A Lovely Time Was Had by All

Dear Reader,

We wish you a happy President's Day, and hope that you had a restful weekend! We're so glad that you stopped by today. We had a family-centered Valentine's Day (Which is much more fun than sending the little ones off to Grandma's and going to a crowded restaurant, let me tell you!) on Saturday, and would like to share with you a little of the goings-on.

My mother came out and brought a few treats for the children, including (Of all things) dinosaurs, which were a big hit with everyone except Frankie, for whom they were intended! She also brought out some pink rosey wallpaper for our dining room, which we were going to put up, but forgot we didn't have wallpaper paste!

We moved the china cabinet into the parlor to make room for the future wallpapering project.

The girls had so much fun with the dinosaurs that they didn't want to put them away yesterday. They ended up having "Dinosaur Church", which lasted most of the afternoon (Pity the mothers of little dinosaur babies!).


We had planned to have tea at 4:00 p.m. to hold everyone until dinner, but it was a little difficult to feel relaxed and refreshed while my mother was digging treasures out of our couch cushions at the time (Sorry, no photos were taken of the proceedings.)!

At 6:00 we all dressed up and had a Valentine's dinner, at Chez AnnaMarie, a very posh restaurant located in the dining room. AnnaMarie designed the menus and planned the meal. She even made the beautiful dessert, which was a frozen raw banana and berry pie with a hazelnut/almond/date crust. Scrumptious!

The beautiful, creatively set table. Not bad for an eleven-year old!

Some of us chose less formal attire.

After the meal, it was off to the parlor for a short box-step lesson (One- two- three, One- two- three) and free-style dancing for young and old. As you can see, a good time was had by all!







When everyone's tootsies were ready for a rest, we exchanged valentines and watched the video of my husband surprising me with a "Phantom of the Opera" valentine, thirteen years ago when we were first engaged (He did a post about it on his blog here.). We then headed off to Dreamland, with many happy memories of another family Valentine's Day!

We hope you enjoyed sharing with us this day of love. How glad I am to have my little family, and to be able to enjoy simple homely pleasures with them, my sweet loves. I'm very grateful to have been inspired by the book "Mrs. Sharp's Traditions", by Sarah ban Breathnach. It convinced us to make the day special for everyone, not just Mother and Father.

Love,

Marqueta

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A Goodly Life

"To be honest, to be kind-to earn a little and to spend a little less, to make, upon the whole, a family happier for his presence-to keep a few friends." ~Robert Louis Stevenson