Gavin's Wedding

Gavin is a good friend of Kenny's from UofM and we were thrilled for him when we found out he was getting married. We knew the trip to Tennessee for the wedding was going to be an adventure - but we were up for it!!! It was well worth the trip and truly one of the most spectacular weddings I have ever been to.

We started our trip down to Tennessee on Thursday and stopped at Kenny's sister's house in Columbus for the night so we would have a little bit of a jumpstart on Friday. We were glad that the trip could include a short but fun chance to hang out with Val, Paul and the kids! Since it was Easter weekend, Val made sure the kiddos got to decorate Easter eggs, which was very nice since we hadn't had time before we left town. We got going bright and early Friday morning for the rest of the trip down. With just a few stops, we were right on track to get to Chatanooga in time for the Friday night dinner, until it started torentially downpouring and then we came to a complete stop on 75. We were stopped for over an hour and by that point everyone was out of their cars, and in true Southern style had made good friends with all the people out of their cars around them! It was pretty entertaining!!! We finally started going again and it turned out a tree had fallen across the highway. It wasn't until we saw the news the next day that we realized we had been in the farthest outskirts of a tornado! Yikes! We were a little bit late but made it in plenty of time to enjoy the festivities.

Gavin's fiancee Amee's family is from India, so we were excited to experience a wedding like we had never been to before. It was more amazing then I ever could have anticipated! It was truly a two day wedding extravaganza! Friday evening there was dinner and incredible dancing. They had everyone join in on a traditional Indian dance that involved some simple dance moves done with everyone in a circle. The girls thought it was a BLAST! I was SO tired but they didn't want to stop so me and Kenny had to start switching back and forth taking them around! The dancing was spectacular and the clothes were even more amazing. Lexi was very jealous that she didn't have a fancy, beaded outfit to wear too :)

Saturday morning was the actual wedding. It began with Gavin's friends and family meeting outside of the hotel (which was across the street from the Convention Center/wedding location). Gavin was ushered into a horse drawn carriage and the crowd was directed in front of it. Then they turned on loud Indian dance music and we literally danced Gavin's carriage from the hotel to the Convention Center. It involved several stops where the men gathered together and showed off their dance moves, which is what the picture on the right is. The girls thought it was a ton of fun, especially when we pulled up to the Convention Center and Amee's family and friends were lining the street clapping and cheering for us! The groomsmen lifted Gavin out of the carriage and carried him on their shoulders into the building where the ceremony began. The ceremony was filled with beautiful Indian traditions but also incorporated several different traditions from other cultures. Amee's wedding dress was SPECTACULAR and the decorations were amazing. It really was incredible to watch. The girls did a great job making it through the long ceremony and through the luncheon afterwards.

But the fun did not end there!!! After an afternoon break (aka NAP TIME!) we were invited back to the convention center for drinks and appetizers, followed by dinner and the reception. There was so much eating, drinking, celebrating and speech-giving that dinner didn't even begin until close to 9pm! Luckily the girls were so fascinated by all of the festivities that they were very well behaved. Dinner was traditional Indian food and was delicious! Even though it was late, we felt compelled to stay for some of the dancing since it was what the girls had been looking forward to the whole weekend! They were happy to go out and start the dancing even while everyone else was finishing up dinner!!! But the real fun started when eveyone else came out onto the dance floor. It was a great party - the girls were exhausted or we would have stayed even longer!!! One really great part of the weekend was enjoying some time with Kenny's best friend and roommate from college and his family. They live in Seattle so we very rarely get to see them so it was a treat to spend a weekend with them.

That Sunday was Easter and a very long ride home. The Easter Bunny was nice enough to leave little baskets in their carseats in the car which delighted the girls. We left at 9am and got home at 9pm but miraculously the girls were wonderful in the car. We were all happy to be home but greatly enjoyed the two days of an amazing celebration!

Sleepover...Finally!!!

For whatever reason Elyse got in her little head that she really, really wanted to have a sleepover and of course her overnight guest of choice was Anna! She asked me and Lori frequently (perhaps incessantly) when Anna was going to sleep over. Thankfully Lori and Sean were nice enough to let us borrow Anna after the Princess Night so Elyse could finally have her sleepover. The girls were so excited and very cute. Alexa and Anna are much earlier wakers and might have gotten Elyse up a little too early so we had some grumpiness the next day, but overall it was a success and Elyse was very happy!

Princess Night

This is the second year in a row we've gone to the Princess and Superhero Night in Farmington. The girls really enjoyed it last year, so we were really excited to go again this year. Kenny wasn't able to come with us this time, so we brought Lori and Anna along with us instead!!! The girls got all dressed up before we had to leave. As per usual, Elyse decided to do things in her own unique little style, but - you know, the world needs all kinds of princesses, right?!

Farmington does a really good job putting on the Princess Night. There is a GREAT dj who does a lot of fun things with the kids. Lexi even got in the middle of the circle at one point and showed off her princess dance moves! Both of them got their nails painted and their faces painted. The highlight of the night for Elyse was definitely the big bouncy thing. It was definitely a night fit for little princesses and I was glad they had such a great time! Hopefully we'll get to do it again next year :)

Matchers!

My goofy little girls think it's fun to wear clothes that match, which they call being "matchers". Outside of Christmas dresses, I don't often buy them outfits that match (and Kenny does not like it when I do!!!) so when I get the request from them to be matchers, it usually involves trying to find things that are alike, like jeans and pink shirts. So it was a treat for both of them when Nana got them an early Easter present - matching princess shirts and sweatshirts! They were thrilled on the morning that they both got to wear them. We decided to take a couple pictures to send to Nana over email with a "thank you" note and the girls were being absolute hams, so I got a few good ones. The picture of the two of them cracks me up because it is so indicative to me of their own distinct little personalities. I have no idea where Elyse got the idea to stand like that and I love that she is wearing her winter boots event though there is clearly no snow. Such an "interesting" little girl that Elyse!!! And then there's my Lexi - such a sweetheart and a great (patient) big sister. And of course, it makes me smile to see them hugging and loving on each other! Gotta love it!

You Might be a Little Crazy if...

So, yes, I am a little bit NUTS! I just might be Type A :) So now that I have admitted that up front - I can tell you my story!!! One of the new rooms in our house is home to some comfy seating and all of our books, so the kids have coined it the bookroom. Our bookshelf with the kids books just wasn't working anymore and it was driving me NUTS! You couldn't find a book to save your life and the kids were happy to pull ALL of them off the shelf to find one. So I decided to do something about it. I devised a new organization method and we switched bookshelves to one where we could spread the books out a little bit. We divided the books into catagories and color coded them with colored stickers. (Yup...I know...a little crazy!). The absolute best part about the project was how excited and into it Lexi was. She stayed with me the whole long afternoon while we worked on it and loved organizing with me. Tee hee...a little mini me in training :) It was a little bit of an undertaking, but when I caught the girls enjoying all the books they could now find, and Lex reading to Elyse - I knew it was worth it!

Connor's Baptism

My nephew Connor was baptized the beginning of March. This is my sister Kerry's second little boy and being the unbiased Aunt that I am - I think he is SO stinkin' CUTE!!! His baptism was just a few days after I had my gall bladder removed, so I wasn't in the best of shape, but I was very happy to be able to make it to the baptism, even if I was moving a little slow! Kerry's husband's family is from the Ann Arbor/Detroit area, so the baptism was near by and then people were able to come back to our house afterwards to celebrate.

Okay...so follow this if you can! Luke's cousin is Tina, who married Luke's best friend from high school - Vince. Luke and Kerry's first little boy Patrick was born just shortly before Vince and Tina's little boy, Vinny. Luke and Tina have an uncle who is a priest - Father Vin, who baptized both of them when they were babies. Patrick and Vinny were baptized together by Father Vin after they were born and Kerry and Luke were Vinny's Godparents. Shortly after Luke and Kerry had their second, Connor, Vince and Tina had a little girl, Sophia. So naturally they got baptized together by Father Vin, and this time Vince and Tina were Connor's Godparents. Did you get all that?!?! Either way - it was a wonderful family celebration of the two newest arrivals :) This picture is of Father Vin with Connor and Sophia - too cute!

I SUCK!!!

Okay...officially the worst blogger EVER! This is definitely NOT meeting my original goal of keeping a written log of our family. So I'm going to try and catch up a little and give another shot at KEEPING UP! Here's for hoping I can do better :)