Ruby's Petite Tea Party

My beautiful granddaughter, Ruby, turned 7! Where does the time go?

My talented daughter, Christine, went all out (as usual). She hosted a lovely tea party for Ruby and her friends.

Mid Morning Tea

~MENU~

Passion Fruit Tea

Scones with Butter & Jam

Nutella Flower Sandwiches

Cream Cheese & Cucumber Sandwiches

Chicken Salad Croissants

Pink Pavlova with Berries & Cream

She found the sweetest mini pie dishes and made the apple pie filling and dough from scratch! See what I mean by going all out? Each young lady was able to roll out their own crust and scoop in just the right amount of yummy apple filling. These girls were becoming professionals and even got super fancy with a lattice top.

Such concentration!

Of course, what professional little pastry chefs don't have their own apron? Christine made special one of a kind aprons out of her stash of fabrics for each special guest. (Keeping a stash of fabrics...hmm...wonder where she gets that from?)

She also purchased adorable pink pie boxes, topped them with a chalkboard label (available at The Willows) and let them write their names so they could take their masterpieces home.

 Happy Birthday, sweet Ruby!

 

A special thank you to my insanely talented youngest daughter, Emily, for capturing these wonderful moments for us. To see more of her brilliant photography, check out her blog HERE.



summer travels {balboa}

Another great year at the beach with the whole big crew.  

One of my grandkids said this was his favorite week of the whole year :)

Bags for each family.  With the way we are growing, I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to keep up :)

Numbers 20 and 21 were born this summer!

Carpooling to the beach!

Even the big kids need a nap...

Family soccer.

Meeting new cousins.

So happy to be reunited with favorite cousins :)

Until next summer!

another great 4th of july!

This year with our big family week coming up at the end of July, Brian and I took a few grandkids over to the beach to celebrate the 4th on Balboa.  We had some surprise visitors when my son Al and his wife Mary decided to fly in last minute with our newest grandchild, Evangeline. Everyone had a wonderful time with lots of hours at the beach, paddle boarding, front row seats to the boat parade, trips to the toy store for swords, and lots of time to gush over the newest little miracle in our family.

It was a wonderful long weekend!

Happy 4th to everyone!

Hope yours was great!

lucky number 7

Once again, my odd collection of things I pick up here and there comes in handy!

My grandson turned seven a couple weeks ago, so I threw together this jar of goodies for him and tied on the "7" card I had laying around my craft room.  

Happy Number 7, sweet boy!

what i've been up to...

Although it may have seemed like I spent the last month knitting...  (hehe).  I have actually just been super busy running here and there, coast to coast, spending time with family and shopping for the store.  In April, I took a little trip to the beach with just some of the girls.  Some of my little girls, that is.  I loaded up three granddaughters and headed for California.  Two of their moms and one more tiny person met us there and we had a great couple of days eating, shopping and relaxing at the beach.  

We decided to spend one day of our trip exploring, shopping and eating in LA, since we usually don't venture far from the beach and we were feeling a little adventurous.  First stop, donuts...

We came across this lovely and super helpful map on Design Sponge...

and decided to follow along to some of the recommendations.

First stop, Proof Bakery.  Ya, know, because it had been an hour since we had donuts...

Almond croissants and Croque Madames to die for.  It definitely did not disappoint.  We will certainly be planning a trip back.  Then we headed down a few doors and came across what was probably our favorite store of the entire day, Individual Medley.  We all wanted every single thing they had (and we bought a few, too).  And the owner was charming.  We spent so much time pouring over every little thing in this lovely shop.  Another plus on the list!

Next we headed over to the Broome Street General Store where, naturally, we bought more food.  We also bought gifts and baby clothes and other treasures.  Another lovely spot we were so pleased to discover.  

three generations :)

Then it was back in the car.  At this point we realized that hiring a driver would be the ideal way to see LA.  All the driving and parking was not our favorite...  oh, well.  We hit up Mohawk General Store, Bucks and Does, Reform School and quite a few other little shops we found along the way (after spending a bit too much time looking for a parking space...).  

The girls favorite was Clementine Floral Works.  A little florist that sells individual mini bouquets.  All one of a kind and absolutely darling.  They carried them with them for the rest of the day.  So sweet. 

Stopped in for some lunch at the Sunset Junction Coffee Shop...

A perfect crowd pleaser...

We found a record store for our record-loving little ladies...

Then we were back on the road to check out Poketo (which we loved)...

And our last stop, the Pie Hole.  Pie for dinner?  Yes, please.  I still have dreams about this place.  Take me back...

So, after an action-packed Los Angeles day, we spent the next day laying around at the beach...

In honor of Frozen, the girls built a sand/snow man :)

rinsing off after the beach.

That night we ate like we were on a boys' trip with the hugest order you can imagine from Crocker's, a new hot dog stand on the island.  It was amazing.  They will be getting lots of Burch orders this summer, I'm sure...

And, what do you do when you have leftover pie and you're on vacation?

Why, have it for breakfast, of course...

Come on, it's the same as eating a donut or a cinnamon roll, right?

And then our last lunch at Haute Cakes before getting back on the road to head home...

only in California - dogs out for coffee :)

The trip was too short, as always.  Until next time California!