Tea for two

Almost from the time my niece Abigail was born, we've been having tea.  My favorite pictures of her are when she was 2 and wearing Nana's hat, pouring tea from my tea pot (Aunt Bobbie staged alot of photos with the kidlets when they were small.)  Each year I try to have a tea party for her birthday,  sometimes with just the two of us, sometimes with family and other times we've sent out invitations to friends.
Last year she asked if she could have a tea party with one friend.... For some reason it never happened,  schedules conflicted and the such like.  So today we made it happen (only one year and a half later). 

     Abby's brothers and parents are in Iowa for Jr Bible Camp, so Abby spent the week at Nana Camp (the boys had Nana Camp in July while Abby was at Teen Camp)  part of Nana Camp includes a day with Aunt Bobbie.  We  had to split our day up, yesterday we painted pillows with Emma Bean and went to the playground.  This morning we had tea with  Christa. 

I took my coffee table (which is an old trunk) into the backyard and decorated the tree and clothesline  with fabric flowers and tulle.  I wrapped some pillows in fabric for the girls to sit on and brought a vintage suitcase &  books out.  I used bridesmaid's bouquets and loose flowers as well as fresh flowers from my garden. Hats and scarves were provided. 

 

 

Menu : Strawberry Cheese  Tarts with whipped cream,  Nutella Shortbread (Girl Scout cookies with Nutella) and Cinnamon Earl Grey  tea (*somebody* put the box of  the tea I had planned to serve- Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride - away empty and I only had Earl Grey and Cinnamon Stick left... The girls drank two pots full so they must have liked it)

 

I left the girls to themselves until after the second pot of tea,  it's rare that they see each other without crowds of siblings.  Christa brought a set of American Girl books and they played the game that was attached.  Then we read some poetry and Emma joined us. After Christa left Abby and Emma played dress up with the scarves. 
The weather today is perfect for being outdoors, it's hot but there's a beautiful breeze and the tree had fantastic shade until about 2pm.
Now it's time for Aunt Bobbie to go play in the sewing room!  Have a great day!