A Tennis Gathering

This spring, Gretchen and I co-captained a USTA tennis team.  When we were asked to captain we considered saying no because we had absolutely no experience and had only actually played on a team once before.  However, we wanted to be able to play doubles together so we agreed knowing that our tennis facility would help as much as they could.  It's been such a wonderful experience and really lovely getting to know our teammates (many of whom we didn't know).  And those doubles matches?  We haven't played together once since we were needed to play singles!

To celebrate our season, Gretchen and I hosted a little gathering for our team.  Everyone brought something to munch on and we provided the cocktails.  Our drink of the night was a Pimms Cup as a nod to the official drink of Wimbledon!  I'd never had a Pimms Cup and was surprised at how good it was!  Plus, we decided the addition of the cucumber spear made it healthy.

I also made tennis ball cupcakes and I just love how cute they are!  The tennis ball is actually a gumball and  they really couldn't have been simpler to make.  I also discovered how handy it is to have a giant tip to pipe out the icing.  I've always wondered how people got that ball of icing on the top and now I know.

Popcorn Cupcakes

While Blake and Lana were here we watched a movie on the lawn, which is always so fun.  Of course, due to Harris' EE allergy we cannot have *popcorn, but I thought it would be a treat to have sweet popcorn instead!  These cupcakes were so easy and quick to put together (I made chocolate cupcakes because it's a one bowl recipe) and turned out absolutely adorable.

To make the small marshmallows look like kernels of popcorn, you simply twist the marshmallow and then pile them high on an iced cupcake.  After a google search, I found a free printable for the bottom of the cupcakes which I just cut out and tapped on.

We watched Goonies which is a classic children's film.  I was, however, a little surprised by all the curse words!  Funny, I don't remember those from my childhood viewings at all!

*I choose not to ever serve anything that Harris can't have due to an allergy because I figure that his own home should be the one place that he never feels he's missing out on food.  

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!  Our area had the most wonderful gift of all today... RAIN!  We really needed it and today we have had steady rain all day long.  This morning Bryce and I had our coffee sitting on the porch, listening to the rain.  It was lovely.

Today, in celebration of Earth Day, we had mini cupcakes topped with a little chocolate globe.  It was a sweet treat that we enjoyed before we read books that were all about the Earth!