Today's the Day

This is where I was planning on inserting a photo of our wedding invitation, but Elizabeth's computer (home of said invitation photo) is not working so alas, no photo will appear.


That was just about the most unromantic thing I possibly could have said.


At any rate...


 we're getting married today!!!!!!!!!!!!
♥
I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I will return after the wedding and honeyballoon with a complete recap of every little thing. The recap may be so long it's our first anniversary by the time I'm done, but no one will be able to say it was not well documented.

This is where we're going for our honeymoon...the Trapp Family Lodge!

Christopher should not be surprised if I break out into "My Favorite Things" or "Climb Every Mountain".


(PS. I suppose it's only polite to wish William and Kate every happiness in their new life together.)

wedding week-tragedy and royalty

It's

* Tragedy has struck here at Wedding Central USA.

I lost my camera and I don't know what to do. I feel like a man without a country. This is one of the most important weeks of my life and there are a grand total of ZERO, ZIP, NADA pictures to document the last three days. I did manage to get Andrew's camera a few hours ago but that doesn't bring back the priceless images I DON'T have of my room being a complete disaster, or of the 500 pieces of paper I have stacked in various locations through out the house. The only thing to do in such a situation is REMAIN CALM and continue searching. And keep breathing. That's always a good thing to do. Elizabeth's computer, the home of some slightly important wedding documents, recently decided to jump ship on us and stop working. Technology is banding against me these days.

* Tonight is the wedding rehearsal. I have compiled packets for each wedding participant with vital information regarding when and whom they should walk down the aisle with, where they should stand, and what's happening when. I even drew a little diagram to go with it. It's possibly I'm getting a little OCD about things.

* I was at Michael's yesterday (because apparently it's my third home) and I saw imitation sapphire and diamond Kate Middleton engagement rings on sale for $9.99. They looked ever so tempting but when I saw the sign above them that said "no prince required!", I decided spending the $9.99 wasn't worth it if wouldn't make me a princess. 

* People are still asking me if I know William and Kate are getting married the very same day as I am. I think the only possible way for me to not know that by now is if I was a hermit living in seclusion in rural Madagascar. 

wedding week- butterflies, signs, and honeyballoons

It's 



We have two options for entrées, plus a childrens meal, at our reception so I made color-coded butterflies to put at each place setting.

They're beautiful, but the work needed to make them was slightly more than I bargained for. Someone came over while I was doing them and asked if I was making all 106 by hand. I may be crazy at times but I am not that crazy. I am forever indebted to the Cricut cutter! (There were moments, however, when I seriously considered retiring the whole paper butterfly business because it probably took me 14 hours to make them and the reception itself is only 5 hours.)

Here's one of the little chalkboard signs we've have as table markers.

Christopher,Katie, Elizabeth, Daniel, Josh, Stephanie and I will all be sitting at the Daisy table. The rest of the wedding party, the crazy half, will be sitting at the Tulip table. I wanted to have a Dandelion table and a Daffodil table but the names were too long to fit on the chalkboard.

We will now move to the part of this post entitled Various and Sundry Wedding Thoughts

* I was looking up something on a wedding website regarding the order of the ceremony and came across this helpful tip: 

"The Kiss: If you need an explanation of this step, you shouldn't be getting married."

It concerns me that some people need that explained.

My friend/mom I babysit for told me the other day that the priest at her wedding forgot the very important "you may now kiss the bride" line. She said they all stood there in stunned silence hoping he would realize his mistake. He never did. So, they just walked out and kissed at the back of the church.WHY her husband didn't just kiss her anyway is now the burning question on my mind. 

* Molly came over for a few hours yesterday while Carol took Grandma to a doctors appointment. I told her she came by at precisely the right moment because she could help me with wedding things. I even tried to make it fun by having a fashion show of possible outfits for the rehearsal dinner and honeymoon. She was helpful for all of 3 minutes before deciding it was much more entertaining to sit on the bedroom floor and glue little foam butterflies to a piece of paper. She did look up long enough from her gluing to inform me that my room was "THE MESSIEST ROOM EVER". It was hardly a groundbreaking statement considering the piles of clothes covering the floor. I discovered during the fashion show that Molly thinks we're going on a "honeyballoon". I think that's just the cutest thing ever. 


I doubt William and Kate are going on a honeyballoon.

wedding week- the girls

It's

(left to right)

Name: Hannah

Answers to: Hannah from Savannah
Position in wedding: bridesmaid

Years we've been friends: 17

Interesting fact: she wants to join the Coast Guard or become an actress

Name: Joanna

Answers to: Jo
Position in wedding: bridesmaid
Years we've been friends: 19
Interesting fact: She's a founding member of the Single Ladies Club

Name: Marissa
Answers to: Rissie, Trixie
Position in wedding: bridesmaid
Years we've been friends: 16
Interesting fact: She, her brother and her father had supper at our house once a week for almost five years

Name: Elizabeth

Answers to: Lizzette, Squidzen, Betty, Bettina
Position in wedding: Sister of Honor
Years been been friends: 16
Interesting fact: We have shared a bedroom for 16 years, 11 months

Name: Autumn
Answers to: Auts, AJL
Position in wedding: bridesmaid

Years we've been friends: 20
Interesting fact: She was the first of my friends to become an aunt

Name: Katie

Answers to: Kate, KTW, Kush

Position in wedding: Maid of Honor

Years we've been friends: 19 1/2

Interesting fact: She loves doing recitals. (We could not be more different in that area.)

Name: Jillian

Answers to: Jill, Jilly, Jilly Bean
Position in wedding: flower girl

Name: Keturah
Answers to: Keturah
Position in wedding: flower girl

Name: Anna

Answers to: Anna Banana Rosanna Susanna
Position in wedding: flower girl

Name: Molly

Answers to: Molly McDoogal, Molly McButter

Position in wedding: flower girl

Interesting fact: She is almost a complete copy of myself

wedding week-favors

It's 



These are the little tins we made for favors. We'll put one on each plate at the reception and I think they'll look so pretty near the pink tulips in the centerpieces.

I love how the silver on the ribbon matches the silver of the tin! 

Easter 2011

All our Easter preperations begin the same way- making chocolate peanut butter eggs at Grandma's.

Katie was over on Friday so we introduced her to the time-tested tradition of eating every other egg carefully lining the molds with chocolate and filling them with peanut butter after the chocolate hardens.

After church we went to Carol and Brian's for dinner. Molly and I sat together because we're "like, best cousins or something."

The Easter egg hunt was fierce this year. Molly and I were on a team and we scored no less than 29, but so did Zachary so we technically didn't win. We're already preparing for a rematch net year. 

Before I end this unbelievably short recap, I must relate that I went running with Aaron last night when we got home and I survived. 

It was nothing short of an Easter miracle.

A day late but not a wish short

Yesterday was Dad's birthday!

Daniel and Erika got Dad this Hawaiian shirt while on vacation in South Carolina. They were really going out on a fashion limb because Dad's not known as a Hawaiian shirt kinda guy. 

Each year we make a new kind of Easter egg and this years eggs were made by wrapping eggs in 100% silk ties then placing them in boiling water for 20 minutes. This egg was so pretty I thought it was perfect for Dad's cake. 

Happy birthday, Dad! We love you!

How Great thou Art

smile

The following things have made me smile over the past week:

1. The Easter Messiah

Hannah, Willie and Elizabeth performed in the Messiah with our homeschool group last weekend. Hannah and Willie even sang solos which highly impressed me because as a general rule I try to avoid doing anything, especially solos, in front of people.(Nobody need leave comments telling me that when you get married you have to stand in front of a lot of people and talk. I am FULLY AWARE of that fact.) As I was reading the program before the concert started, I suddenly realized I was looking for my own name in the list of singers.

I was not singing the Messiah.

Sometimes I am just sharp as a tack.

(Speaking of singing reminds me of a time I was up visiting Christopher and almost everything he said reminded me various songs which I proceeded to sing for him. You can be sure they were all lovely renditions. Just give my regards to Broadway.)

2. The flowers have finally decided that it would be a good time to appear.

3. My little friends

J & A are my little identical twin friends from church. They are always extremely interested in my jewelry so we have a meeting every week to discuss my earrings and necklaces. Every single week they tell me that Juju lost her earrings and needs new ones, and how they would like me to give them some "pretty lips", aka lipgloss.

4. Keri and Amelia

(no photograph available at the moment)

Keri is a lovely photographer who has a lovely blog and an even more lovely daughter, Amelia Jane. (It's possible that I have a small addiction to the child and feel the need to say her name multiple times because I just love it.) Keri and I have read each others blog for the last few years and after I discovered we lived quite close to each other, my family got used to me telling them about Keri from Cumberland. "Keri from Cumberland made this on her blog. Keri from Cumberland is going to have a baby! My friend Keri shops at the same crafts stores as me!" When I suddenly had need of a wedding photographer, I immediately knew who to ask. I emailed Keri and she responded that since she was not planning on attending the royal wedding, she'd love to come and oh darn, how terrible that we'd finally have to get together and meet in person!

Well.

Imagine our surprise when we discovered that we are RELATED! Granted, it's very distant and we're something like third cousins by marriage by still, related is related. It is all very exciting because now I have a little fourth(?)cousin named Amelia Jane and I feel it will be perfectly acceptable for me to show up at every one of her birthdays, recitals, and major life events. Unfortunately, I do not feel it will be perfectly acceptable for me to kidnap permanently borrow her because I would lose not only my newly-found relatives, but my photographer as well. Plus, I get the feeling her mother and father are slightly attached to her.

Wedding Wednesday

The other day I took these crazy kids with me to the mall. I was in search of cute compact mirrors to give the flower girls and thought some company would be nice.

Unfortunately I didn't think of the fact that Claire's is geared towards those of a certain age-group who have the tendency come down with Bieber Fever. And that is how I came face to face with JB posters! Calendars! Stickers! Earrings! Headbands! Even more unfortunate, Marissa has a terrible case of Bieber Fever and got so excited about the endless options that she had the audacity to suggest I buy something with his face on it and display it in my wedding. At this point we staged an intervention and exited the store with four pink and black mirrors, seemingly the only items without his face and/or name on them. 

Later the evening I had an appointment with my personal wedding beautician/hairstylist, Autumn Jane. We were very productive despite the fact that we did not have all the correct makeup and she did a wonderful job with my hair. At one point we took a break and went down to the kitchen because Autumn hadn't eaten her supper yet. At first I declined having anything with her because I had already eaten, but then I changed my mind and had some anyway because apparently I'm a hobbit and need to eat a second supper.

After second supper Autumn broke out the Snuggie and the party really started. 

I think the only item that would complete this outfit would be a nice pair of JB sunglasses with his face plastered all over them.

In other wedding news, I picked up the marriage licence today and I'm pleased to report that there were no questions as to my gender. ;-)

A visit to the Al-cot house

After years of much discussion and no action, Mom, Elizabeth and I finally visited the Lousia May Alcott house.

 

The tour guide pronounced Lousia's last name "All-cot" whereas I say "Al-cot", but since it can be ever so hard to teach an old dog new tricks, I will continue to say "Al-cot".

I do believe I just referred to myself as a dog.

We had a little difficulty finding LMA's house because the house we thought was her house had a sign out front stating in no uncertain terms that it was closed for the season. I insisted that we were not at the correct house because 1) I had checked the website and, according to the calendar, it was indeed after April 1st  when the house was to be open and 2) I knew from driving by her house on previous occasions that she did NOT live in a pink house. Mom insisted that it must be her house because the sign outside the door said "home of Louisa May Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne". Elizabeth had no clue either way so all she did was make occasional comments about the rain which were hardly helpful. To solve the problem, we used our lifeline and called Carol for help. She hopped on something called the internet and pointed us in the right direction, which happened to be 100 feet down the road. In the end, both Mom and I were right. LMA did live in the closed house for a while, but the house we wanted to visit was not pink. 

The house was much larger than I was expecting, but it was still quite cozy on the inside. The only picture I took of the inside was of their breakfast table(of course I had to take a picture of the food!) before Tour Guide Jamie declared it a no-picture zone.

We then went to the Minuteman National Park visitor center because yesterday was a big day in American history. We just so happened to be visiting Lexington and Concord on the very anniversary of the day the Revolutionary War began. It was nothing short of a miraculous historical coincidence. 

The REAL sleepover

There was a lot of excitement in Babysitterville on Saturday: we had a REAL, bring-your-pajamas-and-stuffed-animals sleepover. 

It would have been highly unacceptable had I appeared at Molly's door without a craft, so I collected the necessary materials to make paper Easter eggs. Pooh, Humphrey, Hero, and Bentley sat on the table watching us as we worked. They all seem to be the strong and silent type because we didn't hear a peep from them all evening. Molly's stuffed Lambie, on the other hand, was just like her- very vocal the whole night. "HUMPHREY!! WHAT are you doing? I'm going to FLY across the room!!" At which time Molly throws Lambie across the living room.) 

Thankfully these children of mine are used to the camera because it was absolutely necessary to take a picture of us in our pajamas holding our stuffed animals. 

After the above picture,things quickly disintegrated into taking silly pictures. I'm not going to put up the picture of myself making a silly face because this is a family friendly blog and I'd like to keep things pleasant for all involved. 

Christopher and I had a movie date scheduled for after the kids went to bed, but Brian and Carol came home early from their date so they joined me in the living room to watch Robin Hood. Being on a date with a person in another state while sitting next to an aunt and uncle was a new experience for me.

I discovered something new about Molly this weekend- the time on the clock makes no difference to how much her mouth goes. I tried to very quietly sneak into bed(we were sharing her bed because it was a REAL sleepover) just after 12:30, but her little head popped off the pillow and her little mouth started going. I didn't mind too much because talking in bed is all part of the REAL experience, and I loved seeing her so excited. However. Not three seconds after she woke up at 6:48 she started talking about how much she wanted to go down and make more paper eggs and wasn't I going to get up soon and it was only SIX MINUTES minutes until 7:05, the time I promised to get up. Now it's only FOUR MINUTES! And where's Humphrey? How old is Humphrey? Why is he that old? What's his favorite food? Does Christopher think he'll be at the wedding? ONE MORE MINUTES!!

And that's how I came to be making paper Easter eggs at exactly 7:06 on Sunday morning.

I know I go on and on about how much Molly talks or about the different things Zachary does, but it's just because I love those two SO,SO much and I'm thankful for every single time I've babysat them over the last three years. Saturday was the last time I'll babysit them until who knows when after the wedding so we were all a little sad, but it makes me so happy to know that I'll get to see their adorable faces whenever we come down to visit.

And I'm counting on Molly and her large vocabulary coming up to visit us in New York.

Anna Banana

Happy birthday to Miss Anna Banana Rosanna Susanna,

our adorable flower girl!!!

She gave us these cute bird salt and pepper shakers and was just tickled pink we liked them so much.

Wedding Central, Part 2

Wedding Central,Part 1

Exhibit A- The flowers

The bridesmaids will carry pink and yellow Gerber daisies, and the flower girls will each carry one pink daisy. My bouquet will have pink and yellow tulips, pink and yellow daisies, pink roses, wax flowers and baby's breath. 
The centerpiece flowers are light and dark pink tulips.

Exhibit B- The Marriage License

Tuesday I went to City Hall to apply for the marriage license. The lady at the desk handed me the paper, showed me what to fill out, and set me to a desk across the way. We almost had a small fiasco because I checked the box saying I was male by accident. Thank goodness I saw it before I handed the paperwork back because things could have gotten VERY awkward. When I finished, she made me raise my right hand and read aloud the statement at the bottom of the paper swearing that all the information I gave was correct. Unfortunately for me, it was not worded so simply. It was full of  long words like 'solemnity', 'restitution', 'perjury', and 'penalization'. The ONE TIME I got raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth, I totally lost the ability to read. It was so embarrassing, not to mention slightly disappointing because I didn't even get to put my hand on the Bible.

Exhibit C- The Father/Daughter Dance
We're still on the hunt for the perfect song. I personally think the CanCan or the Twist would be best, but Dad's not really on board with those ideas. If ever there was a perfect time to break into The Chicken Dance or the Electric Slide, the father/daughter dance would be it.

Exhibit D- Wedding letters from famous people

I've mentioned before that I'm penpals with George and Barbara Bush. Although they are unable to attend our wedding, they sent us a lovely note instead. I almost shot up five hundred feet in the air when I opened the mailbox and saw the envelope from them.

Exhibit E- The Royal Wedding

I am immensely interested in the goings on over there at Buckingham Palace. While I'm not as obsessed about it as 3/4 the rest of the country seems to be(mainly because I'm too busy planning my own wedding), I am very interested their plans. If I wasn't already booked that day, I'd most certainly sit on the couch all day watching their wedding. It's possible I've made plans with someone to get me a magazine the day after the royal wedding so I can read all about it and have it for my wedding scrapbook. 
While I normally wouldn't like knowing someone who has the same anniversary as me, I feel this is a special circumstance. It makes me feel extremely royal to be wedded on the same day as William and Kate. After all, how many people can say they got married the same day as the prince and received a wedding letter from a former president? Not many, my friends, not many. 

The weekend expedition

This past weekend I packed my sister, my parents, and myself into the van for a trip northward. The purpose of the expedition was to transport all the shower gifts to our new house and as I was not about to get on a train with 75 gifts in tow, we just made a road trip out of it. I was so proud of my packing skilz at loading all the gifts into the back of the van that I made Aaron and Willie go outside and view my handiwork at 1:35am. Apparently pride goeth before a packing fall because immediately after I shut the back door I found four more items that I hadn't packed.

No one in their right mind would ask me to give the directions, but I was hardly able to sit back and relax for 7 hours without a job. The driver side window of the van refuses to open so I, sitting behind the driver, had to open my door each and every time we came to a toll. At the first tollbooth I felt the need to explain to the man giving the ticket why on earth he was dealing with someone in the backseat when the normal procedure is to hand it to the driver. He looked at me like he wouldn't have cared if a four-eyed alien rode by on a cow so I decided to keep the information to myself for the remainder of the trip.

We stopped at the capital along the way and found this wonderful statue. I don't know it's official name, but I have dubbed the dancers Fred and Ginger.

We took a tour of the state house and learned all sorts of interesting facts and tidbits. My dreams of becoming a politician were revived when I saw the buttons the senators and congressmen get to push when voting on a bill. It really does not take much to entertain me.

Look what we saw when we left the state house! It's a bunch of official looking people with flags and guns! And people were singing! And a crowd was gathering! Surely some sort of monumental event was occurring! Maybe a rich and famous person was in town and weren't we lucky to be at just the right spot at just the right time! Imagine the stories for the blog!

Or maybe they were just dedicating a small memorial to people we had never heard of.

Dad was so excited about the weekend that he did his best Bert the chimney sweep imitation. (Have I mentioned that I l-o-v-e Dick Van Dyke?)

We eventually arrived at the apartment and I gave my family a grand tour of all six rooms. They were all very impressed. I was glad they liked it, but I was slightly more interested in counting down the minutes until Christopher came home from work. (Have a mentioned that I kind of like him just a little bit? Well, I DO.)

Saturday morning we unpacked the van and began the process of finding every spoon, plate,platter,towel, sheet,bowl,pan,and potholder its own home. We don't have much unused space in the kitchen anymore but that's ok because I think it looks just lovely. Katie saw and fell in love with these towels when we were on our pre-registry investigation, so you'd better believe they were immediately placed at the top of my list. 

Later that day we got back in the car and went to a harbor across from Canada. I tried impressing upon Elizabeth how exciting it was that for FIRST TIME EVER she was viewing another country, but she wasn't quite as enthusiastic as I was. Sometimes I think I just get too excited about things. Case in point- pushing the voting buttons at the state house. 

While we were eating breakfast one morning, a fluffy white dog came waltzing in the open door. I named him Biscuit but we later found out his real name is Chief. I still think he looks more like a Biscuit. Apparently things were much more exciting in our neck of the woods because Biscuit/Chief came back again when we were preparing to leave. I forgave him for tracking mud all over the house because he made Elizabeth so happy.

One thing I love in our house is the special mailbox I bought at Joann's for us to put special letters and cards in that we write to each other. It has a cute little flag and sits on a bureau in the bedroom. I have always found great joy in getting the mail everyday(except on the days when I get bills), and I love having a little mailbox that's just for us.

The next time I go up to the apartment will be after the wedding!!

it was a hair-raising event

The girls came over recently so we could do some wedding hair and makeup experimentation.

Autumn's unnamed, ipod-holding, Rock 'n' Roll bear came too.

We started off our meeting discussing grown up things like the pros and cons of the fair trade market, but it wasn't long until we started showcasing the state capital and geography songs we learned in school when we were young. Everyone knows the British Isles have little to do with curling irons and mascara so eventually we got down to the business of googling hairstyles.

Not surprisingly, no one was interested in this look.

image

As a recent beauty school graduate, Autumn is our Official Wedding Hair Lady. That girl has skilz when it comes to bobby pins and hairspray.

returned children,Chinese lepricons and peanuts

* After an extended absence in Disney World, Zachary and Molly have returned to their rightful home in Babysitterville. I was so excited to see them that it was like I was going to see my best friends. To celebrate their return, Molly and I went to the Soup Factory for lunch. As we sat at the little table eating our clam chowder, we discussed the trip we were going to take to the pet store. Molly looked up between bites of her roll to tell me, "you know, there won't be any elephants there." I'm so glad she clarified. I had been wondering if we'd see an elephant amongst the gerbils and fish.

Being in Disney World meant that Molly missed celebrating St.Patrick's Day with her class. She got off the school bus on her first day back full of stories of small lepricons who snuck into the classroom and sprinkeled glitter everywhere. One even stole money from her teacher's wallett. She was especially in love with this lucky coin left just for her.



She told me immediately after showing it to me that "the lepricon was from China". I had no idea where she'd get such information, but upon investigation I discovered that the coin did indeed say China on it. I did not have the heart to tell her that lepricons are not from China, but that the coin was made by a factory there. Reveiling such information would have been outside my pay grade.



* Last night we had a girls night with Grandma. We ate in the living room while watching Backstairs at the White House, then we played Rummy. A problem arose when we wanted to pause the movie because we lost our dvd remote. None of us wanted get up from our chairs to manually pause it so we all made up excuses like 'I have the footrest up', 'I don't want to move my blanket!', 'I'm older than you!'. Clearly they were all valid reasons. So, we did what any self respecting women would do and called the man of the house to come do it for us. It made no difference that he was on the computer at the other side of the house. Poor Aaron. Sometimes he doesn't know how to deal with being outnumbered by women.

* We now go back into the archives of my life to the time I was about 12 or 13. Katie happened to be sleeping over the weekend of April Fools Day and we spent the night before whispering plans to each other beneath the covers. I have never heard or seen anyone perform at the level we performed the next day. We started off by switching Mom's coffee with Coke. Not overly brilliant but we were just warming up. It would have been better to warm the Coke up since her coffee was warm before the switch, but live and learn. We then got a bag of peanuts in the shell out of the closet and proceeded to carefully crack them open to we'd end up with only the top and bottom,not a bunch of small pieces. We found tiny rocks that weighted roughly the small amount as the peanuts{not being scientist we didn't use a scale},replaced each peanut with a rock and glued the shell back together. We got everybody with that one. They all thought we were being extremely generous but oh,no. I'm surprised no one caught on to our giggling when we offered the peanuts. No one actually died from eating rock peanuts; we stopped them before anything went in their mouth. We were SO PROUD of ourselves that day. We still talk about it every April Fools Day. If we hadn't already best friends before, that day would have cinched the deal.