Family Time on the Farm

Meme and Kadence explore the farm.

Caitlin opens presents with help from her brother and cousin.

Shana and Kadence share a cupcake.

Just a swingin.'

Photos by Bob Prichard

Caitlin's Birthday Down on the Farm

My niece Caitlin recently celebrated her second birthday with an adorable farm-themed party. Although we were not able to attend, I asked Jennifer if I could post photos from the day. Jennifer found some great online resources for planning a feminine farm-themed party. If you are considering this party theme, you seriously need to bookmark this page because my sister has found a ton of great resources!

First of all, Jennifer found these adorable invitations here. This site allows you to customize and preview invitations online, and the company prints them. You can also address envelopes online, and the company will even mail them if you wish.

This beautiful Tennessee farm provided the perfect setting for the birthday party.

You might remember the outfit I made last year for Caitlin's first birthday. This year the Birthday Girl looked adorable in a custom-made outfit and bow made by ladies who were so pleasant to work with, Caitlin might dub them honorary online aunts.

The autumn weather was perfect for an afternoon at the farm.

Jennifer did a great job making the cupcakes for the party, and she dressed them up with custom cupcake toppers and liners she found on Etsy.

Baskets proved convenient for transporting and displaying party goods, like these sweet favor bags.

Jennifer ordered the pink bags from Oriental Trading and dressed them up with custom favor tags. Each bag held pink horse bubbles; chocolate lollipops; and a smaller bag of strawberry cheesecake jellybeans embellished with Martha Stewart farm animal stickers (cellophane bags and MS stickers from Michaels).

Jennifer collected these adorable stuffed animals from Walgreens stores. At $1 each, these were an economical favor. The farm animals looked cute piled high in a basket, and party guests were delighted to choose one to take home.

Jennifer also shared a few more farm-fresh party ideas with these great links:

• Plates, napkins and cups from Oriental Trading
• Picnic blankets for crafting at Baby Feathers Online
• Farm animal paper plate crafts (not available now) from Oriental Trading, but find more ideas here
• Barbecue for the adults from Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q
• Cute shaped sandwiches for the kids using cow and horse cookie cutters from Karen's Cookies

I told you this post was worth bookmarking! I'll be back in the saddle all week, so mosey on over for more fun on the farm!

Cow Craft Photo by Sally Kent; All Other Photos by Bob Prichard

Falling for Pancakes

Wake up to fall flavors with pancakes smothered in warm cinnamon apples. Per Granny Smith apple, melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat in a small skillet. Add sliced, unpeeled apples and toss to coat. Stir in 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon per apple and stir. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until apples are crisp-tender and cinnamon syrup coats the pan. Pour over hot pancakes, and serve.

Come back this week for farm-fresh birthday party ideas!

Sharing a Cup of Loveliness

Thank you to everyone who left a comment to enter this week's giveaway for a bag of Cup of Loveliness Tea! I appreciate your support and encouragement in this exciting new venture. Congratulations to Saralynn, who will soon be sipping a cup of Southern Pecan tea in her century-old farm house nestled among 200-year-old pecan trees.

I will be taking tea to upcoming speaking engagements and hope to make Cup of Loveliness available online, so stay tuned for details. Also look for more giveaways coming soon!

Just like a favorite teacup, I hope your weekend will hold many lovely and sweet surprises!

Thinking Tea

"There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea." ~ Henry James

"The mere chink of cups and saucers tunes the mind to happy repose." ~ George Gissing

"If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are too heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you." ~ Gladstone, 1865

"What would the world do without tea?-- how did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea." ~ Sydney Smith (1771-1845)

A Giveaway: What's Your Cup of Tea?

I am so excited to introduce Cup of Loveliness, my new line of loose teas! I have been working with a tea blender, and we have four new blends to share.

• Roseberry -- my signature blend, a fragrant black tea flavored with raspberry, rose petals and lavender
• Peach-Pomegranate -- a refreshing blend of black and green teas flavored with peach and pomegranate
• Southern Pecan -- a delicious black tea flavored with the smooth taste of pecan
• Holiday-Spice -- a festive black tea flavored with vanilla, cinnamon and other tastes of the season

Which flavor would be your cup of tea? Tell me in the comments section to be entered to win a bag of tea, to be announced later this week!

A Cup of Loveliness: Holiday Spice

Today's Cup of Loveliness is Holiday Spice, a festive blend of black tea with cinnamon, vanilla and other flavors of the season. This loose tea smells like the holidays, and each sip holds the warmth of the holidays.

A perfect accompaniment to Holiday Spice Tea is my grandmother Frances Prichard's pumpkin roll -- a delicious treat presented on the holiday table or delivered to a friend. Grandma always doubles the recipe so she has plenty of this gooey dessert to share.

Pumpkin Roll

Cake:

3 eggs, beaten for 5 minutes
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup sifted self-rising flour
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts

Filling:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sifted powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread wax paper in a 15"-x-10" jelly roll pan, overlapping the edges. Mix ingredients for cake with a mixer, and spread batter in pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Spread a dish towel, and cover it with powdered sugar. Use the waxed paper to lift the cake from the pan and turn it onto the towel. Carefully ease the waxed paper from the cake, and roll it up in the towel. Set the cake aside to cool, and mix all the filling ingredients. Unroll the cooled cake, spread with filling, and reroll. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill until serving. Sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar, and slice in 1" slices.

A Cup of Loveliness: Southern Pecan

Today's Cup of Loveliness is absolutely heavenly! Southern Pecan is a black tea flavored with the smooth taste of pecan. This loose tea smells so good I wanted to eat it out of the bag! I am pairing this versatile blend with chicken salad croissants today, but it would be a wonderful accompaniment to all your breakfast or dessert favorites.

Chicken Salad Croissants

This simple sandwich is an easy go-to dish for the tea table.

2 cups chicken (about 2 breasts), boiled and shredded
1 teaspoon pickle juice
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 cup seedless grapes, rinsed and halved
Sliced almonds, optional
Croissants

Combine first three ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir in salt and basil, then gently fold in grapes. Chill. If the chicken salad gets too dry while chilling, stir in a little more mayonnaise before serving. Serve on a bed of lettuce with crackers, or spoon chicken salad on croissants. Garnish with sliced almonds, if desired. Yields 4 large croissants.

A Cup of Loveliness: Peach Pomegranate

This week I am pleased to introduce my new blends of loose tea. Today's Cup of Loveliness is Peach-Pomegranate, a tantalizing blend of black and green teas flavored with peach and pomegranate.

Today's selection is paired with my sister-in-law Shannon's delicious lettuce wraps. I had planned to serve this dish for afternoon tea with my friend Stacey, but knew I couldn't accomplish all my preparations due to back problems. I expected to cancel our get-together yesterday, but Stacey surprised me by offering to come over and help me with the food preparation. What a sweet, thoughtful friend! Although I had looked forward to making tea for Stacey, I was even more blessed to make tea with her. It was a good lesson for me in experiencing the blessings of service, which deepens relationships whether you are on the giving or receiving end.

Lettuce Wraps

I didn't roll the lettuce wrap in the photo above so you can see the delightful filling.

Sauce:

1/2 cup of peach preserves
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 minced garlic cloves
Cornstarch, as needed

Wraps:

1 tablespoon dark sesame oil or vegetable oil
2 boneless chicken breasts, skinless, chopped into small pieces
1/2 cup of chopped seeded cucumber
1/2 cup grated carrot
2 tablespoons peanuts chopped
1 teaspoon grated ginger root
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
16 leaves of Bibb lettuce, about 2 heads

Combine preserves, lime juice, soy sauce and garlic. Mix well. Spoon 1/4 cup of sauce into 1-cup measuring cup. Stir in cornstarch until smooth. Set aside. Refrigerate remaining sauce in bowl until serving time. Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add chicken. Cook 5-7 minutes or until browned, stirring frequently. Stir in cucumber, carrot, peanuts, ginger and garlic. Stir in reserved sauce with cornstarch. Cool 2 to 3 minutes or until bubbly and thick, stirring constantly. Spoon mixture into shallow dish. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes or until cooled. Spoon 2 tablespoons chicken mixture onto center of each lettuce leaf. Fold sides of lettuce in toward center. Roll up like a burrito and secure with toothpicks. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate until serving time. Serve with remaining sauce. Makes 16 servings.

A Cup of Loveliness: Roseberry

I am so thrilled to announce my newest passion: Cup of Loveliness Tea!

My signature blend is a feminine selection called Roseberry, a fragrant black tea flavored with raspberry, rose and lavender. Pretty and fragrant, this is definitely my cup of tea!

I will be introducing a blend each day this week, along with recipes and ideas to coordinate with the day's selection. So please join me each day for a virtual tea party. Then stop in Monday to register for a bag of tea!

My late grandmother, Gladys Williams West's, Old-Fashioned Tea Cakes are the perfect complement to Roseberry Tea.

Old-Fashioned Tea Cakes

Serve these lightly-sweet cookies as is, or make them fancier with icing or powdered sugar.

1 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour

Cream margarine and sugar, beating well until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat. Add vanilla and gradually add flour, beating after each addition. Dough should be stiff enough to handle. Place on a floured surface and roll to 1 inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutter and place on lightly-greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes. Yields about 2 dozen cookies.

If these tea cakes are not quite sweet enough for your tastes, give them a kiss of sugar. For a simple but elegant presentation, sprinkle the cookies with a dusting of powdered sugar. Then serve these sweet treats with lemon curd and fresh raspberries. For a more detailed approach, cover the cookies with icing. Make poured icing by adding lukewarm water, a little at a time, to powdered sugar and stirring until you achieve a thin liquid. Place the cookies on a cooling rack, and pour the icing over. Allow it to harden, then add final details to the cookies with royal or buttercream icing.

The tea party continues all week, so come back each day to preview other loose tea blends and to register to win your own Cup of Loveliness!

Happy Halloween!

Under that tough exterior, this ninja is really a prince.

I hope your weekend is full of sweet treats and delicious surprises!

Tricks and Treats

We have cupcakes as far as the eye can see today!

I made 72 yesterday for upcoming Halloween events. Imagine my surprise when I took a quick break from baking and discovered a big surprise ... .

What a treat!

I have been featured on Today's Creative Blog! I have been a huge supporter of TCB for a long time and find so much creative inspiration on the site. You can find Kim's sweet review here.

Thank you, Kim and TCB! I am beyond thrilled and so appreciative of the encouragement!

I hope you will discover some special treats -- as well as learning a few new tricks on Today's Creative Blog -- today!

Mum's the Word

And the word is "Welcome!"

Ladies at the Henderson Church of Christ sent me home Saturday with this beautiful fall arrangement. Positioned outside our kitchen door, these mums have given our family a warm welcome home each day since.

Make an arrangement like this one by clustering several potted mums into a larger terracotta pot. Fill in the arrangement with seasonal grasses, camouflage the plastic pots with moss, and tie a ribbon around the terracotta pot.

When it comes to saying "Welcome, Fall," just remember, mum's the word!

Throwing in the Towel

As a southern girl, I think loving monograms is in my DNA. But I have recently discovered that personalizing household items also helps teach my family personal responsibility. Lately I have grown frustrated finding wet towels dropped carelessly around the house, so when Horchow put these monogrammed Ralph Lauren Lawton towels on sale, I saw my opportunity to teach some "personalized responsibility." I considered ordering only one monogrammed towel for the real culprit, whose initials are IWM. He must be to blame for our scattered towels, because whenever I find one and demand to know who didn't hang up their towel, I'm met with a chorus of "It Wasn't Me!" In the end I decided to order one for each person in our household, so we can all identify and hang up our own towels. If you are thinking about throwing in the towel on your family's bath-time organization, find the lowest prices of the season on the fluffy towels pictured in the link above. And get free shipping with the coupon code FREESHIP through tomorrow morning!

Favorite Things

I was so glad my daughters wanted to join me on my weekend trip to Tennessee for a ladies day at the Henderson Church of Christ. Some of the teenagers provided childcare during the event, and one of the ladies of the congregation offered to take the girls downstairs before we began. When Kira returned, she told me about a sweet conversation she shared with 5-year-old Mary Ashley.

"Do you like going to ladies days with your mommy?" Kira asked as they descended the stairs.

"I like doing everything with my mommy!" came Mary Ashley's enthusiastic reply. "I like to sleep with her. I like to go to ladies days with her. I like to be with her all the time!"

I was so touched to hear what my sweet girl said when I wasn't nearby, and I thanked her later that day for her kind words. What she said next surprised me, and her words have stuck with me since we returned home.

"Mommy," Mary Ashley began, "do you know what my very favorite thing in the whole, whole wide world is?"

Intrigued by her question, I considered the possibilities briefly before realizing I honestly didn't know. "No, Sweetheart, what would that be?"

"Playing the girl games and having story time with you," she revealed.

A swirl of emotions filled my heart when I heard this. First of all, I was honored to learn that many of Mary Ashley's happiest moments are spent in my company. And I was immediately struck by the simplicity of her expectations. Her greatest joys do not require elaborate planning or great sacrifices on my part; in fact, snuggling up to read Fancy Nancy or pausing to play The Princess Match Game actually allows me to slow down and relax too.

But realizing how much she treasures our quiet moments together, I felt humbled knowing how often I allow the demands of school, housekeeping and extra-curricular activities to crowd out simple family rituals. Too often I tuck the children into bed -- wondering how the evening got away from us again -- turning down requests to read a story or play a game as I turn down their covers, offering weakly, "I'm sorry that it has gotten so late tonight, but I hope tomorrow we will have time."

But now that I know how easily I can incorporate Mary Ashley's favorite things into our day, I feel a serious shift in priorities and planning taking place.

Still pondering Mary Ashley's confession to me, I asked my other children last night what makes them feel most joyful.

Three-year-old Emma called out, "Swimming in our pool!"

Seven-year-old Christian said, "Hearing something funny that makes me laugh."

And 10-year-old Carson said, "Being successful at something really difficult, like making a good grade on a test that was really hard or playing basketball and making a basket just before the buzzer sounds."

Immediately my wheels started turning, and I'm already looking forward to sitting poolside next summer, reading a funny book to Christian and Mary Ashley while I watch Emma swim, calling out challenges to Carson as he attempts perilous feats off the diving board.

In all sincerity, I am so thankful for my conversation with Mary Ashley because she reminded me that the greatest joys are often found in life's littlest moments. And I'm hoping that in being a student of what makes my loved ones happiest, I can give them love gifts each day tailored to fit their unique needs and tastes. And in sharing these special moments with my children, I hope to show them every day that my favorite thing in the whole, whole wide world is spending time with them.

"The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family." -- Thomas Jefferson

(I am linking this post to Tuesdays Unwrapped at Chatting at the Sky. Click here to discover more gifts of everyday joy.)

Take Me to Tennessee

Congratulations to my friend Lara, who won the Focal Point Photography Etsy shop giveaway!

I love the photo above, a beautiful fall scene my brother, Nathan, took in Tennessee. My heart feels drawn to Tennessee in the fall, so I am looking forward to experiencing the crisp air and pretty foliage as I travel toWest Tennessee this weekend. I will be doing a ladies day at the Henderson Church of Christ Saturday. Please join us if you can!