Matthew Turns One!!

On Saturday March 30, the kids and I got up, got ready, and headed North to the suburbs of Chicago. One of my best friends from Chicago was having a first birthday party for her little man, Matthew. So, the kids and I headed up early (mainly so we could drive during Sawyer's morning nap) and went to visit with the Workmans. Charlotte and Addelyn are only 2 months apart in age so I love watching them actually get to play together. Grayden is four and such a great big brother...even to my kids.

Charlotte LOVED playing with the kids.

Her and Addelyn played very well together. And, as always, Charlotte made herself right at home.

Pretty Addelyn Francis.

Friends... cute friends at that.

Grayden was so sweet. He played with both kids. He kept an eye on Charlotte so that she didn't get hurt. He played with and held Sawyer. He is just so sweet.

We headed over to the birthday party to see celebrate Mr. Matthew.

Amy and Brad just moved into their new home the same weekend we moved our stuff from Georgia. They moved to a house that is over double the size of the house they lived in prior to it. They bought a BEAUTIFUL home with tons of space to grow and in a great area for Matthew to grow up.

They have a play room off of the kitchen. It was perfect for the birthday party!!

It was a Mickey Mouse themed party and Amy had ears for all of the kids.

We had a picnic style lunch in playroom. This way we could keep everyone all rounded up together... although Charlotte, Grayden, and Addelyn kept slipping out of the playroom to steal food off of the food tables. Charlotte loved having food at a level that she could reach.

Tammy and Nick showed up before we left. He is so funny!!! This kid cracks me up :)

Love him so much!

Sweet Addelyn and Sweet Molly Sue.

Two little beauties.

Second Generation GDI's

This is the first time that we had all of the kids together.

Eight kids for 5 friends.... 5 boys, and 3 girls.

Can you tell my kids are relate din this picture?????

We loved loved our time with our friends. I miss them so very much. The food was DELICIOUS. The kids had a great time playing together. Like I said earlier, Amy's house was amazing. We loved our visit with the Workmans and playing with/destroying their play room.  Ash and Eric were such great help with my two kids at Matthew's party. In fact, one of the relatives of Amy thought Eric was my husband bc he was helping me so much :)  We left once Sawyer got too fussy to handle. I fed him a bottle and we headed back to Metamora. Both kids slept almost the entire 2 hour drive. We got home around 5. We had dinner, baths, and got ready to load back up for the drive to Grandma Ann's.

Alex got home around 7:30 and we headed out around 8 pm. We had a great drive. Charlotte finally fell asleep with about an hour left. We got to Grandma's house before 11. Grandma, Melissa, and her friend, Erika were hanging out so we got to sit and chat with them while we prepared for the Easter Bunny.

Our Saturday was SO FULL but such a great day... and we got to see so many people that we loved.

A Day At Home

After all of the craziness, we were looking forward to a day at home with no schedule that we NEEDED to keep. The house is pretty well put together besides the pictures that we needed to hang. It's SOO hard to hang pictures with a 7 month old pulling your pants down and a 2 yr old wanting to help.

Charlotte watches closely when I do ANYTHING. Once she saw the tape measure, she was ALL OVER THAT.

So smart. So funny.

She also loves to teach her brother all of the tricks that she learns.

He takes it all in too.

The massive amounts of snow that we received on Sunday were gone within 2 days. We went on a walk this particular day... our first walk around our new neighborhood. It didn't last too long. Sawyer got bored. But even with a temp in the high 50's, we felt like a heat wave was coming on.

Our humble abode... man I can't wait until we have a driveway...and a yard.... and for our house not to look like a meth lab.

Visiting The Easter Bunny

With all of the wedding stuff and moving and life just being nuts, we hadn't made it to visit the Easter Bunny just yet. So we took the only day off that Alex had the week of Easter and we ventured over to the Northwoods Mall. Alex suggested that we call Mom and invite her to see the Easter Bunny with the kids. Naturally Gigi rearranged her schedule to make sure she could come with us.

After a bit of shopping and some snacks, we headed to see the furry present bringer.

Charlotte seemed excited and like she just might sit on his "yap". 

Sawyer, being a 7 month old somewhat laid back individual, was fine with the furry rabby with glasses and a coat on...whose eyes were as big as Sawyer's head.

"I got this, Dad."

Charlotte chose to stay in the stroller once she saw him... and chose not to even look at him...

And thankfully Gigi was there to talk her off of the cliff. :)

So, we walked away with yet another picture of just the holiday individual with Sawyer and Charlotte frowning off to the side. I have a feeling 12 months from now we will have 2 kids doing this.

We headed home after a quick lunch. Charlotte fell asleep in the car and Sawyer was awake and ready to party. He got to spend some much needed time with his Daddy.

"Dad, you are so cool."

"Dad, I like playing with you. We should hang around more often."

I think he hit his head or fell or something and this was the face he gave me.

I love his eyes in it. They match his shirt so well.

Love this little face so much.

We had a good day off and got a lot accomplished. Love my sweet little family.

A Snow Storm Type Of Day

We got Mary and Chad's wedding in just in time!!!

Sunday morning very early in the morning, it started to flurry a bit. Mom and Dad had a brunch at their house for family and friends that had come from out of town. They had a huge showing and it was so delicious. However, everyone had to get back home...mostly to Carrollton and Calhoun county. They had to head right into this storm that was headed our way. So everyone pretty much got on the road around the same time so they could follow each other. The snow had already started in Carrollton and Calhoun.

They all made it home safely but a 2 hour and 20 minute drive turned into and over four hour drive. The roads were awful and they were going around 20 mph in some places.

We stayed inside at Mom and Dad's and watched the snow fall.

Charlotte was excited about snow again.

Sawyer had no idea what was going on but he looked so cute! Look at that big 'ole teardrop!

We watched the snowfall all afternoon and ended up going home in the evening in time to make dinner, get baths, and head to bed.

Had this snow storm come 24 hours earlier it would have thrown a HUGE kink in the wedding day. Thank the Lord it didn't hit until Sunday. An odd end to a fabulous weekend....

Time To Celebrate Mr. and Mrs. Chad Kamm

Mary and Chad's reception was held in the thriving city of Metamora. There is a new gulf course (new, as in built 2 yrs ago) and the reception was held in the upstairs ballrooms. They were expecting about 300 people... to say it was a small intimate affair would be a bit of an understatement :)

The wedding party was announced and after being in 15 weddings, I finally came prepared to make an entrance. Luckily I was paired with a laid back partner who was up for whatever.

Best Man and Matron of Honor

Mr. and Mrs. Chad Kamm

(Check out Uncle Jim in the background holding his drink yelling/cheering.)

Mom and Dad's group of friends.

Pretty, aren't they???

All of them have been at all three of our weddings...they even all came to Charleston for my wedding.

They have had 7 weddings in all between the six of them with many more to come :)

We enjoyed a delicious buffet dinner. It really was so good.

Anne and I did a combined toast/speech. We had many embarrassing pictures (in face, we didn't even use all of the ones we had picked out). The computer wasn't working very well so it really cramped our style. Yes, it was a long toast but here are my views on the subject....

1. If you are bored with our toast, go home. They probably wouldn't notice you left anyway.

2. If you are bored with our toast, go to the bar.

3. If you are bored, get a sense of humor.

4. If you are bored, you are selfish and shouldn't have come anyway. The day is not about YOU, it is about Mary and Chad and us celebrating them.

5. If you are bored, sit quietly and reflect on the fact that you are eating and drinking for free tonight.

Just sayin'....

First Dance... "Bring It On Home"

Father/Daughter Dance... "I Loved Her First"

Dad chose this song when I got married. I left it up to him to pick which song he wanted to dance to. He said he heard it in his truck one day when he was driving and he started crying. So all three of us girls danced to this song with him. He cried with all three of us.

Mary asked Anne and I  to come join them for the last little bit of it.

Mom and Dad's anniversary was the following weekend so Mary surprised them with an anniversary dance. They have been married for 35 years!!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad.

They asked that Grandma and Grandpa come join them.

One of Dad's best friends from childhood, Bill, took Grandma Ann out on the dance floor since her dance partner is dancing with the angels in Heaven (with his clip on tie clipped onto the pocket of his dress shirt).

They danced to "Remember When"

This picture makes my heart hurt just a little bit.

Dancing with his Momma.

Charlotte couldn't wait for all of the formal dances to be over so she could dominate the dance floor. She was out there the entire time.

Jake and Alicia. Adorable couple.

Meem and Jare killing it on the dance floor... dancing with Dad and Caleb. So funny. I am sure it was to Pour Some Sugar on Me or some rock song.

Get 'it girl!!  Me dancing with the Schumanns... Vanessa, Bess, and Robin...

I love that Charlotte was letting anyone and everyone carry her around.

It's the wolfpack.

This was before Alex was hammered. He could still verbalize at this point.

I can only imagine the sweet dance moves that were going on here

Charlotte and Wayne LOVE each other.

She OWNED that dance floor in her modge podge outfit.

Uncle Jim and Aunt Tammy.

Charlotte is crazy about Aunt Didi

Well, this was right before our first man down. Caleb had reached the nonverbal point. It was time for him to head back to the hotel :)

The party is RIGHT HERE!!!

A crowd shot

Aunt Kathy and John Obery were even dancing. I am pretty sure the song was a Beyonce' song.

Not kidding.

Naturally Alex was already on the dance floor.

He is lord of the dance at all weddings.

The two preggo ladies!!   Bot looking so beautiful :)

Chet and four of his favorite ladies!

Add a fifth favorite lady :)

Charlotte looks drunk. She wasn't. Just tired.

She loves her Maw Maw. She makes her carry her a lot. 

And Aunt Kathy is still going!!!!!!!!!

See, lord of the dance. He's got moves you've never seen. He was one of the only people on the dance floor at this point.

Last dance :) 

Check out Alex trying to take a picture and Jake smiling so sweetly.

Father of the Bride. Can we say toasted????

Party is over.

Love this last picture of them.

And let's not forget lord of the dance.

How hilarious are these 2 pictures????

I'd say it was time to cut him off.

It was a perfect day.

Everything was beautiful.

Everyone had an amazing time.

My baby sister is married.

Congratulations, Mary and Chad.