The Second Wedding of the Season

On September 22, Dan and Maria were betrothed in mawage.... and mawage was what bwought us togevah that day. It was the most perfect weather 80 degrees and sunny with the dusting of the first fall leaves (Makes me jealous.) There was much anticipation in the air for.... drum roll please... the Kiss. It was successful and some would say "hot"... sorry, Maria, if you are reading this, you are also blushing... Love was in the air. And we were so excited to marry off yet another one of our friends. The wedding, the bride, the groom were beautiful and mysterious (my brother's verbose addition to the sentence.) For me it was the final culmination of my 4 month stress of my promise to "make the wedding cake... and use fondant!" I regretted my promise from time to time worrying that having a baby would keep me from creating a cake worthy of wedding perfection... but in the end, I was proud of my design and my flower arranging. The design was meant to match the save the date and invitations and while it wasn't an exact match I confidently say that for once- I did not judge my cake harshly and I was actually quite proud of my accomplishment. Thanks guys for giving my the opportunity to show case this hidden ability of mine. It was really fulfilling to have this part in the wedding. And after running around finishing the cake and chasing my baby around.. I found time to eat, fellowship and have a few laughs with friends. It was a great day and I know God is going to bless these guys. Congratulations Dan and Maria!

My little explorer...

Cailen is officially ten months old today. Wow, where has the time gone? After cleaning up from lunch today, I thought we should go out in the sun for a little 10 month photo shoot. So I plopped her down in the grass and she quickly noticed a purple clover flower and crawled/walked over to it. After waving hello to the flower, she did her best to tug and tug and she finally picked it! She loved the flower so much she waved it around and patted her head with it. She then saw the remains of a few dandelions and charged over there with her new purple flower. As she got close to the dead weeds, she waved to greet them and gave them a little tug before realizing her purple clover was far more beautiful. You will note that she is actually waving to the dead dandelions, not attempting to pick them. :) You will have to enjoy the photots from bottom to top to see the story line unfold..

Caught in the act.

The photo where Cailen is wearing plaid is a classic moment in her short history. She found daddy's clean laundry.... um... boxers and started walking through the house with them. She then made a very valid attempt to wear them by throwing them on her head. As you can see she managed to get the leg over her head.... she then proceeded to destroy a roll of toilet paper that was out for my runny nose. She looks so guilty doesn't she?

Old Photo, too cool to deny being posted.

Rockin' it out back at 8 months old. Since then, her style has calmed down a bit, she has been walking all over the house. She now has 8 teeth. She waves like a future Miss America contestant AT EVERYTHING. If she wants to pet the kitty, she'll wave in his face to let me know, If she thinks crackers are looking yummy she will wave at them. If she sees Elmo on tv, or anyone saying hi on tv, she will wave, If she's waiting to take a bath and looks in the tub and sees the toys floating, she will wave to them as if to say "I'll be right in you guys!" If she drops something off the couch she'll look over and wave to what she dropped.... She's quite a character. She'd simply amazing... This girl can dance to the sesame st. theme song, the sound of feet coming down the stairs, or even lullaby songs... If it remotely has a beat or sounds like music, my girl will start bending the knees and sticking out her little hips... Aye aye aye!

The First Wedding...of the season

My cousin Annalisa married her high school sweet heart Josh last night. They had the most elaborate wedding I will most likely ever go to. The hors d' ouevres "hour" was a couple of hours of sampling any edible creature of the sea you could .,imagine caviar, calamari, cray fish, oysters, clams, crab legs, crab claws, salmon, etc... there was a carving station with lamb-sicles, skewers, pork, duck, open bar all evening, hibachi station complete with sushi, there were fruits and vegetable stations all around to eat from with pomegranit seeds, massive raspberries, picture perfect strawberries, etc.... A grand piano sat in the middle of one gathering area being played in the light of a tall candelabra. The events had only just begun. We were amazed as we entered the ballroom. The ceiling was elaborately adorned with interwoven white drapes. The tables had massive flower arrangements that looked too large to be real. There was a band complete with a brass section which roared harmoniously throughout the ballroom in celebratory themed music. As each coarse of the meal was being presented, the band would play a song as the waiters came out performing "bell service" (almost like an orchestrated parade of servers with their trays in the air, march with passion to the sounds of the brass instruments.) It was all so extravagant we HAD to dress for the occasion.... Here we are looking as Hollywood as it gets for us.... and YES those are fake eye lashes. (I got the idea from Oprah) My cousin Cassie was the maid of honor. I love hers, the bride's and the brides' maids dresses!