My best friends' wedding

I can't believe I finally get to say that! So, one week ago today, my best friend got married. We met when we were 6 and have been around the world together. I knew Mel's wedding would be different, but there were certain things that no one was prepared for. I loved it, and it was so her. I spoke during the ceremony about Mel, I was nervous, but I think it went well. 

 The bride and groom led their guests to sing "this little light of mine" after their vows. I think I've thought of this moment every day this week.

Mel and Brad jumping and jiving; can you see Mel's arm's in the air? 

 I just had to put this one up. This picture makes me laugh every time I see it. So this is Melanie's newbie husband, doesn't he look like he's the happiest guy in the world...or something.

 Melanie's parents are phenomenal chefs. So, quick case in point, I don't like cooked carrots. But it seems like whenever I go to her parents house and eat, they have cooked carrots and I find myself having fourths or fifths on the carrots. They make cooked carrots so delicious. Anyway, her parents did all the food, and of course I wanted to fill my purse with the meat and potatoes. But I didn't want to embarrass my family, so I didn't.

 Cutest baby ever, huh? Goodness sakes he's darling.

 Eden and Rosalie were the flower girls. It really meant the world to me that Melanie & Brad would ask her. Truth is, her and Rosalie fit the flower girl role to a "T". They even wore Mel's old dresses from when she was around their age. Not only that, but Eden and Rosalie click. I mean really click, no cat fights, no squabbling, no hitting, no biting, you get my point.

 They had such a blast together, twirling, dancing, playing "Ring around the Rosie".

 This was one of their cutest moments. Melanie and Brad had a piano player, and when she got up, Eden and Rosalie took her place. Eden banged on the piano as Rosalie danced to the banging keys. It was so adorable. Like I said, fit the flower girl role to a "T".

 They had a pinata, which was apparently a Peace Corps tradition, and sooo fun to watch. 

 But mostly, we just had a really good time. 

I love that Eden fulfilled her role as a flower girl. She told everyone, all the time "I'm gonna be a flower girl". I kind of think she thought of it as her occupation for the past several months. If we went to the grocery store, a friends house, the park, that's what her opener line was. Now that the wedding's over, her opener is "I have my fingernails painted".

 But honestly, I loved the family time we had at the wedding, and I love it that Melanie and Brad didn't exclude kids. I understand when people do exclude kids, but my kids are part of me and family memories are so precious to me. 

Please stay little

Micah is a happy little guy. He's growing up, being more independent, and I fear--soon walking.

But, my baby is growing up (sniff, sniff).

 He pulls up on everything, and loves to bang with whatever toys or junk he finds on the floor. Basically, the louder the better, this boy loves noise.

 But this time, his hand sufficed just fine (they're kinda big).

 And for anyone childless reading (yeah right-no one reads this), a happy baby equals a happy mommy.

Just thought you might want to know.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

...how about you, you, you. I have had that song stuck in my head for days. It's a Raffi song, or as Eden calls it, "a kids song". We did go to the zoo last week. Thanks to my wonderful in-laws, we have a zoo pass. I love this because we can go for an hour or two and I let the kids pick what animals we see. We see a few animals and head home. It's not an all day thing (which is nice is you have little ones).

We tried something a little different this time though.

I let Eden walk.

Gasp!

 Honestly, I have such peace of mind, walking around with my two little babies buckled in a stroller. They can't escape me.

 But, I let her this time, and I even let her take her doll stroller. And you know what? It was actually really nice. It did take us about 20 minutes to walk from the penguins to the flamingos, which is about 15 feet. I felt myself getting really impatient, but then I just thought "this is what we came for: take our time, relax, and enjoy the beauty of God's creatures." So after my self-guided pep-talk, we really had fun.

 I think Micah was also wondering what was taking so long to walk 15 feet.

 And this is what you do when you need a double stroller but only have a single.

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, but this is Eden's favorite animal, a tapir. There's not a day that goes by where she talks about it and she talks about how she wants her next birthday cake to be a tapir. (My mom makes each of her grandkids a birthday cake of whatever animal they want). So the tapir wasn't out, but we found him. He was inside, by the rhino, and yes, he saved the day.

 Micah kept happy with mum-mums. Can you believe we've gone through 4 boxes in a week and a half. I'm telling you, this little boy can eat.

Lastly, Eden got a tattoo. Now, I'm not normally a mom who lets her children do stuff like this, but well, I was just a sucker last week. She was so good, stayed by me, obeyed, I was so thrilled with her. Not only that, they were half off before noon, and I love the one she picked.

 She wanted a tapir, of course. But they didn't have that.

 So she chose a big, black, gorilla. I love my daughter to be feminine and girly and I love it that she loves getting her nails painted. But I guess I get so sick of the pink, the hearts, the fairies. Sigh.

So when she picked the most unfeminine tattoo that there possibly was, I smiled. It's big, black, and well, it's a gorilla.

We had a really nice time. As Eden was getting her tattoo, I was thinking "why don't we do this all the time, this was the best time". We left the tattoo cabana and Eden told me she wouldn't obey me, and well, I guess you could say it all went down-hill from there. We really did have fun, but as I pushed my baby in the stroller, and carried a kicking and screaming toddler while juggling a doll and doll stroller, I was quickly reminded why we don't do this all the time.

Because we love each other

Eden has entered the "why" phase of being two, but instead of "why" it's "how come." She asks "how come?" to everything lately, and I usually answer about ten or twelve times before I crack. For example, she got in my car and noticed some dirt on the windshield. She asked what it was and I told her it was bird doo doo. She said "how come?" and I told her that birds go doo doo just like every other animal. She went off on a tangent about doo doo for a while, but returned to her "how come?" phase.

So, I told Mike we should give it a go with her, lets ask her the "how come"'s. So we did.

It began this past Sunday.

Eden made a simple statement about being in the nursery at church and I asked her "how come?"

 She played along with me for about three "how comes?"

Then got tired of the game and looked at me with a long pause.

I repeated my question, "how come Eden?"

 And she responded, "because we love each other".

 So, when I am about to crack because of too many "how comes?", I answer with "because we love each other". The conversation always ends beautifully.

Busy, you say

So, I mentioned in a couple of post earlier, that we were pretty busy last week. We were. Here's proof:

Eden was busy learning to play the kazoo.

 Micah got busy crawling. Man he's fast. He was also really busy being crabby teething. And he got his top left tooth. Yay for sleep.

 Eden was busy making me "sparkling punch". I told her it was delicious and asked her what was all in it. Ready for this? She said, "marshmellows, arfy's (?), pears, coffee, decibals (!), and onions".

We went and looked at a couple of houses for sale. Truth be told, we're all really itchin' for a yard.

Micah was busy discovering bubbles. I love his little tongue hanging out, it's his signature look. He also wispers, all the time. It's him baby babbling, but in the teeny, tiny little voice. Maybe you have to be there, then you'd know it's super cute.

We were busy with social engagements, and had a lot of fun. Eden was her outgoing self and loved every minute of being social. She has this thing lately where after she's done with a sentence, after a couple of seconds she'll say "...or somethin". She's such a little Wisconsinite, she says "fer ya" all the time, I could correct her, but it makes me smile, so I don't.

So you see, we really were busy.

Tough Guy

Isn't he beautiful? He has the most perfect peaches 'n cream complexion. I love baby skin. But don't let his skin fool ya. He's tough. Seriously, he has a 2 year old sister who loves to give really aggressive hugs. 

 And he's a crawling/pulling up baby which means lots of rolls and tumbles. But he just goes with it. He's chubby and he rolls, smiles, and laughs. He's really a happy guy.

 But when it comes to the grass, he's not so tough. He'll let his chubby little fingers just brush against the tips of the grass. Then he'll pull both his arms up in a little fury and wrinkle his little nose.

 I think he's starting to come around, and truth be told, I love it that he stays on a blanket in the park. It makes him still seem like such a baby. To put your child down and not have them move is something you don't appreciate until it's gone.
So, little tough guy, it's just fine with me if the grass is too much for you. 

Back to normal soon

That's what Blogger keeps telling me, "back to normal soon." Seems appropriate. I was trying to upload some pictures of my darling kids, but well, read the title again. It's been a week since my last post, we've been busy, got motivated to do some things that needed to be done like put our condo for sale by owner, exchange our mattress, hang out, not do laundry, or not clean. Well, half of the list was productive.

Despite the kids going to bed crazy late last night, we had a really good day. We hung out on the deck for a good portion of the day. I sat in the sun and made the kids be in the shade. This may sound funny, but I had to keep throwing bread crumbs in the shade so Micah would stay there. Ha! We blew bubbles, sang songs, pushed some rusty 'ol trucks around. I was productive today too, made some laundry detergent, cleaned a toilet, and went to the grocery store. Kids clothes got sorted, well, I just took out the stained ones, I wish they were all sorted. Then I knocked my gallon of vinegar on the ground, and half of it spilt, so I figured it was as good a time as any to clean the bathroom floor. I don't think I've ever gotten so much done in a day (in the past 3 years). And all in a days work.

It's been busy around here, but I love days like today. Eden was in her glory singing songs on the deck, and it made my heart smile. She would make up songs like "Do you know the ducky man" instead of muffin man, and of course sang the ABC song as loud as her little lungs could belt it out. We watched to see how far away our bubbles would float before they popped. I relish days like today.We don't need playdates or activities to have fun. Those things may be fun, but I love it when we have fun doing nothing. Micah loved every loud truck that rumbled by and said his version of "hi", it sounds more like "ha". Cute.

I gave the kids a bath. If you knew me, you'd be proud because I never do it. Don't worry, they're not stinky all the time, Mike bathes them. Eden cried because her heel hurt, she had a blister, poor girl. And then begged me to put her in her crib at 6:40. That's early, but it's okay. I'm so glad that the busyness has died down for a couple of days and we're now normal.