10 Years Old! (Cooking Party!)

Our little girl turned 10 today!

To celebrate, we did what Rayna loves best:  cooking, serving, and eating food!  Her cousins Ava and Ellie came over for the afternoon, and in about 3 hours, we made 7 different dishes.  The girls were all tremendous chefs!

First they all donned custom-made (not by me) aprons

Then we set to work

We used some of our prettiest items, including heirlooms from grandmothers, a tablecloth made by Mor-Mor, and spoons given to me by Liuba in Moldova (which she had used with her daughter and her birthday parties 40 years ago!).

I set out the things like this, and Strider's first comment was that it looked like the fancy lady in the middle of the table was under attack.  I told him that was why boys were not invited to this party.

When we sat down, after changing into nicer dresses,  for our "High Tea," we had curry chicken salad, caesar salad, grape "caterpillars," cinnamon roll "snails," fancy cucumbers, fantasy applewiches, lemonade, and, of course, cupcakes!

We ladies had a wonderful time!  (Lady Nonna joined us as well!)

Then, we took some of the leftover food (after our boys had eaten, of course), to Uncle Dan's and Uncle Graham's workplace.  We wanted to share with some of their co-workers, but by the time we got there (late, surprise, surprise), there were only a few guys left. The uncles were there, though, and that's who we most wanted to see!

Plus the girls got to learn about the oil industry!

All in all, it was a fun afternoon.  Rayna got to do some of her all-time favorite things:  wear an apron, do some baking, use pretty dishes, wear a pretty dress, take food to people, play with her cousins and Nonna, eat special food, and hang out in the kitchen all day.  Happy 10th birthday, sweet girl!