Hosting Dinner and Stomping Grapes

It is Friday and friends are coming for dinner. I ask the children what makes a meal nice. I asked them why we like going to restaurants. 

They are very very clean.
There is always a bouquet of flowers
There is a welcome sign
There is a sign to the restrooms.
There is a menu.
The silverware is wrapped in a napkin.
The food is served on nice plates.
The food is not on the table it is brought to the table.

"What is an appetizer?"
"Can we make signs?"
"I'll clean off the table."
"Can I put a sign on the mailbox?"
"I know where the flowers are."

Friday afternoon turns into menu planning and cooking and sign making and setting up the place for a crowd.

William keeps us on our toes with two steps forward three steps back.

We don't get to the carrot cake, but there is nice ice cream and no one complains and the spaghetti is divine with fresh herbs from the garden.

Basil. Oregano. Mint. Lots of It.

They are sweet with conversation and kind to the guests but insist that they jump on the trampoline with them.

Sweaty guests and sweet children.

Wake in the morning and head to the grape harvest festival. 

We as a family and new friend Catherine make a grape stomping team for the contest and I laugh so hard and stomp so hard and eat a lot of grapes and taste a lot of wine.

We bring home muscadines, plump and juicy. Amelia grape stomps out the juice (with clean feet)

We make gallons -- gallons of jelly.

We pray it makes and it does.

Friend Catherine helps. Picture is yellow. I'm learning folks. Can't quite get it straight. You will see progress with the new camera. . . . 








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