The Main Event

I've been meaning to sit down and write about my sister's wedding for a long time.  It's been almost 4 weeks and since we've been home we've had a case of food poisoning (I know, something about weddings and food poisoning with us seem to go hand in hand), a stomach bug, a trip to urgent care and two nasty colds....so yeah, just now sitting down to write this post.  I wanted to do it justice, you know.  She'll only get married once.

The only picture I got at the actual rehearsal was this one of Brody.  He's wearing his Super Bearer cape that Carolyn had me make for him.  She designed the center, it's a big diamond with two wedding bands in the center--so cute!

The rehearsal dinner was held at La Palma, a beautiful restaurant in Coral Gables.  

It was so warm out that evening, Brody spent a lot of time with people by the fans.

Logan and Aunt Lindsey bonded by the fan, too.

After we waited for quite a while for dinner to be served, Brody got bored and we resorted to dressing him up in different peoples' accessories to keep him entertained.  (The food was worth the wait, though)

After the rehearsal/dinner we headed home, put the kiddos to bed and Lindsey and I threw Carolyn a little bachelorette party.  Nothing like fondu and champaign to get the festivities going!

Carolyn and I got up way too early the day of the wedding and went in to get our hair done.  Though the girl who did Carolyn's hair was not entirely pleased to be up that early for work, she did a fantastic job and her hair was flawless and beautiful all day.

Carolyn's colors were apple and guava.  We went to rent a little tux for Brody but they don't make the one's with coordinating colors in his size, so we opted out of paying $75 for a black one that wouldn't match and I made him a little suit.

The wedding was beautiful.  Full of laughter and tears.  Here's Carolyn right before she walked down the aisle:

Photo Credit: NP Photography and Design

 You can really tell in the after ceremony pictures how thrilled Carolyn was to be married to Rand.  Even when she wasn't taking pictures with him, she was beaming.

Photo Credit: NP Photography and Design

This picture is kind of in a random spot in the post, but Carolyn had the lady who did her main cake make Rand a groomscake that looked like a pan with bacon frying in it because of his intense love of bacon.  It was such a hit!

I loved getting to see the kiddos all dressed up and get to participate in the wedding.  Even Brody actually made it down the aisle....though he did get frustrated when he got to the end and was expected to sit with someone instead of standing up with all of the girls.  He may or may not have thrown the pillow he was carrying down the rest of the aisle in irritation.  I'll never tell.  Though, if you really wanted to know, you could probably ask one of the ladies near the front who nearly died laughing.

Photo Credit: NP Photography and Design

Thank goodness for the lady at the reception who is a wedding planner and was a guest at the wedding.  Brody was having a major meltdown as his naptime hit and there was no place to put him down and she rushed over with a lollipop to save the day.  She said she always carries a stash of them to weddings knowing they're lifesavers when kiddos start to lose it.  And she was right.  Kept him quiet until lunch was served.

The dances were very emotional.  Carolyn is definitely the crier of the family and had everyone in tears every time something remotely sentimental happened.  Though, this one would have pulled a tear or two from anyone, I think.

This was the picture that I really wanted to have caught on film, I always love seeing the pictures of the bride dancing with the ring bearer.  It'll be a fun one to show at his wedding one day.

Photo Credit: NP Photography and Design

 And Natalie outdid herself with this gem of a picture.  I had no idea she even captured this moment I had with my boy, but I'll treasure the picture forever.

Photo Credit: NP Photography and Design

 We snuck to the side room and had Natalie take a family picture for us, too.  She's documented so much of our lives together, it seemed to come full circle for us when she took this one.

Photo Credit: NP Photography and Design

 I mentioned it before, but the reception was held at a cozy little Italian place.  The restaurant actually also has a small marketplace attached.  The colors were so vibrant in there and the pictures they got in the marketplace had so much character to them.

Photo Credit: NP Photography and Design

 From the porch outside of the marketplace:

Photo Credit: NP Photography and Design

I had to throw these in because I thought the ideas Carolyn had for her gifts were so unique and fun!

Here are the bridesmaid's gifts, she had a card with this poem in with them:  

"As a thank you for your help in this time of stress 

Here are some supplies to help you decompress.  

Enjoy a bubble bath and light the candle

 For getting me through what I alone couldn't handle.  

Plant a flower and watch it grow 

Use the mug and let the coffee flow!  

I hope you can use this bag with style 

Thank you for helping me make it down the aisle!"

And for the flower girls we found this sweet poem and she had me embroider a shortened version of it on a hankie for the two girls. 

The whole poem reads: 

Logan, 

Today you are young, but the years will pass by.

And you'll be a bride in the blink of an eye.

While you may not remember the day we married,

Or the part you played or the sign that you carried.

There will be a day that will burn bright like an ember.

The day that you wed you will always remember.

So here is a hankie for the day that you say,

"I need something old for my wedding day."

Props to those who made it through this novel, but I wanted to make sure to get all of it down for our memories!  

Conversations with my 3 year old

 

Loganisms:

Oh bumpers = Oh bummer

Rotilla = Tortilla

Wicked Fwitch= wicked witch

De-yummy= mashup between delicious and yummy

Mom, you have to crap yourself in. = Mom, you have to strap yourself in.

"Mommy, you have to learn to be patient.  You can't always have what you want when you want it. It's like when you make me sit in my room and I'm always patient and sit there and wait patiently like a patient person."  (p.s. for future reference one day, little one, you don't sit patiently in your room...but I'm glad you know how to use the word)

Logan recently started to "do my hair" she'll stand behind me and tug and brush and pull and then will ask me to put up the knots she's created in there.  When I'm sitting there, I know how she must feel when I'm doing her hair as she makes statements like, "Would you please sit still?  This won't get done unless you stop.  It'll take longer the longer you move."

Mommy,  I put a bumbo in your hair.  It's a pretty big bumbo.  (Bun)

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green passwords..."


"...you prepare a table for me in the presents of my enemies, you anoint my salad with oil..."

I taught Logan the concept of grace a few months back.  As in, you deserve this consequence but I'm giving you grace even though you don't deserve it.  She gets the concept a little too well.  It's also helped her learn to subtract quite well.  Here are how our conversations about consequences usually go:

Me: Logan, you've earned 3 consequences for disobeying while we've been out.
Logan: Ok, I know I deserve them but could you please give me grace for 2 and only give me 1 consequence?

Master Makeover

I've really been wanting to update our room for quite a while.  When we moved here I was able to get a new comforter/bed set but we didn't have much to put on the walls and the rest of the furniture in there was just a hodge podge of stuff.  A few months back I found a metal bed frame (at the trash collection area by our apartment!) and decided that I'd take that as a starting board to really do something with our room.  Here is a random before picture:

I wish I had snapped one before we got the frame because the bed was much lower and it looked much more bare in the room.  The quilt on the bed in the before picture was also a random addition because somehow, vaseline got spread on the corner of the one that actually matches the pillows and we had to put it away.  

I also realized that most of the rooms in my house have brown as a major color in them.  I love brown, I love that it goes with so many things, but it was totally unintentional that it had become a focal color in my home!  When thinking through color schemes for the room, I wanted to get away from brown but also didn't want it to be ultra feminine.  I initially wanted to do yellow and grey and then I landed my eyes on these knobs from anthropologie and I knew I wanted to do a color pallet around them: 

So, I went with grey/aqua/white/black.  And I love, love, love the way it came together.

I also found the little nightstand by my side of the bed at the trash area here.  All I had before was a table that fit a lamp and the baby monitor on it and now I can keep my kindle near me and I have a nice place to display all of my Francine Rivers books.  I painted the lamp shades to match the color of the knobs.

I really wanted to find a nighstand that somewhat matched the other but this one that we found at IKEA was too good of a deal to pass up and I was tired of looking.  Maybe I'll stumble upon a perfect match someday.  I love that his boots and dog tags are sitting there now because it means he's home!

I love using photos to decorate.  I think it's a great way to display memories and take up wall space.  So, above our bed I added pictures from our engagement session, our wedding and a picture of the kids.  

I moved the ottoman that holds the kid's books from the living room into our room.  I like having the extra place to sit in the room and also really like having the books in there.  I like to read their bedtime stories cuddled up on our bed and this makes it so much easier.  It also prevents all of their books from ending up all over the living room floor, which was much more of a temptation when they were out in a common play area.  I made some coordinating pillows to pull it all together, too.

The other side of the room isn't anything special.  Just the TV stand.  I'd like to paint it white to go with the other furniture accents but it's a project for another time.

Anyway, there  you have it.  I love it and walk in there all the time and feel refreshed.  It was a nice project to keep me occupied while Mike was gone.  He enjoys the new look, too.

Oh Sheep-eee-hoo!

I sincerely apologize for not blogging in almost a MONTH.  With Mike being gone and then traveling I haven't had time to sit down and think about the different things that have happened.  But, fear not!  I'm back and have a lot of catching up to do.  I thought I'd start with Logan's recital, that's about where I left off time wise.  

Logan's hair had to be in a bun for her performance.  I was a little nervous about trying to get the little bit of hair she has into a ballerina bun, but we did it!

This is at the dress rehearsal, but we didn't get many group shots on the day of, so I threw them in here.

Logan was SO EXCITED.  She is SUCH a performer.  She loves to dance and loves to do it for other people even more.  I wonder if one day we'll see these pictures on So You Think You Can Dance?  :)

I've never gotten so many "real" smiles from her in one setting.  It was so nice not to have the fake ones that I usually get when the camera comes out.

The theme of their recital was Animal Fun.  All of the songs had animal themes/costumes.  Logan's group danced to The Wonder Pets, "Oh Sheep-eeee-hoo!" And they did such a great job! 

We knew quite a while ago that Mike wouldn't be able to make it to the show since he'd be in Fort Jackson for his BOLC, so Aunt Carolyn came up for the show.  Logan also got a bouquet of flowers signed "Love, daddy" so that she knew he was thinking of her.

It was such a great experience.  She's already asking when ballet starts up again for the fall.  It should be another fun year.  

There was a no photography/video policy during the recital because they were doing their own recording.  So, there are no during pictures and I didn't get a video of it.  We're still debating whether or not to drop the $32 it costs to get the DVD (robbery, in my opinion), BUT, I did get a video of the dance during their last rehearsal for everyone!  Enjoy!