Wedding Weekend

The second weekend in March found us traveling north once again for another wedding of a dear friend! This time, my friend Jules was getting married and had invited AG to be a flower girl. It was such a special weekend and fun for us all.

AG and fellow flower girl, SS. They had such fun together!


It was a beautiful Springish day! We loved being out in the sunshine.



Smooch!


Jules looked so beautiful!


AG did great in her role and beamed the whole time! Here we are after the ceremony. Only RL was missing...we let him nap at Nana and Grandpa's during the wedding since he probably would have "not fully appreciated" (read "totally disrupted") the wedding.


Gran and PopPop were there!


AG overlooking the reception area


Sweet LL: I wondered back in the fall when Jules asked AG to be in the wedding how LL would deal with it. I'm so grateful to be able to say there was not a moment of anything but happiness from her through all the months of anticipation and through the event itself. We have plenty of sisterly squabbles, but it is so good to see times when they are genuinely happy and content.


Lovely Aunt Jess with SJ and LL


and AG


The two Js


So happy for this sweet friend!


Practicing their bubble-blowing for the going away...


Beside the fountain in the courtyard where the reception was held...almost the exact spot T proposed 10.5 years before!


RL as we drove back home...a sure sign he was exhausted since he almost never sleeps in the car.


It was such a fun weekend and we give thanks for having so much to celebrate with dear friends and family over these weeks!

March Starts

So the end of February found us sleeping in the red house and living in that mid-move state of confusion, which we were able to blissfully escape the first two weekends of March due to the weddings of two dear friends. The first weekend in March, T's friend got married, and we headed back up to stay at Nana and Grandpa's as our homebase during all the festivities.

Here are a few of our happy road-trippers...they're getting used to this scenery!


T looking handsome as a groomsman, and AG trying on the flower girl dress she'd wear the next weekend in my friend Julie's wedding!


The girls all ready to go to the evening wedding...so excited! It was a beautiful ceremony for such a wonderful couple...we all loved being there to witness such a sweet event! And AG had a great chance to witness a flower girl in action before her own "walk down the aisle"!


A stop by Gran and PopPop's on the way back home the next day...of course there was dressing up of a different sort. SJ's choice of outfit made me laugh...I vividly remember wearing those purple lace tights in a dance recital and feeling very cool in a Cyndi Lauper sort of way, but SJ wore them like never before!


And back home...probably LL's favorite part of life at the red house: Fiona, the cat next door. It's really perfect for us right now: we get to enjoy the benefit of having a very friendly, affectionate cat around all the time with none of the responsibility. One day we'll hopefully have a pet of our own (Swimmy doesn't totally count for the girls because, as LL said once, "You can't really pet him...")but for now, Fiona will fill that role. LL goes out every morning and calls her with a loud, "FIOOOOONA!" and she comes running!

10 Years!

In February T and I celebrated 10 years of marriage! Amazing! We planned to have a little getaway the week before our actual anniversary and took the kids to stay with Nana and Grandpa for 4 nights. Here they are the night we arrived...


Nana and Grandpa were ready for some fun (and everything else that comes along with 4 little ones!)


T and I left the next morning and drove back to a place not too far from where we live. We joke that we celebrated our 10th by going to therapy! It was a very unique place and a totally new experience for us...a sort of retreat/B & B run by a Christian couple. He is a licensed MFT and she has the gift of hospitality, and it all comes together beautifully to provide a very relaxing "growth" experience like none other! For us it was very timely...a retreat from the business of our move and general life demands was much needed. We enjoyed our hikes, dinners with their family, and our sessions with him and hope to go back sometime. I am so thankful for my wonderful husband and his patience with me over these 10 years! Here are a few pics, one on the trails and the other the morning we headed back home.



After a few more days on our own, which we tried hard to use well (meaning balance our "freedom" between relaxing and doing a little of the mountain of work our upcoming move required), we picked up the kids and brought them home by way of Gran and PopPop's. Here are some cute shots of our afternoon visit with them!




Later that week we took the plunge and loaded up the furniture for our move into the "red house" (the girls began to call it this during the looking/negotiating process, not knowing we'd ever live here...it stuck!). This actually took place on th 24th, our anniversary...so though we don't have a photo of ourselves together that day we'll never forget how it was spent! Here are the girls going to bed that night on their mattresses in their new room!


February ended with another celebration: SJ's half-birthday (3.5)! She and T went to ChickFilA (at her request but his pleasure!). She was delighted at being his special date and told us all about it afterward!

January's Ending, February's Beginning: A Mix

Continuing the catch up. These photos are a random collection; some daily life and some special occasions. What is notable, to me, is that these represent the last of the photos taken while we were still in our "old" house. Lots of sweet memories in our 4.5 years there!

One of LL's self-styling efforts. She loves this look!


A sudden leap forward in SJ's artwork...loved this!


Gran and PopPop came to visit on Jan. 31, the day we closed on our new house. The next day was Gran's birthday, and we got the day started off right with a homemade birthday king cake!


My 5 sweet ones!


AG and RL...still bearing a strong resemblance, I think.


AG and I went to MS on Feb. 13 for my friend Jules' bridal shower. AG got to help open gifts and met fellow flower girl SS. They became fast friends!


Valentine cookies for my sweethearts!


The littlest Valentine approved, too.


More to come...

RL:14-16 months

Since the beginning of the year, RL has grown and learned so much! We are really seeing now what little boys are all about! It seems he is always busy with some new exploration or task, and he continues to show a developing sense of humor by making silly faces or doing silly things to make us laugh. He's getting really fast on his feet (I can't let him get too much of a head start these days) and he seems to like to climb. He's talking alot; some favorite words are "door", "cat", "ball", "truck","ra ra" (Ralph, his lovie), and the most often heard is "nah nah nah", which is basically how he says, "I want that" in reference to food! My favorite is his truly Southern "bye bye"...which is sometimes yelled out, but most often delivered in a heart-meltingly sweet little angel boy voice. Another milestone: just today he started wanting to feed himself with a spoon, and already seems to be getting the hang of it. Here are a few photos from the last few months.

Where do I start?

Whoa, it's been a long time, and a busy time for our family since I last posted. Our last month has been filled to the brim with special occasions and big life events, all of which have been joyful but leaving no time for recording here til now (and I really should be unpacking boxes or organizing the school room...:). I just looked through photos all the way back to the first of the year and realized how much catching up I have to do! It'll take while. But here are a few cuties from an early January playtime on a beautiful day, just for now.






Sticks don't taste as good as he thought they might...