Wedding Bells are Ringing

This past Saturday, 12/12/09, my dad got married. The wedding was at their church in the gathering area. It was small with mostly only immediate family. It was very casual as well, which I guess was a good thing since nine of the attendees were children (eight of which are eight and under)!

The bride and groom...referred to as Grandpa/D and Nana K.

Dad and his sons-in-law (I think that is correct, but I think son-in-laws sounds better).

Karen and the girls.

All the kids...amazing that they were all looking in the direction of the camera.

The granddaughters, Riley Kate, Haley, and Harper (too cute that they all have a little bit of a pose and priss going on).

Dad and his grandsons.

The ceremony began at 5:00, and once it was over, we all had dinner together. It was a great time spent with family and celebrating Dad and Karen and their union!!!

The bride and groom enjoying cake.

A rare picture of Brandon and me...not too bad!

One story I have to share.

After we finished eating, we were all just sitting around chatting while the kids were playing. Harper, Colton, and Conner (all the babies) had been just hanging out on the floor for most of the night. Harper is the only one who still can't crawl. Courtney (the twins' mom) says, "Hey has anyone seen Colton?" We kind of start looking around for him and can't really find him. After a minute or two, a sort of panic sets in and we really start looking everywhere...and I mean everyone is looking. After another minute or two (please realize to me and I am sure, Courtney, it seemed like 15 minutes) we find him under the table. Apparently Leigh (my sister) looked under this particular table but apparently he was at the exact right spot that if you just lifted the table cloth you would not be able to see him unless you got down on your hands and knees to look for him. It was quite scary, but pretty funny once we actually found him!

The bride and groom left for their honeymoon around 7 and we stayed for a bit to help clean up. When we got in the car we asked Cohen if he had fun. His exact words, "Uh huh...juicy and food!" I told you the wedding was casual...I mean what wedding has juice boxes for the kids?!? (only grandparents!) Of course, it was Cohen's lucky night! :o)

Here's to a happy marriage Grandpa and Nana K!

Another Tour of Homes (Blog Style)

Although you really have seen my home decorated for Christmas, I am still joining in the fun in blog land to give you a few more pictures of our home.

As you walk in our home, this is what you would see on the left side of our foyer. This happens to be one of my favorite Christmas paintings because it was easy and I was happy with how it turned out!



To the right of the foyer you are greeted with this festive painting!


You may or may not have noticed this cute little Christmas dish with Harper's footprint. We also have a snowman themed platter with our palm prints (minus Harper...she was not yet born) and Cohen's foot print. These are some of my favorite Christmas items!



Another favorite Christmas decoration (for sentimental reasons) is this nativity scene. These figurines are ceramic and Brandon's grandmother made them. She passed away before Brandon and I got married, but luckily I did have the chance to meet her while we were dating.


Here is our family Christmas tree and fire place with all our stockings. I bought these stockings two years ago. When I bought them, I bought four because I had hoped that we would need the fourth one day...and now we do! The family tree is always real. We usually go out the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving and get it. I love big, fat trees. This is my favorite tree in the house because it has ornaments that my mom collected for me as I was growing up and ornaments that Brandon and I have collected over our last 6 years together. I am sure one day it will be littered with hand made ornaments from the kids.


This is our family ornament we added to the tree this year. Each year we have added one of these to the tree. I love getting the ornaments out every year because they always conjure up memories of Christmases past.


Finally, I leave you with a picture of my card display. I ABSOLUTELY love December because of all the Christmas cards. Checking the mail is seriously one of the highlights of my day. I love to see everyone's cards and how families have changed over the years. If you don't see your card on here, it is because you did not send me one...shame on you!


Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

What Can Happen When Your Child is Left Unattended

Let me first explain that Harper was not left completely unattended. She was in the den playing while I was typing an email at the kitchen counter. However, she quickly grew bored of her toys and starting moving around.

This is where she ended up...the entertainment center.

Here is a better look at exactly what she was doing...not real sure exactly what she was doing?!? I am thinking she was kissing her reflection!

"Oh no, I think Mommy sees me!"

"Hey Mommy, I'm not in trouble am I?"

Trimming the Tree

I am not even sure what trimming the tree means, so I am not really sure that is what we were doing Tuesday night, but I thought it sounded like a cuter title than decorating the tree.

As of Tuesday night, we only had two more trees to decorate...the kids' trees. I thought it would be a lot of fun to have Cohen help decorate his tree...WRONG-O!

Getting started

Cohen checking out all the ornaments

Harper watching the action...this was about the only time she did not fuss the entire time we were decorating Cohen's tree

Daddy helping with the garland

Cohen, almost finished decorating

So, if you look through all these pictures, you probably think oh what a great family moment! Wrong! As alluded to earlier Harper fussed the whole time and I think by the time all the ornaments were on the tree there were at least four in the ornament bin that need either an arm or leg glued back on!

Then, of course, I wanted a picture with both kids and the tree. Here is the only picture I could get with both kids and the tree

Needless to say, I decorated Harper's tree by myself. Cohen was not even in the room. Harper was in the room, actually happy by now, but she played with toys while I decorated.





By the way, can you tell by the amount of pictures taken that I have my camera back? All I can say is YIPPEE!!!

More Giveaways

I am amazed at the amount of giveaways that people who have blogs do around this time. You always get an extra entry if you share about giveaways on your blog. I seriously could post multiple times a day everyday about all the giveaways out there. However, I am only blogging about it now if it is a GREAT giveaway!

Well Kelly over at Kelly's Korner and Boo Mama are giving away a computer. So check out their sites and register for your very own chance of winning a computer.

The Benefit of a Big Boy Bed

The biggest benefit of a big boy bed is that I can fit in it with Cohen. Cohen woke up with a bit of a fever Monday and complained his ear was hurting so I immediately took him to the doctor. When Cohen tells you his ear hurts it typically means he has an ear infection. Such is the case! This is Cohen's fourth ear infection since February (only counting four even though we have had a total of five antibiotics...the medicine did not clear one up). Anyway, that afternoon he woke up with a fever and he was not feeling great so I crawled in the bed with him and we cuddled. About the only time that Cohen will sit still long enough to cuddle is when he does not feel well, so I take advantage of it! Oh yeah, the downfall of a big boy bed is that it is stuffed full of pillows, stuffed animals, blankies (as Cohen has recently been asking for), and sometimes toys. This can cause a problem because Duck occassionally gets lost in all the mess, which does not make for a happy Cohen or a happy mommy (when it is the middle of the night or 6:30 in the morning).

This precious 28 month old (ok...I know I should not still be counting months) is such a mess. One of the cutest things I love for him to do right now is show me his belly button (he calls it his belly butt). I am going to get it on camera soon because I know it is probably something I will forget so I want it documented. He is really starting to get a mind and will of his own...which often leads to trouble!

Harper is getting much more mobile. She still is not crawling, but she scoots backwards like crazy and can pretty much get anywhere she wants to go. Today she perfected getting from her stomach to a sitting position! I just pray we can get her pictures taken before she perfects crawling.

The Big 30!

So as I mentioned in my previous post Brandon and I love our Sunday school class and this past Friday night we celebrated my 30th birthday with the couples that we have spent the last few years building friendships with!

Here is our group out for dinner at Kinomi (local Japanese steakhouse I LOVE! Yummy).

Celebrating with the hubs.


It was a fun birthday spent celebrating with family and friends. Of course I also got some fabulous gifts! Funny enough, a dust buster was on my Christmas/birthday list because Cohen makes such a mess at the dinner table and I never want to drag out the big vacuum cleaner, put the water in it, vacuum, and then dump the water. So I wanted something a little easier (this is how you know you are old...when a dust buster is on your want list)! Anyway, this was Cohen's gift to me, but the night before my birthday I actually had a friend that was getting rid of a brand new dust buster, so she gave it to me! Needless to say, Brandon had to return Cohen's gift and instead I ended up with a Vera Bradley duffel bag! I think I came out better on this end of the deal!


This particular bag's pattern is Imperial Toile. Brandon was out of town most of last week and was not sure where to find Vera Bradley stuff. Well he looked online to find retailers that carried it and called to find out if they had exactly what a I wanted. The funny thing is that he called and asked for a large duffel in Imperial Toile (rather than saying the correct pronunciation he actually asked for a large duffel in Imperial "Toil"). I know the lady thought he was crazy!