Tea For The Next Generation

Before our trip to Colorado, my grandmother asked Savannah what she wanted to do while there visiting. Savannah had one reply, a tea party like the many her mother (me) had with Granny Smiles (my grandmother) while growing up. And that's just what we did.


Savannah, Ella, and even Burton (the latter 2 are 2 of my sister's 3 kids)all dressed for the occasion.






At first I was worried Burton our only boy of tea drinking age, would not get into it. Here he is squatting to get a better view of the ant who has captivated him oblivious to the tray of delectable treats beside him. Ladies, are we ever oblivious to delectable treats? Um, no.




Burton quickly caught on though and drank more tea than the girls!




Savannah scouting out treats.



Granny Smiles, Tea Time Diva.







Savannah worked hard to stick her pinkie out as she sipped.



Don't drop the cup!


Ahh, much better.



Ella conquered the tradition with ease.


Now Burton may have been born in Aspen but he talks so slow (and sweet!) that you would swear he is from Texas. "I'n waaannna stick my pinky out Beeeaaannna" (They call me Aunt Beana).



Dang, he's cute!







Tea, scones, cookies, tea sandwiches, lemon curd, big hats, and family... to be a yearly event? I think so.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Mark and I were browsing one of my favorite stores the other day on our Date Day and I realized I had not shared this treasure trove with my blogger buddies. How selfish of me!

Eclectic Architecturals is just that, eclectic. Mark and I had the chance to chat with one of the owners and witness his visionary mind brainstorming. The couple travels to France and Italy multiple times per year to purchase unique "things" such as old doors, interesting aged windows, random pieces of architecture from ancient buildings, long forgotten antique tools, and even modern art. They have just returned from France and the creator's mind was reeling with ideas. He has the rare talent of making cool things even cooler. (Cindy, he reminded me of you in that aspect. I wanted to call you right then and invite you out to play in this warehouse of an adult playground!) He told us of his plans to turn some architectural features into mirrors, headboards, chandeliers, and lamps. We cocked our heads to the side at times in hopes of seeing what he saw in his head. But sometimes an artist's vision cannot be translated into words.

They just returned from a trip so their full gold mine is not shown yet on their website.

Check out Eclectic Architecturals' website for more information, their location, or if you can't make it there in person. They have locations in Shreveport, Longview, and Dallas. If the style looks familiar you might be thinking of Brad and Nicki's house. They bought several pieces from there while building their charming house.

Peteets In The News

Click here to check out the article on doulas I was interviewed for by In Magazine.


Gosh, I still need to post Archer's birth story. It was really cool.

Open For Business

Check out http://eatingthegoodlife.blogspot.com/, my new food blog. Now I can finally leave the food commentary off this blog. Those of you just looking to see a few cute pictures of the kids will be happy about that!

Random Summer Fun

The best of summer lovin'.

Napping on the porch.

Savannah and Chickory watch cartoons together every morning.

The two are like peas and carrots.

Baby Blue Eyes, as Savannah calls him.

Pickin' Fun

Our tradition of pickin' berries annually began for Mark and I as newlyweds when our neighbors mentioned a local berry farm ( I believe Kathy and Lee were going with the Johnson's to pick berries one Saturday when the subject came up. Maybe Sean was a baby or not even born yet.)

From then on we have gone every year to harvest blueberries and blackberries. Savannah was 2 months old the first time she went. And now Archer has participated at 5 months of age.

Savannah was proud of this extra juicy one.

She looks forward to this every year and is usually content to pick a few and eat a few with little conversation. But this year she said, "Momma, let's pretend just for today that this is our berry farm and I am your daughter who helps you pick berries every day."

And so we did.

Archer is showing his interest in our make believe.

He would have rather us pretend to be in bed napping at home.

Savannah hypothesized that the extra firm berries were not nearly as juicy as the softer ones.

Our research shows that she is correct.

Join the fun at Martin's Berry Patch

4534 Farm Rd 968 West

Marshall, TX 75670

903-660-3283

Only $9.50 to fill a whole bucket!

Blueberries are coming soon.

Vacation for dinner.

Several years ago Mark and I were apart of a supper club. Once a month we gathered with friends (without kids) and experienced themed dinner parties that allowed us to dive into other cultures. Beautiful tables were set (this was my favorite part, I would go all out for the theme), everyone researched food from the specified country and brought their new culinary discovery, and sometimes we even dressed up as was the case with the pirate dinner party (oh, I should really post pics of that one!). But folks started having more babies and then it became more difficult to find adult time. Our club disbanded



This had become a monthly occasion that I looked forward too and I was determined to find a way for a thread of it to continue. Shortly after the end of our group, Savannah and I found a set of books at the library that gave me an idea. It's a series of books put out by Disney where the familiar characters of Mickey, Goofey, and Donald experienced countries around the world. Each book explores food, culture, folk tales, toys, and holidays from a specific country. And with that, theme night was born!



Savannah and I started off with a book about Germany. We read the book all week with much discussion, found Germany on the map several times, googled pictures of the German country side, and researched recipes for our "German Night." By the end of the week when we reached German night, Savannah was about to explode with excitement over the meal! "Germany Food" as she calls it has been a favorite ever since. She was 2 1/2 at the time.



This theme has continued with many other countries and we study each one and explore new tastes and ingredients each time. Just by preparing a meal together she is learning history, literature, geography, math (measuring), social studies, language, and music (we try to find music from that country). Not to mention improved health by opening up a variety of foods and flavors to her world.



Try it at your house to broaden your child's world, encourage a picky eater, or to take a cheap vacation in your very own home. It can be as easy as reading a Fancy Nancy book (she adores Paris!), watching Ratatouille or Beauty and the Beast and then preparing a simple French meal (Savannah is a big fan of the creme brulee!). You probably already have a few children's books that mention other countries lurking on your shelves.



Just a few ideas:

The Princess and the Frog/Cajun food and music (FUN!)
Mary Popping/British food/tea party (this brought up an interesting conversation about accents)
Fancy Nancy/Ratatouille/Beauty and the Beast/Elloise in Paris/French food
Brer Rabbit/ southern food/soul food (get your kid to try greens!)

These are just a few off the top of my head but ideas abound. I'll try to post our theme nights with book and menu ideas as we do them from now on. And please feel free to share your own.