Friends Week

This week has been a very fun-filled week with friends. On Tuesday we went to Anjuli's princess and pirate birthday party. Ella Ann was so excited to be able to wear one of her princess costumes out of the house and was dressed in full gear ready to go by 7:30 a.m.! Once we arrived the the kids played for a bit then they all sat down at the kitchen table and made scones with chocolate chips, blueberries and raisins. I didn't think Ella Ann would go for eating a scone after Ruth cooked them but it ended up being the first thing she ate on her plate! The kids had high tea, but of course Ella Ann was the only child to not try the fantastic mango tea Ruth made! The kids feasted on cookies, pie, veggies, meringues (Ella Ann's first and she loved them), sandwiches and cake, of course. After Anjuli opened her presents it was time for us to go because Rane had had enough and was screaming for a nap. She wasn't too happy to leave her friends....she had a blast! It was so great for me as well to see my friends and get to catch up with them.

On Wednesday we headed over to Janelle's house for an all day play date. Janelle lives about 18 miles away from me and in Atlanta that is VERY far so we don't get to see her family that often except for at church. Her daughter, Anna-Kate, and Ella Ann are close in age and have always been good friends. As I have mentioned before, they are kindred spirits, as are Janelle and I, so we were thrilled to be able to spend the day with them! First thing that morning we headed to her neighborhood pool, which the kids loved. Ella Ann was excited to practice some of her swimming lesson skills she had learned and Rane (finally) enjoyed sitting in a float for a while. After we fed the kids lunch back at the house, we put the boys down for a nap and the girls played quietly in Anna-Kate's room for 2 1/2 hours. It was glorious to be able have hours of uninterrupted conversation with Janelle! We have so much in common and it was so nice and relaxing to be able to just sit and chat. After Rane woke up we drove back to our house to beat the rush hour traffic. It was such a fun day and we cannot wait to do it again in a couple of weeks!

The party people making their scones.

The high tea feast!

Rane enjoyed playing in Anjuli's and Keona's kitchen.

I failed to take too many pictures at Janelle's because the girls were busy playing upstairs and the boys slept.

This is a side note picture.......

On Monday night Spencer and I made shish kabob....our fist time ever and I really don't know why because we did a great job! We had chicken, peppers, shrimp, onions and mushrooms (forgot the cherry tomatoes) and Spencer marinated it all with a great recipe we found. It was such a pretty dinner I had to take a picture. The best part was that Ella Ann absolutely loved it and kept asking when we were going to have it again! Soon!