Don't Say I Never Do Anything Nice

So my six year old bullied me into hosting a fairy tea party on Tuesday.  She also used the time-honored "invite the guests, get them all excited, and then let all their parents ask your mom when it is before you've cleared it with her" approach.

I'm not sure what other plans I had for Tuesday, other than the shower I skipped, but I had some, and I am sure they were important.  They were postponed, however, so that I could frantically tidy up, go grocery shopping, and make a bunch of itty bitty tea sandwiches.  See?

We also had strawberries and "fancy" cookies (thank you Pepperidge Farm!) and mixed nuts and fairy fizz (lemonade, sparkling water, syrup of grenadine, add festive garnish), all served on Ruby's currently-most-favored tea set.  And I let them use the "good' tablecloth (it's only been used twice since I bought it in 1992, so why not?).

Apart from my unshowered frazzledness, it ended up being fun!  Ruby didn't boss her friends around this yearlike she did at last year's fairy playdate, and the the little brothers and the friends who are boys hit the right balance of participating  in the tea and leaving the girls alone during the girly-fairy parts. K, the lone dad in attendance, played court jester to the fairies and I hung out with the moms, debating important things like Sarah Palin, the best magnet classes at school, and where to find the right kind of uniform "scooter" (skirt/shorts combo, if you don't speak the lingo) for our picky girls to wear.

Ruby got her first real homework packet of first grade, and she ran straight to her desk to do it, probably the only time that will ever happen.  She's supposed to do some reading every day, but in addition to that, there are spelling lists and a reading comprehension/writing page, and some math supplements. The reading/writing page was ridiculously easy, so I am hoping it's just a warm up and she'll get a little more challenged as we go along.  The math sheets are tricky for Ruby because it's not Montessori math, it's taken from the standard first grade workbook used in our district.  Ruby also found out she got her second choice magnet class: folk dancing.  To be fair, she is very excited about it; I am sad that she won't be having the extra art class that was so good last year.