School choir groups from out of town all there tonight plus regular local people, and it was just packed. We almost left because there wouldn’t have been anywhere to sit, but we found a table way over on the edge of things near the up escalator, so we decided to grab some food. We were going to get different things and share, but the lines were all way too long, so we just stayed in the shortest one and stuck with that. Plus all three of us like Chinese food!

There was lots of craziness and people to entertain us, and Emerson ate so.much.food. She kept eating & eating, and saying more & more & more. I was so impressed and proud of her!

We came home and had bath time, then got all ready for bed. And then of course we read our usual three books. I tried to only read “Dada,” but she wasn’t having it, and made me read our usual three, in our usual order. She is so particular, and so funny!

At our next tea party in 2020, Emmie will be 2½, and Meg’s triplets will be 11 months old! Isn’t that crazy to think about?! But so exciting! Today was a long, really great day. I look forward to hosting this tea party every year, and I’m so glad I’m able to do it!