The Perry family

Non-Average Days

So, what have the Perrys been up to of late?

Birthdays
Thanksgiving
Birthday
Christmas cards X3 (long story that would make a great blog post)
Mexico
Christmas
New Years
Birthday
Preview Weekend (To Every Tribe)
Birthday

Some of those are actually good blog posts, so if you see me revisit them later...

Look! It's later.

Emma's twelfth (not "twelth" like I wrote on her invitations) birthday is the last birthday of our nuclear family in the "Birthday Season" (7 birthdays in 3 months amongst the holiday season). It usually feels like the last mile of a marathon. You either give it all you have with a last burst of exhaust fumes, or sit down on the road and cry. By God's grace, we made it to the finish line running.

A few days before Emma's birthday she had the idea of a Jane Austen themed party. We kind of got carried away with the idea.

On Wednesday, Emma and I made pretty little formal invites, folded them in thirds and sealed them with fragrant candle wax imprinted with a rose from the back of a fork. They were then hand delivered.

Thursday, after finishing schoolwork with the kids, I went to work making 4 bonnets. That endeavor carried into late Friday night. No pattern, just a few pictures for reference, and a lot of head scratching.

Friday, Emma and I made up as much of the food for the tea/brunch ahead of time that we could.

Saturday, at 9 AM, our guests met outside the door of the Perry Manor. Three young ladies, including Emma, were assigned 3 maiden attendants. By lot, they picked out their bonnets and we headed out in our chaise and 8 to the neighboring town.

At a thrift store they were given a $10 budget and roughly 40 minutes to find all the supplies for transporting our young ladies back into the regency era fashion. We made a quick stop for ribbon at the local mart and headed back to the manor for tea and outfit assemblage.

These ladies were amazing! I am so impressed with the outcome and talent!


photo courtesy of Diana Simpson

photo courtesy of Diana Simpson

After judging the best outfit with 3 other judges and handing out prizes to the young lady and her attendant, we sat down to a game of "Marrying Mr. Darcy".

Fun was had by all.

Thankfully, this all happened right before most of us came down sick.

May you have a blessed day!

I like the phrase "A new normal."It has a quick and to the point ability to communicate that your life is in some state of change. In order to have some sense of stability you need to function in "A new normal."

There's a problem with it though, you must find it.

Why?

Because you lost the old one and it's probably not coming back.

I imagine you've experienced it yourself with a new marriage, a new baby/child, a new job, or a new home. Regardless of your circumstances finding it takes time and a recognition of new patterns.

We have not found our "new normal" yet, but we're working on it. I don't expect our posts will have a lot of rhyme or reason, but should be interesting until "Squirrel!"

Here are a few new pictures I took when the kids and I tagged along on a field trip to a science center.