Lunch with Friends

 
Today was such a lovely day visiting with friends.  We had both Christina and Jack and Liz and Kaitlyn come over for lunch today.  The weather was sensational today, felt almost like a summer day, so I set up the table in the backyard so that we could bask in the beautiful fall sun and enjoy dining al fresco while we still can!

Sydney was so cute this morning, while I was setting up for everyone to come for lunch, she dragged all of her outside toys out of the garage and lined them up for her friends to play with.  I love that she is excited to have people over and helps me with the preparations!

We also set up a splash mat outside with the new playdough that Sydney's friend Alexis gave her for her Bye-Bye Diapers party.  The kids loved it!  At one point they were all playing super nicely together, sharing and chatting amongst each other with the playdough and accessories.  It was awesome!

Christina and Liz and I had such a nice visit too.  The kids managed to keep themselves occupied between being outside and the playroom downstairs, so we had lots of time to chat uninterrupted!

I made a crustless quiche and salad for lunch along with homemade macaroni for the kids, it was pretty delicious!

I have to say that I have some of the sweetest, most amazing friends in the world!  Christina brought a lovely bottle of wine for me today from a Washington winery minutes from their vacation home.

Jack also brought Sydney a little gift, an African Violet in a lovely little heart flower pot.  Sydney loved it and it was so sweet to watch Jack give it to her!  She wanted to plant it in her garden immediately!  It was very funny.

She decided to cover the entire flower pot in stickers tonight to give it her own special touch!

Liz brought the most amazing fresh blueberry pie from Aphrodite's Cafe in Kits for dessert!  It was so incredible and such a nice treat!  We thoroughly enjoyed it!

What a great way to spend a morning!

I made a yummy Salmon Wellington for dinner tonight with some of the salmon that my friend Lori gave me from her husband's fishing expedition.  It was super simple and delicious and had such a nice gourmet result!

We picked up Sydney's artwork from our summer session at 4 Cats this week too.  Check out her latest creations:

Handmade Bead Necklace

Duck Painting

Cat Silkscreen

Owl Canvas

Clay Seashell

 
Paul picked me a huge bouquet of these most amazing flowers yesterday.  I'm not sure what they're called but they look like super giant lilacs, are fragrant and oh so beautiful in bunches.  I have two vases of them in my kitchen and love them!

We are enjoying having one last bonus week of summer both with the weather and with school not starting until next Monday for Sydney.  I have a feeling it's going to be a great week!