The Whitfield Family Reunion and Guess Who Came to Tea??

Oh, my goodness! This has been a busy happy weekend for us and it's not over yet!!

First of all, Sabrina and Rayne arrived safely from Puerto Rico Thursday night.

Rayne is growing up right in front of my eyes!

We stayed up late visiting on the driveway and then we went in and talked some more before the tired travelers went to bed.

Louis Dean and I stayed up for an extra little while in the gazebo.

We're still waiting for fall weather but at least it's not hot at midnight!

Since we stayed up so late, everyone was gone by the time we woke up Friday morning.

They had a lot to do and were up and on their way early.

I spent Friday cleaning and quilting, cooking and baking and packing up things to take to the ranch when we go sometime next week.

I have some decorating to do down there.

These were on clearance at Hobby Lobby when Summer and I stopped by there on Thursday after visiting Mother.

I may paint this since the walls in the front room are white.....

I'm itching to get back down there.

Soon.......

We woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful day for a family reunion!

Mineral Wells State Park!

I took a lot of pictures but didn't get nearly everyone.

Nita and Lonnie!

They were our auctioneers for the fundraiser that pays for the expenses of the reunion.

Deanie and Cousin Anthony.

Anthony is the one who started the reunion and keeps it going.

Here we are!!

Deanie, Charlie and Grandson Nathan!

Nita never ages!

Lots of food, fun and fellowship!

The afternoon flew by!

We always have lots of good food!

Dwayne and Rachel.

Louis Dean is happiest when a pretty lady is paying him some attention.

That would be Pam.....

and here is her husband, Nick!

After the food and all the visiting - we do the auction!

Nita and Lonnie did a great job!

I just love these photos of them!

Look how cute they are!

This is what we had for the auction.

Pam is a professional quilter and we are always so blown away with her beautiful quilts!

Pam also made those adorable tea towels on the bottom left.

They went for a lot of money but Nita had told her husband ahead of time how much she wanted them and he outbid everyone else so she could have them.

It was close to 3:00 when we left the park.

Our next stop was to buy a bill of groceries since we had been out of town for the better part of a month. Since we were in Mineral Wells, we decided to go to Grandbury.......

we do love a good HEB!

Makes the chore of grocery shopping more like a party!

We got home and put up the groceries right before our visitors arrived.....

Look who came to tea!

High Tea which made a perfect supper!

The kids were so excited to be here and, of course, we were excited, too!

They all felt so grown up with their stemmed goblets for their tea and they each had a teapot of their own. It was a fun meal. We talked and listened to the kids talk.

"Ain't it kind of funny what the children say?" is one of Louis Dean's favorite sayings and songs.

While I cleaned up the kitchen, the kids did several of the 21 Rules of the House.

They did Rule #17, 18 and 19!

The kids have always loved gathering around my sewing machine.

I'm not sure why. They congregate there every single time they come over.

 They love pushing pins into pincushions and tonight they practiced threading needles and making simple stitches.

We mended three stuffed animals and Logan sewed two denim squares together.

It's quiet here now.

They have been in bed for several hours and I have been up preparing for tomorrow.

Before I close, I want to show off the new Halloween shirt that Nita and Mike gave me for my birthday.

I just love it! So much so that I changed shirts at the reunion and wore it the rest of the day.

Trish and Andie gave me pajamas - both pair are camper themed and I can't wait to wear them when we get there!

Deanie gave me the gorgeous sunflower bowls and they may go to the camper, too, because they are perfect for soup and cereal!

It's too late to finish the baby quilt....even for me.

 I hope to put the binding on before the weekend is over.

But for now, I'm turning out the lights.

There's a prepared tray in the guest room for when the quads wake up.....

a tin of muffins, some snack crackers and 4 small cups with a bottle of tea.

That will give Louis Dean and me a few extra minutes of sleep.

Goodnight from the Chapman's house!