Wonderful Wedding Weekend

We had a seriously wonderful weekend!  

We celebrated Evan and Bri's wedding this weekend, and it was awesome!

Ready for lots of pictures?

I started the day getting Maggie's hair flower girl ready.

We headed to church so that Maggie could get ready with the rest of the bridal party.

I got to be the boutonniere pinner on-er.

Yes, that is a shotgun shell!

We stopped in to visit Aaron in his office while he was reading through his notes for the ceremony.

Maggie settled in with Bri and the other bridesmaids to wait for the ceremony to begin.

Beautiful Bri with Beautiful Maggie

I stopped by to check out Aaron

and his awesome Britney Spears microphone.

Leah kept things interesting while we waited for the ceremony to begin.

I don't know how Leah does that with her nose...believe me, I've tried.

The ceremony began, and Aaron joined Evan in the front.

At last it was time for Maggie and the ring bearer, Eli, to come in!

Precious!

I couldn't get my camera to work very well in church, so the pictures are a little blurry.

I was able to catch a shot of Maggie coming over to me after she walked down the aisle.

She did so awesome!  

Aaron asked her what she was thinking about as she was walking down the aisle.

She replied, "I was thinking about you, Dad!"

melt.my.heart.

Then, Evan's heart kind of melted...

...because, here comes the bride!

And a view of the back of her gorgeous dress!

Aaron did an amazing job with the ceremony!  We've known Evan and Bri for a long time and love them which made the ceremony that much more special.

Aaron was saying nice things about their families which is why they are emotionally looking at the audience.

And, just like that, they were married!

Yahoo!!!

They walked out to the "I Do" by Cobie Caillat...it was perfect!

Just like this!

We hung out in the lobby for a little bit.

Aaron took Gracie home for a nap, as she was exhausted.  We were all out late on Friday night for the rehearsal dinner, and she was late for her nap.

Leah, Maggie, and I headed to a movie at the little theater downtown.  Evan and Bri reserved the theater, and they were showing the movie Up.  We watched it for about an hour before heading for home to join up with Aaron and Gracie to head to the reception.

The reception hall had beautiful gardens which the girls really enjoyed exploring!

They loved the stream

and all the pretty flowers!

We headed in to enjoy the reception.

The girls especially enjoyed the kiddie cocktails!

They also loved their meal!  The reception hall had a kids meal!  Instead of a salad, they got carrots and dip and applesauce, and their meal was chicken nuggets and fries.  So perfect!

After the meal, Maggie headed out for a picture with the bride and groom and ring bearer.

They're so cute with their blonde hair :)

In case you were wondering, I was actually there...just behind the camera most of the time!

Oh, I'll give you a sneak peek of tomorrow's post...

Hmm...come back and check it out!

I'm linking up with Blair at wild and precious.

Expectations Schmexpectations

I feel like God has been teaching me a lot about my expectations lately.

Particularly the expectations I have about parenting.

And by "teaching" I mean "showing me how one sided my view is."

Here's the thing:  

• I expect our girls to obey.
• I expect them to obey the first time.
• I expect them to obey the first time with a good attitude.

Of course I should expect them to obey the first time with a good attitude.  But, sometimes a vast majority of the time I don't prepare myself for (or expect) them to disobey or overreact or do any number of unexpected things.

Oh, and here's another thing:  when we do something special, I'd like it if they didn't complain during the process.

Yes, complaining is bad...the Bible talks about that.  It certainly doesn't generate a thankful heart.

And still another thing:  I'd like it if there was less crying.  In general.

I mean, if you get hurt, crying is fine.  If you are emotionally wounded, please cry so we can process through your emotions.  But, the other day Maggie was crying because Leah and I both had owies on our arm and she didn't.  Yes, she was crying because she wasn't hurt.  That's the kind of crying I'd like to cut back on.

Anyway, back to the expectations :)

Sometimes when I expect the girls to obey and they disobey instead, I get frustrated.

Sometimes when I expect the girls to have fun on an "adventure hike" (this is not hardcore...not.at.all.) and they complain about not having a water bottle or being too cold or too hot, I get discouraged and wonder why I try to do special things with them.

Sometimes when there is so much unnecessary crying that I can hear it in my brain when it's quiet, I want to lay on our bed without moving and eat ice cream (that kind of movement would be fine :)).

I'm not super fun to be around when I'm in those negative mindsets of being frustrated, discouraged, and immobile-y eating ice cream.

It sarcastically hit me the other day when I was in the bathroom and one of the girls was knocking on the door, another was crying, and the other was ringing the doorbell (obviously) and I thought to myself, "Of course!  Of course everyone and everything gets crazy when I have 1 minute to myself.  Of course!  Why wouldn't it!?"

After the sarcasm of my thought dissipated, the truth remained:  expect the negative thing to happen, too.

Now, I've come to realize that I'm an optimist.  Not an annoying, over-the-top optimist, but I do generally think that things will work out well.  So it feels unnatural to me to find encouragement in expecting my children to disobey, or complain, or constantly cry.

But, the ray of sunshine in the negativity is that when I expect them to disobey (without losing the expectation of obeying) and they do disobey, I find that I get less frustrated. 

And, yeah, they still get a consequence.

When I expect them to cry or complain when we are doing something special, I take it in stride and realize that the complaining is largely due to the fact that they just say every.single.thought. that enters their brains and they really don't mean anything by it.

For example, take a look at this picture.

I know, I KNOW!  So adorable, right?  This was right around nap time and she was really mellow.  I expected that I would lay her down for a nap, and she would fall asleep.

I did not expect her to fight her nap by playing with everything in her bed and then scream to keep herself awake when she got bored playing.  Not to mention she was a wreak for the rest of the day because she was so tired.

Did not see that coming.  

So, while the screaming was occurring, I took it upon myself to get tense and frustrated and irritated.

In case you were wondering, those are not usually the adjectives I want ascribed to me.  I'm certainly not at my best when I am tense, frustrated, and irritated.

What would happen if I expected Gracie to fight her nap?  Would that guarantee that she sleeps?  

Nope (I wish).  But, my attitude changes when I'm not surprised.  I can have a plan to help her sleep or encourage her in good behavior.  I can not be the mommy with an Eeyore-esque storm cloud above her head.

And that's better for all of us.

The bottom line of what I'm learning?  

Expect the good but expect the bad, too.  

It pays to be mentally prepared for what you don't want to have happen.  This certainly doesn't mean that I want the bad or am okay with my daughters' disobedience or think that crying and complaining are awesome.  I'm just ready for it.

The important part about being ready for it (for me), is that I'm far more likely to let Jesus meet me in the midst of it.

That's a win all the way around!

Super Cute Beach Ball Garland

I happened upon this idea a few weeks ago and thought it was perfect for coloring things up a bit!

Here's what you need!

I thought it might be okay to use a glue stick for this, but I wouldn't.  Totally use the double sided tape.

My mom gave me a 1 inch hole punch a while ago, so I used that to cut out the circles.  These would be cute with circles that are a little bit bigger, too...maybe 1 and 1/2 inch.

Here's what to do using the magic of pictures :)

See...super easy!  (On a side note, I took those pictures on a pillow without a case :))

Leah could totally do it!

You just repeat the steps over and over again until you have as many as you want!

This would be an easy and fun way to infuse the color theme for a party.  Plus, I think this garland would make for some fun layering with other garlands!

It would also be super fun to make with glittery paper to spruce up a mantle around Christmas time!

You can move the little beach balls around on the string so you can easily adjust the spacing.  

I'm a fan of that kind of flexibility!

Give this a try and add a little fun to your space!

Egg Sandwiches

I was so inspired by the ahhhhhmazing English muffins that I found at the farmers' market, that I scrapped my supper plans on Saturday night and made egg sandwiches instead.

Holy Cats!  They were delicious!

But, I wasn't sure how the English muffins would be when I cut them open.

There weren't a ton of the nooks and crannies that English muffins are known for.

But they were deliciously soft and were cooked with clarified butter on them which offered an extra burst of rich flavor.

For starters, I cooked up some bacon.

I love using Trader Joe's Bacon Ends and Pieces!

The bacon is so delicious!  Buying the ends and pieces is a really good deal.  It's the same price as buying regular bacon at Aldi but much, much better.  I very rarely make bacon in strips, so having the ends and pieces is perfect for me!

I don't get to Trader Joe's very often, so when I do, I buy a few packages and pop them in the freezer.  I thaw them as needed, cook up the whole package, and refrigerate what I don't use for another time.

Anyway, after I made the bacon, I made the eggs (over easy) in the same pan.  I did pour off the extra bacon grease :)

While the eggs were cooking, I popped the English muffins in the toaster to lightly toast them.

After I flipped the egg, I topped it with thinly sliced cheddar cheese and bacon bits.  The cheese got all melty and joined up with the bacon while the egg finished cooking.

Top it with the other side of the English muffin and you have breakfast.

Or brunch.

Or lunch.

Or supper.

Or a midnight snack.

There is not a wrong time to eat this!

I make egg sandwiches fairly often, but having the special English muffins really took them over the top!

They were the best ever in my book!

So, hunt down the best English muffins you can find and give them a shot!

But, really, they aren't too shabby with regular English muffins or bagels either :)

Linking up with Abbie at Five Days Five Ways

Saturday was a Happy Day!

We had a fun filled Saturday!  

We started out by heading to an awesome farmers' market!

I got some yellow, mini tomatoes, the World's Best English Muffins (recipe using them will be up on Tuesday), fancy popcorn, and sno cones for the girls!

I realize that farmers do not grow nor sell sno cones, but they are still very fun and delicious to little girls!

After the farmers' market, we went to my favorite park for a picnic.

The girl checked out the river while I was setting up the picnic.

Oh, look!  It's all my favorites in the same spot!

The girls were incredibly excited by the caramel apple popcorn we had!

You  can tell Gracie is literally very focused on her popcorn!

We took a quick potty break before we headed to the playground.

Is it weird that I took a picture of a toilet?

Why, yes it is!  

But, I didn't really know how to articulate just how weird it was.  There was no cover and the seat was like built into the base/bowl/thinger.  Not to mention it was rusty.

Did I let on to the girls that it was weird?

I certainly did not!  I was all, "Hey girls!  Check out this cool toilet!  It's so awesome that it's silver!  I love sitting on a freezing cold toilet...it's so refreshing and invigorating!"

Did they buy it?

No, they did not.

Oh well, it's better than a port-o-potty any day!

After the somewhat traumatizing bathroom experience, we headed to the playground.

Aaron was multitasking with Maggie and Gracie,

while Leah and I hung out in a different spot.

After Maggie and Gracie had swung their little hearts out, they joined us!

Then it was time to head to a play!  

The girls were beyond impressed by the glass elevator in the parking garage.

It may have been their favorite part of the day!

We found our seats (in the balcony...super exciting) and settled in to watch Annie!

Leah and Maggie LOVED it!

Gracie loved it for about an hour.  After that, we placated her by feeding her Skittles.  

Whatever it takes, right?!

On a side note, I would have loved to name a daughter Anne and call her Annie, but the odds of a red head who would actually look like Anne of Green Gables or Little Orphan Annie were too good. 

We had such a fun and full day, as evidenced by this on the way home.

I'd say that's the mark of a great day!

I hope your week is off to an invigorating start ;)

I'm linking up with Blair at wild and precious.