Ring Bearer, 2nd Time Around (3 1/4 years old)

Despite a rehearsal that looked like this...

A very long car ride leads to a grumpy boy in the evening.

Theo did a great job being a ring bearer for his second time in the last 11 months.  As long as he has a pretty girl to lead him around and tell him what to do he does fine.  And this time it only took two suckers to keep him quiet throughout the wedding ceremony.

He kind of loves the spotlight.  I'm not sure where he gets it from.

This time his job included carrying a very important box...

and wearing a sign.  The front said "Here comes the bride", and we switched it around to send him back down the aisl

e.

 As you can see, he enjoyed the evening.

Where did the girls go?

Found her.

All he talked about before the wedding was dancing with Chloe.

He even caught the garter... but he better not leave his mama for another woman for a long, long time.

Ring Bearer, 1st Time Around, (2 1/2 years old)

When I was writing the post for Theo's latest ring-bearer experience, I decided I should first post about his first one.

Last year, when I was 7 months pregnant, Theo was a ring bearer for his Aunt Emily at her outside wedding in Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

He practiced pretty well...

but was surprised when the flower girl actually started throwing the petals during the wedding.

He made it to the front with no tears, yelling, or help.

It took a bag full of suckers and stickers to keep him quiet and occupied throughout the wedding service (my main worry for the day). 

Going back down the aisle after the ceremony.

 But it all went well and he had a great time spending the day on the farm.  And I especially enjoyed the rain that came and cooled us all down (having an end of summer baby made for a very hot season).

Thanksgiving Happenings

Thanksgiving weekend went by in a flash like always.

We headed to Toledo to Brian's grandpa's on Wednesday afternoon. We left at 1:00 pm and drove the 512 miles in 9 and a half hours. We had about an hours worth of stops in this trip. I took an apple pie with us, having an excuse to finally use my new pie carrier. We then got a really good nights sleep there.

On Thursday, we had lunch with all the Eddies (except Brian's dad who wasn't feeling well). We then drove the couple of hours to my great uncle Dave's house and had dinner with most of the Banters. My sisters then dragged me to see a late showing of New Moon. I made them wait a whole week since its opening, and Erin couldn't stand to wait anymore. Brian and I spent the night at my Banter grandparents this night.

Grandpa woke us up with good smells of pancakes and a roaring fire on Friday morning. I then did a little bit of Black Friday shopping with my grandma, mother, and sister. And shared an awesome Butterfinger milk shake with Erin. I'd never really had a milk shake before, and this one definitely made me get ideas for my new blending obsession. I got to hit up East of Chicago later that evening with Mariah and Ashley. We really could just talk for days and never be totally caught up with each other. Too bad we can't see each other more. Brian avoided these girly activities by spending time with his siblings, and watching a new toilet get installed. It was his parents birthday gift. Cori enjoyed playing with her cousins. I absolutely love this picture that I stole from Emily... Cori looks like she is such a good girl. We spent this night at my parent's house. Saturday put us back in the car driving to Uncle Charlie and Aunt Marrianne's. We made pretty good time, and enjoyed the Hutson Thanksgiving there at noon. There were at least half a dozen kids under 2 there... the Hutson family has been exploding with kids lately. Our boy will have plenty of older second cousins to play with, most of them boys. Being the dork that I am, I decided to graph this population growth. This chart shows the growth (through marriages and births) since I started dating Brian nine years ago. We got a couple of our first official baby gifts here, including this beautiful quilt from Brian's godmother.
This is a graph of the family since I started dating Brian in 2000. I'm one of the data from 2006.We then had to leave early to head to Fort Wayne for my cousin's wedding. The wedding was held at a Lutheran church in Fort Wayne, and the reception at the Hayloft in Hoagland. I really liked this venue, and we had a really good time at the wedding. The dj did a good job of getting us all dancing and having fun. Everything was really nice and pretty. I was dead on my feet by the end of it. We headed back to Huntington and spent the night at Brian's house.



Sunday we awoke to the smell of pancakes again. Brian's dad sent us off with a breakfast of these and some maple syrup to go. We later realized we should have been cooking for him, considering it was his and Brian's mom's birthday! After a stop to fill our cooler with meat, we headed back to Newark. We left at 10:08 am, drove the 615 miles through the day, and got to Newark at 10:28 pm. The worst traffic was where the Pennsylvania turnpike runs along with 70. We made a total of six stops that took about an hour and a half altogether (including lunch at Steak & Shake).

And after a very tiring work day on Monday, we vowed to never get back within 10 hours of having to be at work.

Wedding Weekend (Jen and Diane)

My first cousin and Brian's first cousin conveniently scheduled their weddings for the same weekend, so we made our annual summer vacation to Indiana for the July 4th weekend so we could joyously take in both ceremonies.

Both were a lot of fun, catching up with most of our relatives and enjoying witnessing other people being brought into the "married people" club. Some of the pretty pictures:

Jen and Ben say their vows at an old country estate in South Charleston, Ohio, on July 3. (his two little girls are in blue).

Everything was simple, modern, and beautiful-nothing too fussy. I expected no less from Jen, who has really great taste.  I discovered this years ago when she hosted our bridal shower at her home. This was our table's centerpiece.

A beautiful selection of cakes. Brian and his siblings.

All of us.

Just us.
We stayed in Ohio for the night, after driving all morning to get there, and then ventured on to Indiana on Saturday.

Diane and Justin had their wedding on July 4th in Huntington, IN.

Their huge wedding party. 6 kids (under 13), 10 attendants

Leaving the church amid bubbles (and a little rain). Pretty cake, and lots of pretty lighting with the candles.

Me with Diane (I think she borrowed my veil-and it didn't fall off her :)

A quintessential picture of Justin.

Our family.


Brian and I. I made Brian do the dollar dance. This was the result. I don't think I'll make him do it again.  But I definitely hope we can make more cousin weddings in the future.