Wedding...the plot

A handsome young man with 2 of his best friends




Meets a beautiful lady with 2 of her ladies in waiting.



They invite a Justice of the Peace (who also happens to have taught both of them 8th grade history...he's since retired from that position) to a party with a few of their closest friends



And it turns into a....

WEDDING!!!

Allison's dad giving her away



View of Drew during ceremony


Allison during the ceremony


First kiss as husband and wife


Yay! Look at us!


Onto a beautiful life together


Things got a little confused after that. They were going to have a receiving line which didn't last long before they ventured out to take pictures at the falls in a different part of the park.

To get to the falls you had to take a .6 mile long trail with a huge section of stairs. Leg eating stairs. Poor Angie bit the dust and got pretty scraped up. By the end of the night the scraped up leg didn't hurt...the other one was killing though.



The group shot


Back up the stairs to the reception


KIDDING!


Next up...the rest of the story (will probably be tomorrow or Sunday)

Wedding...the cast of characters

One glowing bride and her bridesmaids


Allison with bestfriend from college Angie on the left and maid of honor and best friend forever Ashley on the right. (Ashley made the cake shown in the last post)

One handsome groom and his guys


Cousin Joey on the left, brother and best man Pat on the right.

Luke and Jake


My older girls


Val, Michelle, Liz and Carrie


Eileen and Olivia


Danielle

She was dressed in a really cute dress but didn't quite make it to the bathroom in time shortly after the ceremony. In her defense, the bathrooms were quite a long distance from the reception hall.

Sean

Funny story...The next day Della told me that someone made a comment that I probably had so much on my mind that I forgot shoes for Sean. Then Sean walked in with only socks on! The truth...he had TWO pairs of sneaks there!!! One pair was plain white with glitter laces that used to be Danielle's...the kids refused to put them on him in his finest. The other were his white and blue sneaks that I threw in the back window of the car before we left. No one could find them. My BIL Ed found them in the back of the van when we were packing up the van to leave. Hey at least he had matching socks on. The fact that they were the proper colored socks was a bonus.

The handsome father of the groom (I was so enamored with him that I followed him home!)


Me, Tom, my mom and my dad



Sorely missed...My MIL, FIL and Billy :o(

Wedding....the setting

I'm finally getting the pictures up. Sorry for the delay. Because there are so many pictures, I'm going to break this down into multiple posts.

We have one beautiful falls...



One reception hall



Workers prepping



Liz and Eileen (in the orange) working across from Alex. Michelle (on the right) working with Val in the back.

Hall gets spiffed up a bit



with a yummy cake to share



and appetizers

Cheese and veggie table



chocolate fountains



We had a small fountain with pink "chocolate" in it and a larger one with milk chocolate. They were big hits, unfortunately our reserve chocolate was scorched beyond use when I tried to keep them warm in a crockpot.

Next...the cast of characters

Where is my brain?

OK, granted I have a major headache right now but really. How does a mom forget to wake up their kid for school? Cause that's what I did just now. I was busy here and doing things with Sean. Got up to get him a bowl of cereal and thought...wow! I can't believe Danielle is still asleep and looked at the clock. I was then shocked to see it was only 8:30! I had to double check to make sure I was right and then it was...oh crap! I never woke up Olivia for school, the bus will be here in minutes! Oh well, I guess Olivia gets a day off because I am NOT going to stress her out and make her try to make the bus and my head hurts too much to drive her to school right now. It wouldn't be so bad if she hadn't already missed so much school.

It's not the only time I flaked out this week. I forgot I was invited to Della's on Tuesday night until about an hour after I was suppose to be there. Last night I forgot the kids had cleaning at church and there was a meeting for married sisters. Well I remembered the married sisters meeting at about the time it was due to start. But in my defense...I was locked in my room, having a MUCH needed cuddle with my husband (and I mean CUDDLE...so get your minds out of the gutter!) Then Tom was out the door to get Michelle from work and the kids were freaking out and clamoring for me because I was inaccessible for more then 2 minutes.

Hopefully I can keep my head about me the rest of the day. Right now Danielle and Sean are dressed and waiting to go outside with Olivia. When Olivia found out what I'd done, her response was...Thank you. lol Val's friend Brittany is here, they have big plans with Michelle before she has to go to work. (maybe I'll luck out and they'll take Michelle to work today for me!)

I have a ton of wedding pictures to share! Michelle took 859 of them. The problem is trying to decide which ones. Plus they are on the other computer that the kids use. So finding time to get over there and doing it can be hard at times.

My house is a mess still. I have 5 boxes in the van and car to take care of still. And in true shut down form, I took crochet hook in hand and started creating. Well this screen isn't helping my head so this will be short (for me lol)

Where to begin?

There is so much swirling through my mind that I don't even know where to begin. Let's just say that yesterday was a thrilling, beautiful, exhausting day. I don't have any pictures yet. Everyone (except Sean) is still sleeping and I have no idea who had and where my camera is right now. Michelle was the "official" wedding photographer so I can't wait to see her photos. She's one of my artistic ones and really has an eye for those things, I'm sure they'll be great. I'm hoping one of the pictures I asked her to take comes out well since I'd like to use it as a gift for an upcoming birthday.

The bride was beautiful and glowing. The groom was quite handsome with just the right amount of nervous and very tender. I was giggling to myself because I wondered if Allison's hands were getting chapped with Drew caressing them so much during the ceremony.

The food was good if I do say so myself. There were some negatives that occurred and hopefully most of them stayed in the kitchen. I'm trying not to dwell on that part of the day. Let's just say I learned some things. (like crockpots are too hot to hold melted chocolate well...I knew I should've tested it first!) My dad and sister ended up working their fannies off with me...along with my sister's husband and brother. It was fun being in the kitchen with them.

Before we started getting ready yesterday I was heard saying...I wouldn't do this (cater an event) for a side job/pocket money. It would have to be an all or nothing venture...you either have a catering business or not. This morning though...I'm rethinking that and whether a business would be feasible. With my sister out of work...hmmm. Then the grandiose thoughts come in. When thinking the setup I'd want, it's mega bucks...catering truck with working kitchen, warming boxes and lots of refrigeration so I don't have to unpack everything immediately after working. One that I could use for a traveling lunch/dinner. Then I get out of my chair for something and I think...ugh! ooch! ouch! I'm no spring chicken anymore.

And now it's nighttime. I've gone to a baby shower for my nephew's wife and taken Allison back to her and Drew's apartment. My house is a MESS with boxes and boxes of stuff laying around. I have it on ignore right now. I'm sure it'll be waiting for me tomorrow. I haven't decided if I'm returning unopened packages of plastic ware or not. I guess I'll have to more it soon or someone will turn the package into an opened one (if they haven't already). Right now I'm leaning on keeping it for summer use.

I was hoping to share pictures tonight but I can't keep my eyes opened to do the work for it. So hopefully I'll get to it tomorrow.

Crunch time

We're almost ready! I couldn't quite finish my shopping last night so today's list is a bit longer then I wanted it to be. The problem wasn't lack of time or trying (although I was exhausted by the time we got home). It was lack of space...the car (and our laps) couldn't hold another stinkin thing!

Last night wasn't all work and no play. Tom, who hates shopping with a passion decided he'd go with me and Eileen...who was going with me so she could look for shoes. He kept joking to Eileen that he was being so annoying (in a nerdy way), that mom would never want him to go along again. I told him he wasn't getting off the hook that easily! That I'd gladly have him go whenever he wanted. Pretty sad when that's the staple of our alone time...shopping.

On the way to Aldi's I realized that we couldn't go there due to lack of funds (payday is today and they don't take credit cards). So I took the time to finally get my eyebrows waxed! I've been wanting to do it for a while. I've asked the girls to do it but the time never came around. Then Michelle had a coupon for supercuts and a plan was formed. I was going to get them done Sunday, no Monday, ok maybe Tuesday. I had just given up on the idea all together when the window opened. So my mini caveman look is now a thing of the past...for this week at least. lol We also took about 45mins and went to the Chinese buffet. YUM! I hadn't been there in a while. I did notice though that they've cut back on quite a few of their main selections. Probably how they could offer it for rock bottom price. No crablegs so I had to opt for the steamed teeny clams and cooked shrimp. Poor me! ;o)

Tom saw how tired I was at our last stop and said he was driving home. I think he really offered to do it because he was sick of grabbing at the dashboard and putting on his imaginary brakes. (I do the same when he's driving). We had a torrential downpour on the way home. I kept thinking Tom was going to pull over to wait it out a few times but he didn't. I don't think I'd have done so well, especially since I dozed off a few times. The kids were all up (except Danielle and Sean) and helped empty the car. I sat on the kitchen floor and attempted to jam everything into the fridge. We ended up using one cooler (luckily there was a bag of ice in the freezer) and I had to sacrifice a few condiments but we did it...just don't open the fridge door please.

Michelle is my super organizer and it's nice that she's using her talents to my benefit. Yesterday she went off my master list of what we're serving and what type of bowl/basket/tray and serving utensils we'll need and started packing boxes. Her and Liz labeled each thing with what it's used for and put it in a box for a specific area. So anyone can take the chocolate fountain box and they'll be able to set it up without asking me any questions. We'll try to do the same with the food, although I think we need more boxes for that.

So today on my todo list is...

Quick run to the store for the rest of my list
Iron the men's shirts (gotta get rid of the packing creases)
Finish tying the silverware
Pack the boxes
Pack the van
Cook bacon
Make kabobs
Laundry
Clean the house...reason I let the kids stay home from school lol

My main problem is not giving in to the "you don't have enough" worry. There is a LOT of food, if we run out they can eat something else. If anyone goes hungry, it's their fault. *repeats over and over again*

Well my coffee is almost gone and the list isn't going to get itself done. Not sure if I'll get in here before we leave tomorrow. If not, then I'll hopefully have a lot of pictures to share next time I'm here....and a new daughter!

Oh bummer! Our out of town guest just called....he's not coming. There's going to be some disappointed little ones here.

Major shopping day g trm,n

Two days until the wedding! EEEK! Actually I think we've got our act together pretty well. It helps that I've had tons of time to think today...I've been tossing and turning since about 2am. I finally got up at 2:45 and surfed the net until Sean woke up and wanted me at 4. Then it was back into bed. I'm sure I dozed a few minutes here or there but not much. Next thing I knew the birds were singing and Sean was snoring...so out of bed I climbed to write down everything I'd been thinking. I now have each food item and exactly what I'll need to prep, cook, and serve it written down in my handy dandy wedding notebook.

Everyone went to school today. Or at least the last of them (Olivia) is about to go. Yep! She's getting on the bus right now. I think they're all planning on staying home tomorrow though. We have company from out of state and there's a lot to do or think about doing...so i said they could stay home.

Tonight is my major shopping trip. I'm hoping I've got everything I need on my list and won't have any last minute runs to make tomorrow. Saturday is a different story. Can I just say GRRRRRR! When someone puts in an order you'd think it meant you put stuff aside so you were assured to have it when it was needed. But nope, not always. I got a phone call yesterday morning to tell me the place I ordered my crusty rolls from were out and wouldn't be getting any more this week. I had 200 rolls ordered!!! So instead of nice golden brown artisan crusty rolls, I have to have pale, plain mini kaiser rolls. To top it off, it's going to cost me more as the packages are smaller, so I had to order more. Unfortunately the incident let Sean relearned a new name...poopie heads! I don't know how many times I said it before Sean decided it was hilarious and started saying it too. BAD MOMMY!

Well I have my work cut out for me. Need to make some room in the fridge and clean the kitchen so I can dirty it again. Laundry is screaming to be done. Kids crying for attention. So I'm out of here!

Down to the nitty gritty

It's go time for the wedding. Less then four three days to go. (started this post last night) Yesterday (Monday) Michelle and I left early in the afternoon and went the looooong way to work, like the opposite direction long. lol We stopped at a few stores and I put in some orders to be picked up first thing Saturday morning. So we'll have a few stops on the way to the reception hall. I took Michelle to work, picked up my dad and made a few more stops. I think I've gotten all the tableware I need. I'll probably inventory and rethink one more time. We're talking about starting to pack the van since there's a lot of stuff and I don't have any room for it.

The girls spent yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon tying the "silver" ware together and putting them into our picnic basket...until we ran out of ribbon (oh rats! forgot to buy more last night). I think it's going to be a nice touch. They also finished up dewaxing the 54 votive holders I'd bought at the thrift store.

I spent most of yesterday afternoon checking prices of things...mostly cheese. I LOOOOOVE cheese so it's hard for me to pick a few to put out on the cheese trays. While out last week we had a cheese monger offer us a taste of an aged gouda. OMGoodness!!! Who needs crackers when you have this cheese! Val and I were addicted, until I saw the $15.98/lb price tag. Then it changed to slightly addicted. I decided to splurge and bought a tiny wedge (considering it my mother's day present lol)...we're still rationing it. YUM!

I had a small panic moment last night. I thought I'd lost my list. I'm always making lists, and losing them. This one though is one I NEED to keep, it's my master shopping list. Everything I need to buy divided up by stores. Luckily I found it when I got home from dropping Michelle off at work, price matching and picking a few things up. Every time I come home loaded down with grocery bags the kids start to look for something to eat/munch. They're getting pretty bummed that there's nothing for them, it's for the wedding. I'll have to try to pick up something for them today.

With me being gone most nights things are falling apart around here a bit. Although I have to thank Liz, she's picked up the slack quite a bit since she's been home. Still it would be nice if I could walk in the door before 10 and not find them eating dinner. Or looking for some. (they manage to snack between school and dinner though...so they aren't starving)

Today Michelle is going into work early. I think I'll stop at the dollar store and get some more serving dishes/trays/baskets and liners. Then onto Walmart to grab soda and water. Maybe I'll even get in a run to the Salvation Army since it's Wed and family day with a lot of ticket colors half off (although I'm not sure if bric brac is included in that). Hopefully Tom will leave early to pick up Michelle and get the beer. Tonight I have to figure out if anyone needs anything else for their outfits. I think Luke and Jake could do with belts and new socks.

Tomorrow is my major shopping day minus the really perishable stuff. Friday will be shopping for the loose ends, packing the van and making up kabobs. Everything else is waiting until Saturday morning/afternoon.

The plan for Saturday is to leave here at 8:30am. Stop at 2 stores to pick up the last minute things...getting to the reception hall at 10 which gives me 6hrs until the ceremony. Easy peasy! lol

Ok...time to put on my chauffeur cap, grab my wallet and head out the door.

Danielle's premier music video

Danielle has a slight crush on Justin Bieber. She's got the words to his song Baby down pretty well and sings it all the time...even A Capella (I know someone took a video of that too). She's about to go into Ludacris's part at the end. I'm pretty sure she doesn't know all those words.

Is it June yet:?

No, I don't really wish it was June. At least not most of the time. I want to live through the next week or so. I just want someone to do the work that I need to do in order to enjoy it. lol I've hardly been home all week and I don't see that changing next week. There's a ton to do...ordering, planning, shopping, planning, packing, planning. The ONLY reason why I want this wedding to be over (well besides that Drew and Allison will finally be married) is so my brain can slow down a bit. The rest of the month is pretty much no brainers....wedding that I'm only attending and a soccer tournament and feast.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy doing this type of thing. I just didn't expect it to be all consuming in my brain like it is. What's going to be on the chocolate bar? How will it be presented? What dishes/trays will I use to put it out? When and where should I buy it? (you can't buy everything on Friday! Or can I?) And on and on and on.... I think it's mostly that I have to bring EVERYTHING with me. There's no running into the house, rummaging through the cupboards or drawers for a useable utensil or platter like I do at graduation parties. If it's not there...it's not there!

On a good note, Sean's temperament has changed immensely. He's been a bit harsh and negative lately...especially to Danielle. He can be brutal to her. But since about 2am Wednesday morning, he's been looking like this....



and this....



The reason....



LIZ IS HOME!!!!!!

His reaction and change in demeanor has really surprised me. He's happier and calmer. He just melts in Liz's arms whenever he can. I picked up Liz from the airport just after midnight Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. She woke up the kids to say hi when she got here. She picked up Sean who took a second to figure out who had him. Then a HUGE contented smile came across his face, he threw his arms open and wrapped them around her neck and stayed there...not saying anything...just hugging her for a long time. The smile didn't leave his face for almost 3 days.

I had more to share but right now I'm suppose to be getting ready for the day. We're heading to church. It's the May conference with lots of encouragement, fellowship, fun, and exhaustion. It's looking to be miserable out with rain, winds in excess of 50+ mph and snow tonight, so it'll be a challenge keeping Sean and Danielle warm and dry. Guess I better pack a few changes of clothes and shoes for the day.

Hope everyone's weekend is great.

Busy weekend

Wow! Has it really been a week since I got something up here? BAD BLOGGER! It hasn't been because I haven't had anything to say either, just no time. Last weekend was 2 bridal showers...Allison's in the afternoon, a young lady from church in the evening. Both of them were nice in their own way. The church one was very encouraging and uplifting.

I had to work at the dome. This time it was a concession stand at a rap concert. We ran into quite a few problems at the stand and with our supplies but we worked through them. Let's just say that it's a lot different serving the stoned concert crowd over the drunk sports event crowd. I got home shortly after 1am. To say I was bit tired and stiff on Saturday is an understatement. I felt like I was moving in slow motion all day. Luckily I didn't have too much that I HAD to do that day. I was certainly glad I decided to do Allison's bridal shower on Sunday instead of Saturday though.


On Sunday we threw a shower for Allison. I'd rented an enclosed shelter at a local state park. The original guest list wouldn't fit into the house very well. Unfortunately there's a lot going on right now so the attendees were a lot fewer. We could've fit into the house fine. Oh well. It was a lovely place and it was COOL in there which is a good thing on a hot and humid day...my house wouldn't have been. Besides I didn't have to clean or kick the guys out of the house! lol

We were having a meat tray for sandwiches. I'd decided to cook a roast as a practice run for the wedding. I'm glad I did. Most roast recipes call for 15 or 20 mins per pound. Cooking a 20lb roast meant it would be done in 5 (300 mins) or 6.5hrs (400 mins). I threw the roast in at 6:20pm and kept checking it. I used a meat thermometer which stayed at 120 for a long time. I was not happy when at the 10:30 check it read 150! I'd wanted it to be between 130 and 140 tops (medium rare). There was a tiny trace of pinkness in the center. I realized as I sliced it up that the slices were too thick for sandwiches (would've been fine for a entree though...just too well done for my taste. So I bagged up all the meat ($50 worth) and put it into the freezer for our future use. Then when I ran to Walmart the next morning I bought a few pounds of roast beef from the deli. So I have to lower the temp and watch the roasts a lot closer after we hit the 10min/pound timeframe.

I also roasted 2 turkey breasts for the tray. I deboned them immediately after cooking and threw them into the fridge. Then I sliced them up the next day which kept the slices from drying out. It came out wonderfully! There's nothing like real roasted turkey for a sandwich. YUM! We also put out a huge mixed green salad, deviled eggs, slices of watermelon and cantaloupe, and chips. I ended up sending Allison home with a care package for their new apartment. They are officially into their new place!

Things aren't stopping anytime soon either. Tonight I have a meeting for the church grill/snack bar so we can work out the logistics of that. Then it's onto scheduling for the conference this weekend. (note to self...remember to sign up to actually work a shift or two! lol)

Tuesday Val and I are spending the evening with my parents. Of course I can't run into the city without running a few errands too...so it's not all fun. I'm hoping to figure out and/or buy supplies for the wedding. My sister is coming over Wednesday morning to bring me her chocolate fountain. The rest of the week will be spent trying to get this place back in order and getting ready for the conference this weekend...so grocery shopping, laundry and whatnot. I also have to do some ordering for the wedding which is in less then two weeks! EEEK! Oh yeah, Luke and Jake need to go shopping for some clothes and it wouldn't hurt for me to find something to wear either.

Now it's time to run Michelle to work.

When, when, when

Things are going along at a dizzying pace here. My mind starts reeling before my eyes open and it doesn't stop until I'm dead asleep. Sometimes not even then. The kids were off this week and it was nice to have them home. We didn't get tons done here but managed to get some unseen much needed things accomplished. Today the girls (and Sean) and I are heading out to the mall to shop for dresses.

We've had a major minor setback in the form of a letter. A denial letter from the credit union. They say they won't refinance our mortgage. WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Tom's already drawn up a letter of appeal so we'll see how it goes. One thing that the letter showed me is how much I've been living in the future. Almost everything had been tied to this refinance. I was a broken record...when the house is refinanced we can.... When our budget gets redone we'll.... I can get/do that after the house refinance. I really had to fight to keep myself from falling into deep despair. I know we'll figure things out...with or without the refinance. Then my mom called (warning....very upsetting news ahead)

We talked about things (since she "lent" me money to close on the refi) and she tried to alleviate my concerns. She then told me why she was calling. Her cousin's (I also consider him my cousin) son took his own life. I lost it. He was between Pat and Michelle in age. He was set to graduate from Duke University in a few weeks. (his parents will receive his diploma) On the outside he seemed to have it all together. According to his note, he hadn't been doing well for a long time, although he was seeking help. They live out of state so I can't attend the wake or funeral. My mom is sending flowers from all of us and I'm hoping to send them a card. After I got myself back together I said....wow that makes my mortgage problem seem like peanuts.

And now it's evening. We went shopping to Kohl's, TJ Maxx and Target. Michelle fed the kids lunch in the van while I ran into Catherine's and used my $15 gift card. They had an additional 50% off some clearance racks. I bought 2 black shirts (a tank and a decorated 3/4 sleeve) for under $12. I then dropped Michelle, Carrie, my niece Michaela, Eileen, Olivia and Danielle off at the mall. Then Sean and I took a ride to my parents and waited for them to be done. My mom and I ordered flowers for the funeral and I helped my dad install a closet door.

I knew Michelle would do well with the girls, she's very frugal. She found Eileen and Olivia $7 shirts at Rue21. I'm not sure I'd have even looked at them on the rack. They're tshirt dresses and seemed a bit casual but they look very nice on. Finding something for Carrie is a bit harder. They found a dress for $25 but Michelle thought it was too prom'y. I saw pictures of it after we got home, I didn't think it was that bad. I think the price tag was what got Michelle the most though. Her, Carrie and Michaela ended up staying at the mall and going home with Val and Brittany who came later.

So now the kids are at activity club for another half an hour. Sean and Danielle are at the other computer and having a minor disagreement about something. Tom is outside banging together a nice looking set of stairs for the back door of the addition. He told me last night that if I give up on the house because of this setback, I'm in trouble. That we have to take this extra time and use it. I know he's right but it's very tempting to let up on it just a bit since there's so much else to do here.

I still have a ton to do tonight...

pick up the girls at 9,
work out a break schedule for the concession stand for tomorrow,
make sure everything is in the backpack for the stand,
weave in the tails of Allison's shawl then wash and block it,
wash the afghans I need for shower gifts
wrap gifts
wash and get out clothes for us girls for tomorrow
figure out a snack to bring to the evening shower and make it

I feel like I'm forgetting something else...

Oh well, now I have 5 minutes until the girls need to be picked up. I need to go find Sean's shirt. He managed to take it off and discard it somewhere. Then it's out the door, into the carseats and away we go.

Semi back to normal

Today's the first day I didn't feel like I was going to barf all day....just once in a while. It's also the first day I actually ate a meal and not a bite here or there. I didn't eat anything for the first 48hrs at all. I'm starting to wonder if this is the stomach bug that was going around earlier this year that we seemed to miss. I know those that had it said it lasted a long time and this is a ridiculous amount of time to have a stomach bug. Tom's been hit with it now for sure. He spent most of it in bed yesterday. I know he's still dragging today even though he went to work (which I again tried to discourage...bad me). I keep waiting for someone else to get hit with it but so far so good. I'm not relaxing though and I'm definitely not going to wash a bunch of bedding (new clean sheets beg for a stomach bug).

I was dumbfounded this week when mail came for Sean. It was from headstart. Seems they have open house and it's open to anyone turning 3 before Dec 1st 2010! WHAT!?! Send Sean to school!?! I'm debating about whether to send Danielle to Kindergarten in Sept (she turns 5 a week before school starts) and they're asking if I want to send Sean! Insane! WHY would anyone want to send a 3yo (or not even 3yo) off to school, even if it's "only for half a day". At least it's voluntary...for now.

We're starting to get things for the wedding. Yesterday I used a 50% off coupon at AC Moore and bought a chocolate fountain. I'd promised the little kids that we could try it out when I got home...so we did. I am SO glad that I did!! I didn't realize I'd needed 4lbs of chocolate in order for it to work. I'd only bought 1 lb of yellow chocolate wafers (Danielle's choice of color and then she wondered if it would taste like banana lol). So I had to use the pink wafers I'd bought for the wedding. I couldn't get the chocolate to ever flow right, no matter how much cooking oil I added (and I added a sickening amount). Finally it just stopped pumping the chocolate all together. Michelle's wondering if it's the vanilla chocolate that's the problem since it seems to be a lot thicker then regular chocolate when she's used it for strawberries and pretzels. So I think we're going to try it again using only real chocolate. I'm a little bummed since I thought it would be cool to have chocolate in her wedding colors, but oh well. At least this all didn't happen at the wedding itself!

Buying dresses for the wedding. I'm really starting to wonder if I should be having the girls try to keep within the color scheme of the wedding (pink dresses, yellow flowers). Is it too much? Will it look funny if there are too many different shades of pink? How much white is too much white for a dress? Is it too dressy? Not dressy enough? Carrie and I were out yesterday. We found a cute dress for her...

I found something that's a bit younger looking for Olivia but it has a cream/white colored skirt with tulle over the top of it that's embroidered with black flowers. I'm afraid it's a bit too formal looking and it'll seem like she's suppose to be in the wedding party itself. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. The plan for now is to go out shopping on Friday (Michelle's only day off). Hopefully we can all find something then. I'd like to be able to say...at least we'll all be dressed at this thing! lol

Michelle drew up a master list of all the things we should get done around here before the appraisal...by room. It is FIVE pages long. I mentioned it to Tom and his response was...What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack? I told him don't even look at it. I told the kids if we get a lot of progress done this week, we can do something fun before the end of vacation. What have I done off the major list so far? Bathe and demat Oreo...alright it's not on the list. But he smells pretty and looks SO much better. Part of my weird thinking is...better smelling dog equals better smelling house. Well maintained dog equals less hair to pick up around the place. Besides there's just something so relaxing about brushing and playing with his fur. He's so good about it too, even when he doesn't want to be. Just the bath alone was torture for him...he hates the water. There are times when I'm working on a mat that you can tell he just wants to give me a good nip and say...enough already!

Well, I guess I should say enough already here.

(and I never hit post before taking care of a crying Sean and then falling asleep...so now I will...the next day)

Try to do a fashion show

The kids had been bugging me to see what Sean's suit looked like on him. I finally caved in yesterday. And this is what happened...

I only got one shot at Danielle and Sean together and it was a lousy one. Sean wasn't happy because no one would believe him that the tie goes on the OUTSIDE of the vest! (ignore the yucky spackled walls in the background please...they are ready to be painted)



Then Olivia got into the action


And of course Jake had to get his mug into the show


This is what happens when you tell a boy who LUBS his suit that he has to take it off now. (notice where the tie is now...outside the vest, just where it should be)







Are we in for some fun or what!?!

From the eyes of

Eileen!



She borrowed my camera the other day. This is what she saw...

Cherry blossoms


Daffodils and the riding lawn mower


Greenhouse Uncle Billy built, in need of repair


Uncle Billy's jeep (and yes, we still call it that)


Oreo, up close and personal


Stormy skies


And it's storms


Rivulets


And washouts

We interrupt everyday life

to bring you a Grade A barfing fest. Yep, we're finally gotten hit big time with the throw-up bug. We've had lots and lots of stomachaches here but nothing with major barfing...until Wednesday.

It started all innocent enough with a fun day out with Della. We went shopping with Abigail and our little kids. I found Danielle a dress and shoes for Drew's and Allison's wedding and Sean a 4pc suit! woohoo! Big time score since there was only one suit, it was his size and cost less then $6! Della and I meandered through a woman's dress shop so I could try to find anything...which I didn't. Why is it so hard for me to buy myself clothes. Granted nothing in that place was right for the wedding but even if something had been...I would have agonized over whether to buy it or not. Anyways...we then went to two grocery stores, the second one was a quick run around the outside of the store without any kids type of trip...thanks to Abigail. Della let Sean and Danielle stay at her house and play while I ran to pick up Michelle. I also ran pick up some things while there and ran to AC Moore AGAIN! I decided to get a thinner yarn for Allison's wedding shawl while it was on sale.

We got home and the kids helped empty the car and start putting things away. It was then that I noticed that Jake wasn't around. He showed up shortly thereafter telling me he'd been sleeping and didn't feel good. I'd been hearing a lot of that lately so didn't think anything of it. Michelle declared that she was making pizza for dinner that night. So I then got to relax!! Poor Jake, he took two bites of pizza and lost it. After that he couldn't keep anything down all night long. He felt a bit better in the morning and started eating. But still missed school the rest of the week. Luckily for him Friday was a bogus day since half of it was taken up with the middle school talent show.

Tom started complaining that he didn't feel good Thursday night. He had a headache and was feverish. He never threw up so I'm still not sure if it was what Jake had. He seemed better in the morning even though I tried to convince him to call in sick. He's no fun and wouldn't do it! I kinda wish he had because when I got out of bed I realized...I felt lousy! I hadn't been that sick in a long time. I was exhausted and couldn't keep anything down. Luckily Jake held down the fort with the little kids so I could nap on and off. I still had to take and pick up Michelle from work. It was a scary ride, I actually dozed off at the red light. So to pick her back up, I left the little kids home although Carrie tagged along so she could try to persuade me to take her to get her ears pierced (per our agreement). It didn't work. I guess she didn't get that I was lucky I was sitting upright in the driver's seat to begin with. KIDS!! ARGH!

When we pulled into the driveway we were met with Val's friend Brittany yelling out the door...Seanie barfed! NOOOO! I can't deal with him and me! Brittany was a peach and had taken care of almost everything by the time I got in the door. Val was in the bathroom dealing with her sensitive stomach. Oh she's going to have fun once she has kids! lol I managed to keep control of my bodily functions while dealing with Sean. He was so good about it all. Just grabbed the bucket and let it happen. NO fighting it, no crying. I covered the couch with sheets and we spent the night there.

I had a problem. I was suppose to work at the dome on Saturday!!! I wasn't sure what to do and my dilemma became even harder to decide after I got a call Friday morning that someone else that was scheduled to work was also sick and in bed...so wouldn't make it. I decided to wait things out and see how I felt later. Add Sean to the mix and things got harder. Finally, around 9pm I decided things were letting up for me and I couldn't risk getting anyone else sick...so called another manager to tell them. We tried to get someone to cover but no luck. Luckily we had a few extra people scheduled so we could allow breaks, so they were working with the minimum but were covered.

Saturday morning I felt better so decided to try to go to work. By the end of my shower I realized...there was NO way I could do it. So I sent off my supplies with Luke and said...have fun! Then I plopped myself on the couch where I spent most of my day! I finally decided to try to eat something in the afternoon. My stomach tried to protest but survived.

I'm still not feeling 100%. But there are things to do! The wedding is less then 4 wks away. I have to buy outfits and shoes for everyone. I was hoping to get it done this week while the kids have it off from school. Hopefully the stomach bug doesn't hit everyone and we're stuck home instead. I have to finalize the food and figure out my shopping list for that. I'm not working at the dome on Saturday but have some behind the scene things to do for it. Saturday I'm attending two bridal showers. We're having a bridal shower for Allison on May 2nd at a state park. I have to get everything for that ready with no plans made yet whatsoever. My cousin's wife is having a baby shower the same day as Drew's wedding. I don't think I'll be attending the shower. It was nice to be able to dig into my box of finished projects and pull something out for her. I still have a baby shower to get something made for my nephew and his wife. Their shower is the day after Drew's wedding.

Oh and I'm still suppose to be cleaning and painting the house to get it appraisal ready which should happen in a week or two. We signed some good faith papers so just waiting to hear the final word on our approval which should come this week. Get this... me with no job or income...ever...has a better credit score then Tom. I told him it's because I always make sure MY bills get paid before his do! lol But really...that system is just messed up!

Oh good! My printer has finally decided it's going to read my memory card. Now I can share pictures... in another post.

Picture sharing time

Tom driving to the hotel for Olivia's birthday celebration....



Olivia listening to us sing Happy Birthday to her...



YOU CAN'T SEE ME!



Here I am!



Having fun on the trampoline...



Random picture of Jake, not sure when it was taken