Garden Tenders: The Joy I find in Mommyville

We had a grand and glorious week, all things considered.

We had our first Media Free Monday
We got caught up on laundry!
We worked on some words for things we see
We dusted! A LOT
We had a tea party
and more but time fails me to remember it all!

Friday was spent, in the afternoon, having a Mommy and Daughter Tea Party. This was to serve two purposes really. I wanted to use this time to instill a sense of serving, as we serve each other, and to work on simple table manners, practicing please, thank you, no thank you and of course the manners that we use at the table.

The side affect I discovered from this was the fun and joy we had spending one on one quality time together. Just the two of us. Really finding joy in being around this wonderful little being. Sometimes in the day to day grind of chores and discipline and in between all the "No", "That might not be a good idea...," and the nearly, it seems, constant "SARAH!" we loose sight of how much fun our kids can be. I mean we still love them to pieces, but some things just overwhelm us and we forget the simple things as we try to be more, be better, be everything to everyone.... In looking for a simpler way of life I hope I find the path to earthly happiness and where God has intended for me to be.

I think in this once a week hour that we spend together breaking bread and chatting, we will learn to love each other in a deeper way. To develop a relationship where she can trust me and call me mom and friend. I hope it has a centering affect for the two of us. This isn't cooking in the kitchen together, we do that often enough, and it often times becomes lesson in counting and listening. These are good lessons, but they aren't the feeling of connectedness I felt with this simple tea party.

We started the afternoon by preparing our snack of PB&J sandwiches. We cut these into flower shapes with cookie cutters. We also had carrot sticks and cheese along with our tea. I choose a fruity pomegranate tea that I knew would be naturally sweet.

I had purchased a fancy little tea set from the Learning Sprout, a local toy store and we discussed how it was for our tea parties. We discussed how we would do our tea parties and how much fun we could have. When I announced it was time to get ready on Friday afternoon, after nearly a week of prep work, my wee girl literally danced and spun around the kitchen. While the water warmed we picked out pretty dresses and combed our hair and decided on shoes, just like we were going to a real event.

We then sat down at the kitchen table and drank our "red fruity tea" and chatted. The stories and tales a 4 year old can tell when she has her mommy's undivided attention? Well that can't be beat. I hope these times grow and become a weekly tradition.