Countdown 'til the Wedding!

Part of the reason I've be slacking on posting is that we're getting ready for my sister's wedding! I won't post a ton of pictures from our activities, but a few to show that I'm not fibbing, and also tell some stories.

Grandma just got back from Florida so that accounts for some of it, but I doubt that Miss Mere will ever have anything other than "fair" complexion! (Taken at one of Joanie's showers)

This was also at one of Joanie's showers. I saw this dessert a while back on one of the blogs I follow. It's a (new) terra cotta pot with a vanilla wafer covering the hole, ice cream, then finely ground oreo cookies for the soil. A straw is inserted into the ice cream before putting on the "soil" so that when the dessert is ready to be passed out you can insert real flowers. When I first saw it I put it on the back burner in case I wanted to use it for one of Meredith's future birthday parties. It turned out so cute!

The boys were in Columbus, but Meredith joined us for the bachelorette party. Joanie met her future husband Josh at Ohio University, so the theme of the party was "OU Tailgate." All I had for Mere to wear was one of the boys' old T-shirts. She looked so much like Lou when I put her outfit on that I put her pink ballcap on to ensure everyone knew she was a girl...and it didn't help much.

Nothing too special about this picture other than my sister's shirt matches my kitchen walls, oh, and cousin Katie who is also in the wedding is in the picture. I wish you could see how cute her veil turned out. One of her bridesmaids made it: a green headband with sequins, the veil was attached to it. The veil had little green flowers as well as bedazzled OU paw prints. Adorable!

So, the countdown is on. Benny is the ring bearer, so I'll be sure to update you on how that goes. We need to go in and have him measured for his tux. I have my dress, my hair appointment has been made, I just need to start working on my speech. Goodness. I need lots of help with that!

Charlie Understands

Charlie knows that in order to be a parent you have to be a superhero--ha, ha.

I need to start writing stuff down

There are so many times during the day that I think, "Hey! That would be really great to put on the blog because it's (funny/cute/insightful into our kids)." But it doesn't happen because I forget too much.

I apologize for those of you who have been looking for updates on casa llena lately. Things have been ludicrous in our household! I have boatloads of pictures waiting to be uploaded onto the blog and, if I can remember, good stories as well.

One thing I did remember was that Lou was talking about something and he said that he was going to be "warm as a cucumber." For whatever reason that kind of grossed me out, but also reminded me how when kids are expanding their vocabulary they are like ESL students. So funny.

I'll be updating as much as I can over the next few days--stay tuned!

Hip-Hip-HOORAY!!!

Benny spells his name now with no pushing, urging or threatening (just kidding on that last part). Usually he gets so uncomfortable when writing his name. He doesn't like people watching him, as we all know, and usually refuses to spell out his name.

He is now writing "B-E-n" on all his papers now. Can you tell I'm pretty excited? I'm just so happy for him, that's he's made it over this hurdle. He's still pretty rough on himself because he doesn't feel like his "N" is good enough. I think it's great. And so is he :)

Little Cutie

Naming Rights

When I was in first grade our class was sponsoring a turtle in our festival's turtle races. As a class we had to come up with a name for it. Our teacher, Sister Agnes Frances told us to write down on a scrap of paper what our suggestion was, then we'd all vote on it. The catch: she wouldn't tell us how to spell it, we had to spell it ourselves. I was all excited to name it "Speedy Gonzales" and was sure it was going to win but I had no idea what letter combo made the name. Instead, I chose "Abby" which was my best friend's name. Needless to say, "Abby" didn't win.

Luckily for Lou, his teacher wasn't so harsh, or maybe he's a better speller than I was (am). I don't understand the whole story, but his class was given a dragon by a Mr. Kist. Not sure if he's an art teacher or what, but Lou's class had to vote on a name. He was so excited when he went to school on Friday because he knew exactly what he was going to suggest: Dymo. The name race was heated. The choices were: Thunder, Bubbles, Sparks and Dymo. Guess which one was the winner. Dymo!

Congrats, Louie! Of course, this is coming from the kid who wanted me to have kids so he could name them Lumpy, Dumpy, Umpy, and Ubby. He's a creative kid, I tell ya.

Friday Funnies

Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while. --Kin Hubbard

Maybe I talk about weather too much and that's why Louie didn't want to, but when he called to ask Aunt Jill he didn't bother with the pleasantries of conversation, he just jumped right into the why of his call: "Hi, Aunt Jill. It's me. Will you buy a raffle ticket from me? It's only one dollar."

School has wiped at least one of our kids out. After three days of two and a half hours of school, Ben fell asleep on the couch at 5:30pm, couldn't be budged for dinner, and then proceeded to sleep until 6:30am. Then, he was raring to go.

Charlie has become the entertainment for the back seat of the van. He sits back there with Louie's two buddies from school and is his usual ham for them. They think he's the funniest thing since SpongeBob SquarePants. Maybe he should be a mime.

Although, with Benny going to school this week, I've found that the main reason Charlie hasn't started talking is, in fact, because of his brothers. He's said more during Ben's three school days than I've ever heard him say. And they are all in the form of commands. Nice.

I took Meredith with me to visit my friend Missy who recently had a baby. I was bringing some things in from the car and Missy relayed the conversation she had with my baby girl. You are so cute! (Big ol' smile from Mere) And look at those cheeks! (Scowl from Mere) No! That's a good thing. (Another smile from Mere) Missy said she really believes she was having a conversation with Meredith. I believe it, too!

Charlie just tried to show me his three point stance and he fell flat on his face. HA! And then he came up smiling :)