High Tea for LaLa

Hello Readers!

I am woefully behind in my blog posts, but not in our Radventures!  We've been so busy having them I haven't been able to write about them!  Also, it's summer and our kiddo is SUPER pumped about that!  We have been outside and exploring and playing.

So I will be working on catching up on blogs as I can, so loon forward to those!

On to today's Radventure!

 

At the beginning of May we traveled to Ohio for Jason's (David's bro) college graduation!  We were excited to see and visit with family, get out of Avon, and meet our soon to be new sister in law, Larisa!

On Thursday we packed up and drove to Ohio.  It was an interesting process with a little guy.  The last time we traveled with Will he really didn't need anything to entertain him, he ate only bottles, and he really just needed diapers and formula.  This time was different and we clearly have no idea what we are doing.  We packed like all his toys, snacks, more clothes than he needed, diapers, sippy cups, blankies, pacis....you name it, we packed it.

Will was unphased by our packed car, but I had to snap a picture of the ridiculousness.

As we drove, Will was great.  He took a couple of snack and diaper breaks which seemed to keep him appeased.  He was so sweet.

Seriously. This kid.

He is seriously my bud.

However, things did get a little hairy and Will melted.  Thankfully we weren't too far out so he got another break and made it all the way to the hotel.

Yeah, I took a picture of him.  I'm that kind of mother.

Climbing around the car makes everything better while Daddy checked us into the hotel.  It was a great little place that was similar to an apartment complex that had been converted into hotel rooms.  It had a full kitchen (SO HELPFUL).  The last time Will slept in a hotel room it was terrible so we splurged on a bigger room so that he couldn't see us.  WORTH IT!!

Once we settled, we got to finally meet our soon to be newest Rad, Larisa!!

She is simply wonderful!  We had a great dinner together and a quick visit before the festivities began over the weekend!  

On Friday, we went shopping with Uncle Jase and Aunt LaLa for Uncle Jase's new work clothes.  We had a great time shopping and exploring Ohio.  The area we were in is where Grandma and Grandpa Radcliffe will soon be moving (Dave's parents) and where Uncle Jase and Aunt LaLa will live after their wedding in October!

Saturday was graduation day!  Will and I sat in overflow because....he's not great in any sort of sit still and listen situation.  We left early to gather food and such for the graduation celebration.  Will was very tired, and very cranky, while we were watching the graduation in the overflow section.  I cut my losses and left a little early.  I strapped him to me with my new Boba carrier (THE BEST) and walked campus.  He immediately fell asleep which means I carried 23lbs of limp baby all over campus.  

This picture looks like I'm pretty disgusted, but sleepy babies are so worth it.  Will doesn't fall asleep on me much anymore.  I miss it.

After the graduation we went back to Grandma Helen and Grandpa Dave's house to celebrate.  Little did Larisa know that Tracy and I had something up our sleeves!  We threw Larisa an impromptu wedding shower with the family that was present! We had High Tea and celebrated her becoming a part of our family.

 

I brought the party from Indy.

 

Let's talk decor first.  Tracy brought one of her lace table cloths for the table.  It was the perfect foundation for the table setting!  The centerpieces are pitchers that I found at Goodwill.  One large pitcher and two small pitchers make up the centerpieces.  The large pitcher is holding hydrangeas and pink roses.  I bought the flowers at Kroger believe it or not.  I seriously love Kroger flowers.  They are definitely my go to flower place right now.  The flowers are high quality and affordable.  These were particularly gorgeous, and they were some of the last ones in the display.  I arranged the pieces late the night before.  
The two small pitchers contained the remainder of the pink roses.  The pitchers were surrounded by candles in vintage candle holders that I dung out of the bottom of my grandma's closet.  If you aren't lucky enough like me to have a grandma that has a treasure closet, I suggest looking at Goodwill.  They ALWAYS have candle holders.  Surrounding the candles and pitchers are our sugar, milk, and lemon wedge bowls for our tea.  I found these at Goodwill and the treasure closet at Grams.

Now onto the service ware!

 

I made these cake plates from china plates from Goodwill and candle holders from Goodwill.  I gave both items a good scrub and let them dry completely.  Then I flipped the plate over and superglued the top of the candle holder to the bottom of the plate.  Superglue will adhere to most surfaces, but there was one plate that it did not.  I'm not sure if it was the glaze or what - but it had to be trashed.  

You can buy different heights of the candle holders and give yourself more variety.  It is a super easy DIY and it is MUCH cheaper than buying fancy cake plates at the store.  I paid $1.50 for each plate and $0.50 for each candle holder.  I already had the superglue, but you can get a pack of single use superglues for like $3.00.  I used two single uses.  If I had to estimate I would say that each of these cost about $2.50.  Now that is a price I can get behind!

As you can see, I served pretty simple foods.  Keep in mind that I brought all of this from Indy so I didn't really have a great place to make homemade petit fours and cookies and sandwiches.  We also had just eaten lunch as a family so the idea of a simple shower was what we were going for!  We had an assortment of small cookies, cheese and crackers, and fresh fruit. 

Here is each lady's place setting.  The only place that looked different was our lady of honor's seat.  Larisa had a recipe box to put all her "Recipes for a good marriage."  Let me explain.

Each place had a beautiful glass tray with matching water cup.  These were my Mother in Law's and she graciously gifted them to me after the shower so that I could use them again, which I already have!! I found the paper napkins on Amazon.  I only used Amazon because I was running out of time.  I would have really loved to find some hankies from a thrift store and had them embroidered with each guest's name.  But I planned this in 4 days a state away....so I did my best.

The cup and saucer are from Goodwill (do you see a trend?).  They do not match, which is what I wanted.  I love the mix of vintage prints on the cups and saucers...also I'm chaotic so I don't really like matchy matchy.  The fresh fruit is in one of my Grandma's ice cream dishes that I found in her treasure closet, as well as the small finger bowls.  The finger bowls are the small petal bowls full of water.  Those are so the ladies can clean off their fingers as the nibble on pastries.  It's all very proper. :)

The stack of papers next to the place setting is for all our games and activities for the shower.  Here is how the shower went...

 

After I welcomed the guests I gave them a little information about High Tea and some dos and don'ts if they were to find themselves at High Tea.  Then I invited them all to eat while they filled out a recipe card with a recipe for a good marriage.  These were fun little pieces of advice for the Bride to be in the form of a recipe.  

They were then to fill out an envelope with their address - for the thank you notes.  I absolutely LOVE when people do this at showers.  I get stressed out with thank you notes, so if I can make that process easier for someone else....I'd doing it!

Then each lady filled out a "Who Am I?" card where they answered questions about themselves and their husbands.  We then guessed who each person was based on their answers on the card! The person who got the most correct won a prize!

Then we determined who had been married the longest, and that person won a prize!  I'll confess, I knew it was going to be Grandma Helen and I wanted to bless her with a new diary anyway.  

After a little more visiting we played our final game where in I read the ingredients to some common recipes and the ladies had to write down what I was making based on the ingredients.  The lady who got the most right won!  This prize was some really cute ceramic measuring spoons I found at a local craft store.  They were cute!!!

Finally we all ooohed and aahed as Larisa opened some gifts from the ladies.  The theme was small practical things that we can't live without.  I gifted Larisa some dish towels - because Dave and I ALWAYS fight about dish towels. As well as wooden spoons - because I simply love them.  She also got some wonderful potholders, a clock, a journal, a beautiful painted measuring cup, and a fun new apron.  

It was great to celebrate her and be with family.  I am so glad I got to meet her before she officially becomes family.  She is so sweet and fun-loving.  We are going to have a great life as sisters!