The Past Few Weeks

We've been busy the past few weeks. I hate the feeling of being behind on this blog, so here comes a ginormous catch-up post. I seem to do these periodically. :)

The Wedding:

Our church had one of its first weddings (and the first one to be held at the school where we meet). I was on the team of about three other ladies who put it together, decorated, ran it day-of, etc. It was a lot of work, but it turned out beautifully! (If you've never tried to transform an elementary-school gym and cafeteria into a twinkling, elegant wedding chapel and reception hall in two hours, you should. It's something.) I actually ran the rehearsal and did the wedding coordinator's job day-of, which was new to me and kind of fun. And I also was in charge of the flowers: my first time doing artificial ones, and I was very happy with how they turned out.

Boutonnieres: (Hey, I spelled that right on the first try!!)
Bride's Bouquet (arm bouquet):Maid of Honor's Bouquet:
Bridesmaids' Bouquets:

Soccer Tots:

A friend (whom we actually met at story-time at the library and have since gotten together a good bit!) invited us to join her and her daughter Addison at Soccer Tots on their bring-a-friend day. It was perfect timing because Iain had just been saying how much he wanted to play soccer. The boys loved it. It was at an indoor rink, and they did stretches, drills, games, and lots of following directions and running. They did well with all of it, and even Cory (who tends to want to stick right by me in unfamiliar situations) listened and did what they asked him to do.

Stretching and practicing balance and the soccer stance:

Almost all of my pictures of Iain are blurry. He has really started loving running lately and is hardly ever still.

I love this one of Cory as he is gearing up to kick over a cone.

Cory made every single goal he shot. Nice.

The Fair

Our same story-time friends (they are so nice!) gave us tickets to the fair the next day. We found out that from 10-11 am that day, all the rides were free! So all we paid was parking. :)

Iain has wanted me to take him on a ferris wheel ride for two years now (since he saw one in Orlando at a festival there). He's always been too short. So this time, we really hoped he'd be allowed to go. It wasn't a classic ferris wheel (unfortunately, in my opinion), but a Seattle Wheel or something like that. It's supposedly elegant, but it was a bit scary, actually. Iain told me part way through the ride that he was nervous when we started, but not anymore. He kept calling to Cory, "Hi Cory, I'm on a ferris wheel!"

The boys also got to choose one other ride, and picked "the bug roller coaster." Iain loved it; Cory told me when he got off that he was "nervous because it went so fast." Why they both keep using the word "nervous" is beyond me.

The Pacifier:

This is quite a saga. Be warned.

We were in Walmart one day and I mentioned to Cory that when he decided to give up the pacifier, he could pick out a toy. He said he was ready then, so we ran with it. He picked out two trains and I also got him a special blanket to try to help take the beloved paa-paa's place. When we got home, Jeremy and I tried to think of a way to get rid of it, something Cory could do so he had control. So we decided to have him choose a place to mail it to. He went to the big world map, looked for a loooooong time, and pointed to the country his paci should go to: Russia. So we decorated an envelope and addressed it:

...and then he was supposed to put it in. He balked. Would NOT do it. I showed him the trains again, said he could have them when he did it. Nothing. He said he'd do it "next week." I didn't want to lose momentum, so the next day, I did the deed: I snipped it. Then I gave it to him at naptime (and felt like a traitor!). He popped it in his mouth and then his eyes got big and he said, "uhhh ohhhh. It's broken." He asked me to fix it, and I said I couldn't. He asked for tape. Then he cried and cried and cried (and made me so sad!), and finally went to sleep. While he was sleeping, his dear pacifiers disappeared. (Is this getting too long? Oh well. Skip ahead if you must!)

Anyway. He's been having a rough time going to sleep, but trying valiantly. I am so proud of him! He asks for it still, and I tell him I don't know where it is (which is true!). I thought we were doing okay until two days ago when I was rocking him and he said, "I'm nervous that we won't ever find the paci!" Oh no. Poor little guy. He's been waiting this whole time for us to find the thing. We should have made him do the deed himself; at least then he would have had closure. Put this down for a bad parenting decision. We'll know better next time, that's for sure.

Birmingham

We drove over to B'ham last week to see Lindy's new house, and visit with all the Greats (the five great-grandkids so far: my two, Isaiah, Addie, and Penny. Waiting on our baby girl to come even the boys vs. girls score!) and my mom. The boys especially loved Aunt Lindy's "magic wall" - the wall where cartoons were projected from a machine. Lindy has some good (funny) pictures of the Greats here.

And I finished my second dress order: for Addie. Love it!

Our Anniversary:

My mom was in town for a conference for work and so gave us the whole day Saturday for our 6th anniversary. So we went to Six Flags (you know, six years, six flags, ha ha. Ha.). It was my first time, and Jeremy's first in years.

Of course we went to see and take pictures of Thomas for the boys:

After the first two roller coasters, I decided I was really not a roller coaster person. But then by the end, we did the big daddy of all roller coasters (at that park, anyway) called Goliath. And loved it. Both of us. It is over 300 feet tall and almost three and a half minutes long, and goes up to 70 mph (I saw all this on the "I Conquered the Goliath" shirt that I was tempted to buy. :) ). It was so stinkin' fun that I decided I am a roller coaster fan after all. But just certain types. Jeremy is much less picky and went on another one after the Goliath (when I declared I was done so as to end on a high note). So I took pictures.

Of Jeremy:

Of the Goliath:

And then we roped someone in to taking one of us:

After Six Flags, we went to dinner at Chili's (thinking we had a gift card there. Which we do. And it was safely at home.), and then to a movie (Inception and it was great!). We haven't had a full day date like that in a long time (thanks Mom and Mom and Dad!). We also remembered our other anniversaries and the milestones in between. In six years we have:

--bought two houses

--moved three times

--rented out one house to three different people

--had two kids (sixteen months and one day apart!)

--been to three churches (and not planning on adding to that number)

--been overseas twice

--had five jobs (me, all part time and none including my full-time homemaking/mothering job)

--had two jobs (Jeremy, both full-time)

--waited for our daughter to come home for 14 months and counting

--grown and stretched in ways we never would have imagined

--come to love each other more every year

--had the time of our lives.

The End!