tea party!

One of my friends started a tea club, where we try different kinds of teas, talk about them, and hang out. It's super fun and a fantastic idea. So we thought it would be nice to include the kids for a holiday tea party, It was super cute and fun to watch the little girls (and Henry) drink their tea and play in Sabrina's awesome back yard.

Here's one of the ends of the table--doesn't the cute slay you a little?

Speaking of cute, Anya is always good for a dose of it.

Simply gorgeous Lily.

Three little ladies having tea--Nina's dress was a birthday gift from her great grandpa Hy and is gorgeous on her.

Here't the whole table; Alex and Sabrina did an amazing job with it.

resumption

The workouts have resumed. It's just my nordic track in the garage, but at least the weather has cooled enough to do that! I did 15 minutes today (short because I'm a little sore from the yoga I did yesterday).

horses...sigh

I love horses, always have. I took western lessons when I was young and also before I had Nina.

Self portrait

My favorite color horse. I wish I had hair this color.

Mom

Mom again, wearing the awesome t-shirt I got for her a long time ago

We cantered a lot, which mom was good at because she knows how to post. I don't and couldn't stand in the stirrups because they weren't short enough and I don't think my saddle was cinched tight enough. But a super fun (bumpy) time.

After we went to GTM where I scored a linen shirt for 3$ and lots of cereal for the carb hounds in my house, then to Red Sea for a lovely Ethiopian meal. It was a lovely day, thanks mom!

fairy party

So on Friday the 22nd we went to a fairy party playgroup. Some of the mamas were painting faces, toenails, etc. Nina got hooked up with a horse and some hearts.

sprinting

I'm going to try to catch up today so I can start blogging in real time again. I totally failed at NaBloPoMo, despite my best intentions, but there's definitely a middle ground between rocking the above and just slacking completely. Right? Please say yes.

Nina got so many cool gifts for her birthday, but the present opening was super haphazard this year with no list for thank you notes, so I'm going to do it here. Thank you so much everyone. The list of fantastic gifts includes (but is not limited to) a great new wardrobe of hand me down clothes from her friends, a fun hemp and wooden bead jewelry making kit, shadow puppets, a Nina Ballerina wooden doll, some more clothes, and, like I said, more fantastic stuff that I'm forgetting because I'm only halfway done with my coffee.

After lovely visits, my sister and her friend left on Sunday and my inlaws left on Monday. Giving me two days to put the house back in order and have co-op unpacking on Wednesday night and pickup on Thursday. And pack to leave Thursday afternoon to visit my sister in the bay area and go work at GreenFest. I've written about that already, but suffice it to say that it was funfunfun. And I would do it again in a heartbeat (thanks, mom, for taking care of Nina). I got home on Monday, Tuesday had an ICAN meeting at my house, Friday had a birthday party at my mom's house with my book group after. Saturday morning I got up and went with my mom to Lakeside where she had arranged for us to go on a trail ride, which was so much fun that I was sore afterward. Sunday was my birthday and a harvest party our friends have annually. We celebrated my birthday too.

Now for some pictures...