More Party Pics

Ryan and Luke reading

Luke learned to play checkers!

Sweet baby girl

LeeEllen and Katherine

Luke loves Cynthia - she gives him cake!

Mandi and Luke

Luke with his new friend - Sara Beth

Nanny and Katherine

Nanny's Party!

The beautiful backdrop for the party - The GreenRose of Raus

The Birthday Girl posing at the cake table

Nanny with her grandkids (minus Thomas) and Katherine

Melissa, Nanny, Debbie, Aunt Mattie, Aunt Sheila and Mom

Nanny with Mom and Aunt Sheila

Once the weather calmed down all the guests started arriving.  Each of the kids and grandkids provided the food.  The ladies at the B&B did the beverages, table linens,  plates and so forth.  It was a great place to have a party!  We all had so much fun.  Luke  made some new friends.  A couple of my cousins were there with their kids which was nice.  Even though Tullahoma is not that far we do not see our extended family very often at all.  It was great to visit and catch up with everyone.

Luke and Katherine did really well. Luke got a little wild once he warmed up to everyone. He and Ryan ran and played inside and out.  Katherine got passed around to probably 20 different people but it did not seem to phase her until she got tired and then she was DONE!

A Close One

 

It started raining as soon as we got to the Bed and Breakfast.  The clouds were pretty dark but we did not think much about it.  When the first few guests arrived they said a tornado had been spotted very close to where we were!  That was scary -- we decided not to tell Nanny about it.

Nanny was very surprised at her party.  Cynthia picked her up under the guise that she was taking her to lunch at a tea room.  When they pulled in Cynthia told her we were having a party with family.  She did not tell her we invited everyone in the family!  She was so glad to see us all and was even more surprised when more and more guests started to arrive.

Road Trip

Katherine was all smiles when she woke up!

Today was the day to celebrate Nanny's birthday!  The party was at a Bed and Breakfast outside of Tullahoma.  The kids leisurely woke up this morning which was nice.  Katherine now stands up as soon as she wakes up and waits for us to come and get her.  She is always happy when we go in! We had to get out early to go to the grocery store.  I still had not gotten my things together for the party.

The kids did great once we were on the road.  We left around 11 to allow us plenty of time to get there.  We got there a lot earlier than expected so we stopped for a quick bite since the party did not start until 2 and we were all hungry!  Paul decided to go a different way to Tullahoma.  We went through Shelbyville which was much quicker.  It was so nice to see different scenery.  It made us realize once again how many neat places there are within a short driving distance to Nashville.  Since the kids seem to travel well we really should do more day-trips on the weekend.  Will see if we get that done...

So happy!

We were so excited to see Andrew and Mandi!  Andrew was in Huntsville all week for a conference so Mandi drove up Thursday night and then they came to Nashville Friday.  We are celebrating Nanny's 85th Birthday this weekend so they came to celebrate!

They came over tonight and had supper.  Luke has been looking forward to their visit for weeks!  The weather was nice again so we played outside after supper.  Mandi pushed the kids on the swings forever.  Andrew is still in to taking pictures, which is great because he does a good job!  He and Luke were taking all sorts of pictures tonight.

Ready for a Luau!

The kids' school really does some fun things.  Today they were having a luau in Luke's room.  Since our friend had sent the kids these great clothes from Hawaii we dressed them both for the occasion!  Luke has been talking non-stop about the luau all week.  He was excited that I took two leis that Paul and I had left from our wedding rehearsal dinner.  I had hoped either Paul or I could make it to the party but it did not work out.  When I picked Luke up his teacher said he kept asking where his mommy was since a lot of other parents were at the party.  Made me feel pretty bad, but that is the first party I have ever missed since he has been going to school there.  

He had so much fun at the party.  He still had a grass skirt and lei on when I got there.  He told me all about the food they ate, the music they listened to and the dancing he did.  I am so glad he loved it!

Summer Nights

After last week's record-high temperatures we are so glad to have more normal June weather.  Temps have been in the mid 80's and lows in the 60's.  We have been outside most every night after supper.  The kids love it.  Luke usually wants to swing.  Last night I could not figure out what Katherine was doing while I was holding her.  She was bouncing up and down and lunging out of my arms.  We finally figured out she wanted to swing, too!

Tonight we played on a blanket while Paul mowed the lawn.  Luke still has a lotta love for his sister and will not hardly leave her alone!  It is a wonder she gets the chance to try anything new because he will not stay away from her.  She loves crawling around and tries to sneak some grass in her mouth when we are not looking.  This weather is PERFECT and hope it stays around for a while!

"The Ring Bear"

Jon and Kristen had a little gift for Luke as a thank you for being in the wedding. Luke was so excited to be opening a present!  It was a Precious Moments Ring Bearer.  Paula told Luke that Jon received it as a gift when he was a ring bearer in a wedding years ago and he always loved it and kept it in his room growing up.  He wanted Luke to have it since he was his ring bearer -- isn't that sweet?!?!  Luke was so proud of it and could not wait to get home to display it in his room - which we did!

Loving her Banana

Katherine is so silly!  She is still doing good with eating.  Tonight she had some banana while we ate supper. Instead of picking the little pieces up and eating them with her fingers she would go in face first!  It was hilarious.  We have noticed after several attempts that she does not do well with green veggies.  She has "thrown up" after eating peas, lima beans and green beans.  Not really sure what that is about.  So, for now we are sticking to orange and yellow vegetables.

The Day After

This is what greeted us Sunday morning at the farm

Luke and I had a ride on Ole Tom

Getting all the rentals ready to be picked up

If you look close you see the sofa and table heading across the fields

Beautiful hydrangeas

Another one of Paula's pretty flowers

When we pulled in the driveway the first thing we saw was a Sheriff's car.  My stomach immediately became queasy - seeing the police could never be good.  Turns out a man had swerved off the road that morning and hit one of the brick entrance ways to Kitty's drive and knocked down an electric pole.  The police were there to talk to Bill and Paula about it since Kitty was at church.  Thankfully, the man was not injured.

After all that was explained we started to get things cleaned up, hauled off and ready to be picked up.  The caterers had done quite a bit the night before by clearing all the linens and center pieces off the tables.  We still had to dismantle some of the arrangements.  Kristen's aunt had done an amazing job on all the flowers and decor.  She came back to load everything up and head back to Mississippi.  We got most everything done and headed to return all the tuxedos after lunch.  It was amazing how quickly everything went back to normal after all the time it took to transform the farm in to something from a storybook.

Reception Party

The cake was set up underneath the boy's tree house

Smiles all around!

So sweet...

The only picture of Paul and me

Kristen having fun

Jon got in on the maracas action

I would love to know what wisdom Bill was sharing

The reception was great!  Since I was dealing with getting the kids settled and cooling off in the house I missed the first part of it.  The food and cake were great. The DJ was fun.  I did finally talk Paul in to dancing with me on the last dance.  Claudia, Lauren and I danced together to some of the faster songs. 

It was also a lot of fun catching up with people we had not seen in a long time.  Jon and Kristen left around 10:30 and the party went on a bit longer.  Shortly after they left it got very windy and we were afraid it was going to storm.  Most people started to leave then.  We cleaned up a little bit and got home after midnight.

Mom said both kids were way off schedule.  Luke had just fallen asleep when we got home and Katherine had not been asleep long either.  We knew we might be in for a long night.  We were so glad Mom was able to help with the kids so much this weekend.  It really would have been hard to have had both of them with us. 

A Southern Fairy Tale...

The barn was dressed for the big event!

Guests signing in

Not a good picture - but the only one I got of Luke

Exchanging of rings

Lauren sang The Lord's Prayer beautifully

The happy couple!

The ceremony was beautiful!  It was a very spirit filled service.  The sun was setting as the vows were being exchanged - it truly was amazing!  It really could be featured in a magazine...

Luke did good.  Paul realized before he came down the aisle that there would not be anyone to watch Luke once he was in the front for the ceremony so he caught my attention to come and stay with home.  I did not realize what he wanted so I took Katherine with me in front of everyone only to return to hand Katherine off to Mom so I could go and be with Luke.  He did not hesitate walking until he saw all the people.  He paused for a second and then off he went.  He walked straight to Paul like we told him.  Well, he decided he did not want to stand up front so he came and sat down with me, then back to Paul, then to Paula.  At one point he went up and gave Kristen a hug, which was sweet, but not planned.  Finally, he went and Paul picked him up and he was content to be held the rest of the ceremony.

Once the service was over Luke literally ran up to the house as fast as he could.  Paul and Mom took after him.  I had know idea what he was doing.  I thought he might have to go to the restroom.  But, he returned pretty quickly with a new train.  We had been promising Luke that if he did really well through all of the wedding festivities he would get a new train.  He was so excited!

Katherine did great during the ceremony.  She smiled at everyone behind her and was perfectly content as long as she was chewing on my sunglasses or camera strap!  She babbled and cooed a little bit which was fine. 

Luke decided he did not want to stay at the reception.  He wanted to go home with Nonna and Katherine.  So, after he ate a quick bite Paul and I loaded both kids in to our car so Mom could take them home.  I was kind of relieved we would not have to be running after him during the reception.