A Beautiful Wedding...

Josh & Leah's wedding was wonderful! Leah is very sweet and funny - she and Josh are a great couple. They had their wedding at a beautiful chateau in the Utah mountains. There were lots of flowers and topiaries, with winding paths, bridges and stairways scattered all around the main building. Swans and geese swam in the many ornamental pools and streams while peacocks and rabbits roamed the grounds. Leah looked gorgeous- and her three sisters, who were her maid of honor and bridesmaids, were stunning - all four sisters looked like they stepped right out of a fairytale. That family has four very beautiful girls. Big brother Eric was best man, Josh's friend Kyle was a groomsman (he told a great story about how he got to know Josh at the rehearsal dinner - I'll save that for later and share with Josh's permission - or just use the idea of it to bother him, big sister style), and nephew Brendan was the other groomsman. Emily loved being the flower girl. I think, in her dreams, every day should begin in a room like the bride's room with someone doing your hair and plates of goodies at your disposal and then involve walking down a long, winding staircase with people looking at you. All my boys - Joel, Caleb and Alex - looked so handsome. Caleb and Alex looked so grown-up. Joel took most of the pictures, so I don't have a lot of him. (ahem). He also took the kids on many walks around the grounds during the reception- they loved it there. When Josh and Leah left she was wearing an absolutely stunning going away dress, and well, I have no idea what Josh was wearing. Anyway, they left by going down a staircase to a waiting car while the guests held lit sparklers - I'd love a picture of that! Of course, Emily wanted to know what they were going to do with the left over sparklers after Josh & Leah left. I guess if you take away the beautiful dress, the hair, and the the flowers, she's still just a little girl at heart. I think about that and wonder if I'll ever really be ready to see Emily - or any of my kids - do this?

Knees & Dinosaurs

At the beginning of June, we went to Colorado to take care of my mom after she had knee surgery. It was truly an eye-opening experience! The hospital staff was incredible. Everyone on staff was caring and professional. We loved them all. The RNs kept a close eye on mom and answered all my questions and concerns. When a couple of different problems arose in the first couple of days, they dealt with the medical issues swiftly and the concerned daughter issues compassionately. The CNAs were friendly and encouraging. They chatted with us and did their occasionally difficult job cheerfully and well. And the Physical therapists were knowledgeable and fun. Both were young girls and they really liked mom. On her last day the PT told her that they had decided she needed to be roomed with another knee patient. Mom was all about doing the PT - she wanted to get back to work. Her PT told her the other patient was whiny and didn't want to do the PT - then she whispered to mom "and, she's thirty!" They loved mom's attitude. Now mom's roommate -- she was a different story! (They were remodeling the hospital - so everyone had roommates). I don't know what she was in for, but she was pretty vocal about the fact that she'd been in the hospital a lot, and she was not nice to the medical staff - at least the female medical staff. She kept her TV on pretty much the entire time she was there. She berated a nurse for something - and my mom and I both quietly told the nurse that, as we were in the room at the time, we completely disagreed with what she complained about. She was just a genuinely unpleasant person - but she helped me realize that I could never be a nurse - because I would have said something.

Mom did much better medically when she got home. There's definitely something to be said for recovering in your own home! They would have sent her to a rehab center/nursing home had we not come because they won't let you go home alone and there was no way I wanted that for my mom! I think being around her own place - not to mention her grandkids - was helpful. She had a visiting nurse and a visiting PT - and she did great. She did hate those TED hose, though. Friends came to visit and that's always a pick-me-up. She was doing so much better by the time we left. God blessed her with a very gifted surgeon and a quick recovery. And she needed to get back to work, both because she was going crazy at home and she needed to save some time off for Josh's wedding, so it was a huge blessing that she did so well so quickly.

We continue to pray for Joel's mom who had the same surgery a week before my mom. She's had a more difficult recovery, and although she's doing a bit better now - it would be great if she were back to normal!

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While we were there, a friend of my mom's gave us tickets to the Natural History Museum. Mom convinced us to take the kids one day while her friend Lorraine and her sister came and "sat" with mom. We had a ball. We didn't even scratch the surface! I tried a little aversion therapy by looking at the huge bugs - it didn't work. Palmetto bugs still give me the heebie jeebies. We took the kids to the planetarium and it was absolutely Alex and Emily's favorite (for Caleb, I think it was his second favorite. He really likes dinosaurs). They've never been to a planetarium and there's not one near us, so it's not an opportunity that they're likely to have often. I couldn't get Caleb to go into the mummy or anatomy wings. (In truth, the whole 'Caleb passing out' thing might have been a bit of a downer). We did make it into the dinosaur wing and the all kids loved that. They also had a balcony with a beautiful view of the mountains. (Alex, when we first took the turn in Colorado and the mountains came into view, blurted out, "How could anyone think that's an accident?" Indeed.) We had a great time there and hope to go back when we travel to Colorado on the way to Josh's wedding .

Emily also got her first "real" haircut while we were there from my mom's hairdresser, Julie. Unfortunately, she went after me and I got about six inches cut off. The first thing she said when she got up on the chair was "I don't want it short." She was pretty definite about it. Julie only cut about one inch off and then french braided it, so all was well in the end. That face probably freaked out the poor Julie.

Driver's License Ahead!

Caleb turned 15 on May 26th. How, exactly that happened, I have no idea. I swear, it seems like just yesterday he looked like this. I don't think kids should be allowed to age another year without some sort of permission slip from their parents.  

He wanted video game stuff (I know, shocking, huh?).  The game he chose was Mario Kart for the Wii.  The look on his face was enough to make me fear handing my car keys to this kid!

He decided that he wanted to go see Prince Caspian - which we all really enjoyed. I'm a big fan of C.S. Lewis and The Chronicles of Narnia, and so far I've enjoyed the movie adaptations. We'll see if they continue to be as good. Somehow I can't see Hollywood doing justice to The Last Battle particularly.  It's a little too obviously Christian for most Hollywood types, but we'll see if the series even makes it that far. Color me skeptical.  

He chose an ice cream cake and he wanted shrimp for dinner.  I used to lament the fact that all he wanted to eat was pizza or hot dogs; however, now that he likes a larger variety of food it seems that he enjoys the more expensive stuff - and more of it. I have taken to referring to him - occasionally  - as a stomach with feet!

Hi this is alex

Hi since I've never said any thing on this blog I thought I should. and now my quest is complete. Good bye!

~Alex

What A Doll - And more...

Wow, it's been so long since I've had a chance to update!

I guess I'll just start at the farthest date and slowly move toward current events - at least that makes some sense to me, and it'll be easier to make sure I don't leave anything out - or at least as little as possible.

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Emily had her ballet recital on May 23rd. She did so well! It was at a wonderful theatre downtown and was done so beautifully. I learned more than I needed to know about the proper way to put hair in a bun. It's very difficult to do for Emily because her hair is so long. It was easier to do when her hair was wet, but she thought it was too tight. I guess it's good to know that she's not likely to be a slave to fashion.

Here she is before the recital -

Of course, the pink crocs were not de rigueur for ballet, but then, one is not supposed to wear one's ballet slippers out on the street. And can I just say that I'm not all that fond of the little pointy hat. You can't really see it from this picture and the little fluffy pink tulle attached is pretty cute, but I really could have done without the hat.

We learned a very valuable lesson, however. You cannot video the show yourself - you can buy a video, but then it doesn't really focus on your child during the dance. And let's face it, although all the girls did a great job and a dvd would be wonderful for pure enjoyment - I want to remember my own child. So, we have video taken from the still camera at the dress rehearsal - next year, we'll be better prepared and take our own video camera to the dress rehearsal. She's easy to see if you know which one she is - if not, it's kind of like "Where's Waldo?" with a bunch of little girls in black and pink tutus. She's the last one to come out on stage from the left -

She had a ball and a half during the actual show. She did inform Joel and I that the "green" room wasn't really green, but she dealt with it.

It is tradition to give the dancers (yes, even the little ones) a bouquet of flowers after the show. Emily had told us that red roses were here favorite flowers and she really liked hers -

And I'm not really sure what she was telling Caleb here, but the boys were good sports about the whole thing and they actually enjoyed it more than they thought they would.

The whole program was very elegant and tastefully done. They opened in prayer and did several numbers from "The Prince of Egypt" which were outstanding then probably my favorite - apart from Emily's, of course - they ended with a ballet to "La Via Dolorosa". Emily's number was called "The Dolls" and it was from a ballet done to the story of The Little Match Girl. Registration for the new year is this week - it's gonna be fun!

We're Baaack!

It was so wonderful to see family - better than Christmas! And the area that they live in is beautiful. When Emily first saw a rolling, green mountain she said "That's so pretty, if I had a camera, I'd take a picture!" I don't blame her, poor little flat-lander that she is - it is absolutely gorgeous there. And despite the fact that we got lost several times on the winding mountain roads, and that 2 of the kids get rather violently motion sick, Joel and I could completely invest in dramamine and live there.


Rachel looked beautiful - like she stepped right out of a wedding magazine. Jamie looked so pretty - they picked a great color for her. In fact, the whole wedding was lovely. Danny did a superb job - as did everyone involved in the planning. I loved that the whole family got to get together - the pictures hold particularly fond memories and I'll post all mine when I get a chance. I looked back and was so amused by the difference between the last get-together for Grandma & Gandpa's 50th Wedding anniversary and this time. It's amazing how five years changes everyone!


It was great to finally meet Ezra, Michael and Joseph in person - Emily had a ball with them. Seeing Becca and Nicki looking so cute made me a little nostalgic - but I got over it when I remembered that I neither looked, nor felt, cute pregnant. Hannah looked all grown up, and Josh was great - as usual. I guess he and Caleb were amused by the sheer volume of pictures taken. All that and I got hardly any pictures of my own children - I'm such a negligent picture-taking mom. I'm sort of resting secure in the knowledge that Uncle Dan is an expert photographer and will be willing to share. We were so happy to be able to spend even a little time with Uncle Dan and Aunt Denise - our chances of visiting them in Germany are, unfortunately, pretty slim. Our Chick-fil-a lunch is probably as good as it's going to get for a while! Caleb, Alex and Emily really want a back-yard like Uncle Delvin or Uncle Danny. I think it's the most fun they've had outside in a long time!

Our only grievance was that it wasn't long enough. There just wasn't enough time to visit with everyone we wanted to visit with. We could spend a week with each branch on the family tree and still not have our fill - but we were so thankful for the time we did have there!



We did make it home in time for Alex & Emily's play on Sunday night. We pulled into the parking lot at the church at around 4:05 (and if you think Alex wasn't sweating those five minutes; well, you don't know Alex). We dropped all three off (Caleb was doing the lights) and Joel and I headed home to unpack the car. I brought back a change of clothes for Alex and Emily - she was supposed to be in dark clothes (white pants and a bright blue gingham shirt didn't really work) and I picked up a new t-shirt for Alex (he was wearing Caleb's due to an unfortunate incident with hot chocolate at breakfast). He still managed to get frosting on the new shirt I gave him - which he was NOT wearing at the time, go figure - but I got it cleaned up and told him to avoid all snacks until after. (At which point he walked toward the nursery and said "oooohhhh, cookies" and started laughing - just to mess with me).


They both did great. Alex knew all his parts, cold - and he slowed way down (thanks, Becca!). His deadpan delivery was great, and he got lots of laughs. Emily did great, her little solo sounded very pretty - although I did at one point think she was going to take out one little boy who kept stepping in front of her and (as one of the other teachers told me) was elbowing her. But she kept her cool and there was no mass bedlam on stage. I'll have to see how the video turns out to get the whole story.

All together, it was a spectacular weekend! I'm so grateful that we got to go - I hope it's not another five years before we do it again.

UPDATE: OK, so I figured out how to do a slideshow in iPhoto using some of the pictures. Let's see how it works out -

...very, very busy...

There's a song on one of Emily's cd's called "Busy, Busy, Busy". It's by Sandra Boynton - Check it out.  (If you have kids and don't have her books or any of the cd's she's put out, you are missing out out on one of the great benefits of having children - reading and listening to silly stuff without guilt.  After all, it's for the children.)  

Anyway that song accurately describes our lives here lately.  March was a blur - Emily was even sick on Easter.  She had an adorable dress, but she had to stay home.  No cute pictures for us.  To be honest, we almost forgot about the, ahem, necessary supplies and ended up getting them on Saturday.  (Emily asked why Caleb got a white chocolate bunny and she got a milk chocolate one. I didn't want to tell her that I had called Caleb from the store and asked what each of them would want, so I told her that next year the "Easter Bunny" would bring her white chocolate if that's what she wanted.  She narrowed her eyes and asked "Are YOU the Easter Bunny?".  I laughed, looked at Joel and said "Well, let's just say that the Easter Bunny and I are like 'this'" and I crossed my fingers.  Joel then balled up his hands into fists, put them under his chin and hopped into the living room.  Emily laughed.  I guess that's the end of that.) 

 

The weekend after that was the Passion Play at church.  The entire family was involved.  It goes on for 4 nights and it's a wonderful experience.  This picture is from rehearsals.  They recreated Da Vinci's Last Supper.  It was pretty amazing.  Can you find Joel?  I'll post some video when Joel gets done with it.  Right after that, I had some problems that entailed many medical excursions and I am now finally recovering.  Add the normal every day stuff of work and school and the busy song has been our theme song!  There's much to tell, so hopefully things will settle down, and posting will increase.  Stay tuned!