Bittersweet
August 21, 2008 4:46 pm
Yesterday, we went to Andrea and Ben’s wedding. Andrea is my Ben’s cousin, and she married another Ben (not too confusing, right?)
They were married on a beautiful day, at the Southern Dunes Golf Course in Indianapolis. The ceremony was beautiful, there were tears, smiles, and the laughter of one little girl.
Miss R was flower girl for the ceremony. And she took her duties very seriously. Of course, Mommy had to walk with her, but she threw her flower petals with gusto and when we were all done, she wanted to do it again!
She even tried picking up the petals so she could throw them again.
Congratulations to Andrea and Ben on the beginning of their life together.
May your marriage be full of happiness, laughter, and love.
Home on the Range
August 15, 2008 4:37 amThis week is our official summer vacation week. It’s the first week-long vacation we have been on since Miss R was born, and we were certainly ready for it!
Our first stop on our tour of southern Michigan was Grandma’s house. We love visiting Grandma, especially because she has a small herd of horses, goats, and cats.
We climbed around the barn.
Played with the wild barn cats.
Gave Bock a pat.
Took pictures from the hay loft. That’s Bentley and Bock down there.
Went for a ride on Bubba.
Gave Bubba a pat after riding. He was such a good boy.
Gave Bubba some post-riding treats. He likes his apple cookies!
And finally, took a little break after all that work.
We had a great time with Grandma. Miss R made friends with all the animals, and had a great time running around the house chasing Pilgrim Kitty. We never get to stay long enough though, and soon we were off to our next destination!
Playing Catch Up
August 12, 2008 10:07 amOk, so I know I haven’t posted any good pictures in a while. We are currently on vacation, and will have some of those pictures up shortly, but in the mean time, let’s review the last week, shall we?
Here’s a quick run down of the Princess Party. Miss R had a blast. Her little friends came over and helped her heat corn and cake. She got lots of great gifts (thanks to everyone!) and had a great time playing at the sand table, which actually has sand in it now.
Aunt Sara came through for us this year with another winner of a gift. She brought the first Barbie which included a horse. Way to go Aunt Sara!
The party was great and we all had a wonderful time! Thanks to everyone who made Miss R’s day a great one!
Happy Birthday Miss R!
August 1, 2008 1:23 pm
Be Right Back
July 29, 2008 5:48 pmTiny Choices
July 25, 2008 3:17 pmPrincess Party Planning
3:02 pmTry saying that 5 times fast 
It’s to be princess for this year. Daddy isn’t thrilled, but Miss R is positively tickled that she gets to plan a party all for herself. She has even dictated food for this event. Like the chocolate crown cake that will have blue frosting and sugar cones around the top for the top of the crown. The kid knows what she wants.
Oh, and the princess party will be BLUE not PINK. This has befuddled Daddy to no end, but I figure the less pink I have around here, the more the little boys will be enjoying themselves. There will be Royal Basketball (with a very short net), wand decorating (sugar cookies on sticks), and Castle Building (in the sand table).
I’ve been looking online for party ideas, and some of these parents are either crazy or millionaires to throw these kinds of parties for their kids. I mean, the extent of decorating the yard will be to put up the canopy and put some tulle hanging from the corners, and maybe I’ll put some streamers on the umbrella to dangle and look frilly. All of which will be recycled from prom last year at my school (they were just going to throw out about 4 bolts of red and silver tulle! can you believe it?! so, of course I rescued it, and have been making tutus and wings and all sorts of crazy things from it since).
However, the hats are my favorite. It’s totally not a birthday party without hats. So, all the little girls (and big girls too!) will get a crown with ribbons. I’ll try to post a how-to with pictures later this week.
Miss R has been a very big help with the party so far. She knows what she wants, and is totally willing to help me make all these crazy things. Tonight was the crowns, tomorrow it’s cardboard shields for the boys.
Hi again
July 22, 2008 11:57 amOk, so it’s been awhile since you’ve seen pictures of your granddaughter/neice/god-daughter/cute little girl down the street. Why’s that? Well, I just took my summer master’s classes in 3 WEEKS. So there wasn’t much time for anything besides reading, writing, and a few hours of sleep.
Let’s catch up shall we?
For the last 3 weeks, I was working on this…
That’s my $80 sketchbook that I had to make out of a multitude of papers in order to have the whole thing fall apart the night before it’s due, and take out half of the paper (I didn’t use them), rebind them and turn them in. I managed to get to the bottom of the heel on my Summer of Socks Disco Waving Lace socks, but that’s it. And that I managed to do while the paint dried in my book.
BUT! That’s done! And my last paper was turned in last night at 9:48 and to celebrate, we got up and went to the beach today.
The best part about living on the beach, is that you don’t feel compelled to stay all day, like you do on vacation. We got up and went down around 9, before anyone else showed up. We had the whole beach to ourselves for the better part of an hour.
We made castles.
And giant towers of sand.
And smashed them.
It was a great morning. We came home around 11 and after stopping for some lunch, we all took naps. I think this was the best vacation day so far.
Tune in tomorrow for an update on the Princess Party we are planning for someone’s 3rd birthday!
Swimming!
July 6, 2008 4:46 amA friend of ours has a nice pool that we have been visiting this summer. Miss Vivian’s pool also has a slide. Now, Daddy and Miss R went to the pool without Mommy one afternoon, so I was mildly prepared for what happened when we went over there Friday morning.
This part was nearly heart stopping for a Mommy. Seeing your almost 3 year old that high up on a slippery slide and ready to dunk herself into a pool just doesn’t do good things for the state of your heart’s normal rhythm.
But, of course, for an almost 3 year old, this was the most FABULOUS thing to do on a Friday morning.
And Daddy thinks this is most FABULOUS thing to do on a Friday morning as well.
Plop! She lands on the mat and all is well.
What you won’t see is the way she lands right on the mat, and then rolls off of it, swims herself right over to the ladder, climbs out, and does it all again.
We had a great time, and after the first half a dozen times of her sliding down, my heart returned to normal and was able to swim without worrying so much (I still worried, oh yes I did). Miss R really likes the water, and that makes me happy, but seeing my little girl grow up so fearless has given me a couple of moments of terror and pride all at once. I’m so glad that she is so adventurous, I mean, I rode some pretty crazy horses for years, and I now know what my dad felt every time he came out to see me ride (I think he saw me twice, that was enough for him). But I’m also fearful of the first time she gets really hurt. Not just the little bumps and bruises, but the really bad ones that I don’t even want to think about.
Hopefully, that day will be far off and I can enjoy her little adventures until then.
Happy 4th of July!
July 5, 2008 9:28 amWe had such a great day yesterday!
We started by playing at Miss Vivian’s pool and going down the slide! (more on the heart stopping pictures I took later)
Then, it was back home for a nap.
And back downtown to enjoy a blue cookie and all the people on the bluff.
Then we went home, awaited the return of Daddy (he had to work) and then did some fireworks in the driveway.
Miss R liked to show off her favorite. Actually, this one was my favorite too. We ended up not spendnig very much on fireworks this year and scooted out to Meijer to pick up one of those little bags of prepackaged goodies. This one in particular, put on a great show. After sending up a pitiful amount of sparks, the entire box went up in flames. Daddy had to go stomp out the ashes once it burned itself out. good times.
Hope everyone had a great Independence Day and stayed safe.
