Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

So a couple of weeks ago I had a milestone moment as a mother of girls; their very first tea party. My friend Debbie invited us over for a cup of afternoon tea. Debbie has quickly become an important fixture in my life, since she has taken on the daunting task of agreeing to be my mentor. (That's an entirely different blog altogether, so forgive me for not going into details.) Anyway, so Debbie's two nieces were in town from South Dakota. Lyndsey is ten (same as Payge) and Kelsey is nine (two years older than Kate). Since Debbie is a mom to four boys she was a little unsure of how to keep two little girls occupied, so she came up with the brilliant idea of having a tea party. My girls were soooooo excited about it, they could hardly wait until the afternoon had arrived. They put on their pretty sundresses and were slightly upset at the fact that we had no big, floppy hats to wear.

They'd never met Lyndsey or Kelsey, but they all became fast friends, which made me long for the days in my own childhood when ANY girl my age was my new best friend. At what point do we as women become judgmental and critical towards other women? Come on, I know you all have had to have those times where a beautiful woman walks in dressed to the nines and you think to yourself "I hate her."

I digress. Back to the tea party. Shortly after our arrival at Debbie's house they decided it was a good idea to play a board game, and so the Game of Life came out. Somehow Kate became a doctor minus a college education, bought a trailer home and then lost it all within the first ten minutes. (It made my worry slightly about her future when all three other girls opted to go to college, but not my Kate.)

After the Game of Life ended (abruptly I might add, I guess they got bored) we decided to have that cup of tea. My girls now believe Debbie to be the best tea maker around, since it was mostly milk and sugar. They drank their tea and giggled. Lyndsey and Kelsey had worked hard on the refreshments, which were wonderful little peppermint balls and strawberry marshmallows, yum! Here's a picture of the tea drinking ladies:

After the tea was gone the girls played some more, exchanged addresses and promises to be pen pals, and then we were on our way. I know it was an afternoon they'll remember for a long time, as will I. I realized how fast they're growing up and prayed that they'll stay "BFF" for a few more years.