All Grown Up

My baby brother is all grown up and married. His reception (the 2nd one) was the past weekend and I snapped a couple of shots. I don't think any of them turned out very well because of 2 factors: 1) flourescent lighting and 2) most of the lights were off. Anyhow, here you go for those of you who wanted to see them:

The cake...They had a "real" wedding cake, all white and fluffy and girly at the reception in Florida, so at this reception they went for fun and silly. The cars are on the top cause my brother is an auto mechanic.

The bridal bouquet. It was made out of silk roses so it would last from the wedding in SC to the reception in FL to the reception in MD.
The Groom (with Tyler of course). They are looking at the decorated basketball hoop.

The centerpieces. Courtesy of...MY wedding. Hee hee.

The Mother of the Groom (with Tyler).

The Father of the Groom (with Tyler - why break the trend?)

The FOOD. There were tons of leftovers though and I have been eating chicken salad for days now.

The Bride (with Tyler - you saw it coming).

My handsome stud.

My silly niece Lucy and Tyler playing around near the end of the reception.

My Grandpa with his Great Grandkids. Tyler LOVED spending time with him.

He Likes To Move It

The other day we watched Madagascar 2. It is definitely just as funny as the first and we all loved the soundtrack, especially Tyler. We played "I Like To Move It" about 15 times after the movie was over so Tyler could dance. I caught some of his skills on video. Check it out...

Then we found this cool Jutebox thing on the DVD and we played some Shrek songs. Here are Tyler's moves to the song "Livin the Vida Loca."

The Rumor Is True

For those of you who were wondering...the rumor is true. I did get SOME tickets to the egg roll, but not nearly enough, so sorry for those of you who I couldn't give them to. I hope you all had some luck!! Maybe we should have a playgroup before Easter with an egg roll of our own. :) Josh has volunteered to dress up as Obama...(jk).

As Political As I Get...

I am not a very political person. I vote for whomever has the closest values to mine and then I support whoever wins as best I can. Here and there I will gripe about something political, but usually I prefer to keep quiet and stay away from the political scene.

However, today I want to open myself to the politics of the White House Easter Egg Roll, to which NO MATTER WHAT I DO I cannot get tickets!! I have been sitting online since 8am trying to get into the system which happen about 8:15, so I though YAY great I am gonna get tickets! No...I got in and no matter what quantity I chose, it was not available. Then I went to choose another time slot and guess what? I can't go back. So there I sat in the "waiting room" for another 45 minutes when I finally got in again. Shouldn't I have been able to switch between timeslots until I found one that worked, since I waited "in line"? Now I am finally back in and I have tried EVERY timeslot, only asking for 2 tickets and they are not available. So WHY ON EARTH would they leave the timeslots up as being available?? Once the tickets are gone shouldn't they take them down, or only show what is available?? So, needless to say, I am not getting tickets between the retarded waiting room and the "internet page not available" and the guessing forever which timeslots have tickets, when in fact NONE of them do. I hate Obama. (Can I say that here?) Just because I wanted Easter Egg Roll tickets for my cute sweet little boy.

(Deep Breath)

And now I don't think I have time to work out since I have to vacuum and go grocery shopping and go to work so I can bake two cakes tomorrow and set up for a wedding reception.

But, on a side note, some of you have been asking for pics of Tyler's room, so enjoy...
(These were taken right after we set his room up and are not that great - it looks way cooler in person).

Ode to a Wonderful Husband

I just wanted to give a shout-out to my wonderful husband who has done SO much for me the past week. On Tuesday while I was at work he made me sugar cookies, then he took care of Tyler for a day and a night by himself while I was gone to my brother's wedding. Then on Saturday while I was at work he did the massive amount of laundry that had built up. Besides all that, he does wonderful things for me everyday and I don't know what I would do without him. I love you, Josh!

The Cliff Notes Version

I'm back from Columbia, SC and as tired as ever. Some of you have already asked for the full report from my trip, but I only have the energy for the cliffs notes version, so here goes...

I left for Columbia Thursday night, but before I left Josh and I used going to Dulles as an excuse to hit Todai, an all you can eat sushi buffet in the Fair Oaks Mall. They have THE BEST sushi I have EVER tasted and I ate as much as I could possibly fit in my stomach. So after bloating myself beyond belief, I hopped on the airplane to head for the south. I got there about 10:30pm and got my car and headed for the hotel.

Embassy Suites - Columbia, SC

After a horrible night's sleep without my two boys, knowing that my littlest boy screamed most of the way home for me, I woke up and got ready for "the big day," AKA the day my baby brother would get married. On the way to the temple I saw some actual BLOSSOMS so I had to whip out my camera and take a pic. These were definitely not the only blooms I came across during my trip.

Cherry Blossoms!!

I arrived to the temple before everyone, so I stood outside in the 64 degree weather and snapped some shots of the temple before the chaos (aka the happy couple) arrived.

The entire Columbia temple

Moroni up close and personal

The ceremony was very nice and I didn't even cry until I realized that my BABY brother was hitched. He's not old enough to get married!! He didn't cry either until he saw me crying...

This is what they did off and on during the ENTIRE picture taking session (50 minutes):

My favorite pic that I took:

The "real" photographers were so busy usurping the couple that I decided to take some shots of my niece "Double Z." She was more fun to snap shots of anyway.

I finally got to take some pics of Gary and Marlee in the sunshine! I love the look I captured on her face. Isn't it wonderful to see a laughing bride?

More of my niece...

After the ceremony, the pictures, and the luncheon, everyone else took off for Jacksonville and the reception, but I stuck around Columbia to bide time before my 7:30 flight (which was delayed until 8, and didn't take off until 8:15). I found there is a lot of pretty stuff there, but nothing to do.

Some random church with pretty trees:

A random house with pretty trees:

A dance store I spent all of 5 minutes in, because I am no way paying $50 for a pair of dance pants!

Martin Luther King Jr. Park

Maxxy Gregg Park

All in all the trip went well except for missing my boys. But they had a lot of fun camping out when I was gone... Josh made sure to take some pics:

So, anyhow, I am back and TIRED. My flight got in about 10:00 last night and we got home after 11:00 and asleep after 12:00. Then I got up at 7:00 (after being up with SICK Tyler three times) at 7:00 to get ready for work. NAP TIME!!

Conversation with a Two-Year-Old

I just had to post the conversation Tyler and I just had cause it cracked me up. I guess I should have more faith in what a two-year-old does and doesn't understand...

Mommy: Tyler, guess where we're going today?
Tyler: Play hockey?
Mommy: No
Tyler: To airport?
Mommy: Yes, Mommy is going to go on an airplane!
Tyler: Tyler go on airpeen too?
Mommy: No, Tyler can't go on the airplane - it costs lots of money. Do you have lots of money?
Tyler: Yes
Mommy: Where is all your money?
Tyler: In piggy bank.


Yes, my two year old knows what money is. I am in biiiiiiiiiiig trouble!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

"Today is the day fer the wearin' o' the green. Today is the day when the little people are seen. Today is St. Patrick's Day, so if ye'r Irish me lad, Join the celebratin' fer the grandest time ta' be had. Ya' put yer hand up in the air, the other hand on your hip. Ya' tap yer toe, ya' tap yer heel, ya' bounce yer knee a wee bit. Ya' prance 'n dance around the room, n' circle one two three. The saints be praised, I must admit, ya' all look Irish ta' me."

Those are the words to an old children's song I used to listen to as a kid. I loved playing it on St. Patrick's Day and I have been singing it in my head the past two weeks in preparation for St. Patrick's Day. Not that I am overly excited about a green holiday, but it's that I had to keep reminding myself to wear green. I bruise easily and pinching is not a good thing for me.

Anyhow, we celebrated (thus far) St. Patrick's day by having green eggs and ham for breakfast, along with green milk.

After breakfast (and a bunch of cleaning) we had some friends over to play and eat green treats. (Unfortunately, I didn't get a pic of any of the green treats). We had green rice krispie treats, bread with green butter, green pudding, green candy popcorn, and green punch. After snacks, we played until everyone started to break down.

After most of our friends left, we finally got to the craft I spent last night prepping for. Here is the finished product on the fridge for daddy to see:

Now the boy is sleeping (well!) thanks to the time with his friends. For a small holiday and not being Irish, we sure had a lot of fun!

For those of you who have girls...

...this is what you are missing out on. Our lives revolve around BALLS...footballs, baseballs, basketballs, soccer balls, beach balls, hockey balls, you name it. Here is the crazy man in action:

If I only had THAT much energy...

Park in the Dark?

Yesterday Tyler and I ventured to playgroup on the Rockville end at an awesome park that Anie and Melissa found. The slides were ginormous! It was destined to be a beautiful day with the weathermen predicting 60 degree weather and sunshine. However, the sunshine didn't show up, nor did the 60 degrees, until much later in the day.

We still had a great day, with Tyler exploring the whole place begging Lexi and Kate and Madi to "follow me" everywhere he went. We found out he is scared of swings, but he will climb up a ladder with no bottom and stand on 2 foot tall toadstools with no problem...go figure.

Here are some pics from the event (of course I have like 3,000 more than this, so it was hard to pick):

Madi, Tyler, and Lexi exploring...

All the kids sitting on the slide...Lexi did not want to pose for the pictures, but I don't blame her...didn't we go to the park to PLAY not to pose?

All the kids (except LOgan who wandered away somewhere) on the fun toadstools.

Tyler climbing the ladder. I soon joined him so he didn't fall and hurt himself. He tends to land on his face everytime he falls and that's the last thing I need is a bloody boy.

A pic of all the kids and adults from up at the top of the playground.

Tyler looking for some friends to go down the slide with.

Shauna, Anie, and Madi in the background while Tyler goes down the slide.

I don't know what he was thinking with this face!

The awesome "bicycle" Tyler noticed very first and just HAD to ride.

We can't wait until the weather is nice ALL the time so we can have more fun outdoor outings with his and my friends and take a million more pictures. Next time I better bring a second memory card...