Tea Set

This story begins with a Father's Day Gift.

We went to a paint-your-own-pottery place and made a mug for daddy.  It was quick and easy, and after 30 minutes O was excited to do more.  'Oh, mama!  Look at this beautiful tea set!  We could paint it together and then have tea parties.  It would be so much fun.  Please, mama?'  

How could I resist such cuteness?  So, we began painting the tea set.  We finished the tea cups and saucers and had to save the rest for another day, because we had been there, oh 4 hours, and dinner time was approaching.

We were back at it the next day.  Neither of us were as focused as before.  Did I mention each piece had to be painted three times?  Each layer had to be dried with a hair dryer.  

Another girl/mom showed up and O felt it was much more important to talk to the girl than paint.  This left mama painting all the 'boring parts'  ie the base coats.  After 3 more hours we had only managed to paint a few pieces.  

Did I mention I let my daughter choose a tea set with 11 pieces?

The next day we skipped.  Neither of us had it in us, to drag ourselves back to the pottery place to paint, yet again.  

Ok, maybe it was more than a day.  I did start this project a full week before Father's Day, and it just was finished, ahem...yesterday.  Anyway, after a break we went back.  On that particular day, O rather enjoyed looking at all the other pieces that she liked.  A horse, a pig, a mug.  She wanted to paint them all.  Oh but when I mentioned coming back to paint the tea set....not interested.  Another 2 hours, and we left.  

The next time we went out there, we were finally making progress.  We could decorate the pieces.   The excitement lasted through one tea pot.  That's it.  She lost interest again.  Oh My Goodness.  What was I thinking?  Why did I think painting 11 pieces would be fun?  We are making memories alright.  Memories of mommy getting frustrated and on the verge of begging her five year old to. Just. Finish. The. Set.

Whew.  I needed a break.  We took a few more days off because I did not want to make the entire experience miserable for both of us.  Then I brought in reinforcements.  

The husband is an amazing painter.  He came along and helped finish the big tray because let's face it, O and I would have worked on it for another month before it was finished.

After a solid two weeks, and 5 (but it sure felt like more) days painting we gave the ok to throw it in the kiln.  O and I picked up the final product yesterday.  Oh my.  That little girl's face was glowing.  She was thrilled, and so excited to have a tea party.

Daddy's piece--much fancier than ours.

The whole set.

O did the saucers and the larger plate all by herself.

I think they are beautiful.

As she was painting she told me she hid a fairy in there.

Can you see it, amongst the flowers and leaves?

Super excited to have  tea party!

Of course, no good tea party is complete without sugar cubes.

I am actually surprised I found these.  I have looked for them back home with no luck.

Cookies and sugar cubes.  

I let O taste a sugar cube.  She was pleased.

We had to get dressed up for the tea party.

Super fancy with bows and scarves and

jewelry, oh my!  (disregard my towels

lying on the floor, haha)

Can you tell she is enjoying herself?

We had a lovely conversation.  She told me

all kinds of fun things, like how to properly

hold my tea cup, and what she would like

to do today.  It included very important things

like reading with mama, and playing at the

splash pad. 

The sugar cubes were a hit.  She loved watching

them dissolve in the tea.  She dropped 4 cubes in 

maybe a 1/4 cup of tea.  She decided the next cup

would only have 1 or 2 cubes.

After all is said and done, I am happy we made the tea set, but the process was much more than I expected.  Next time, I will set realistic expectations :)