Little Visit, Little People

Apparently it takes a brave parent to road trip alone with small children. That's what I hear anyway, and I believe it. It's a moving vehicle full of unpredictability, and Jillian and her girls conquered it recently. They drove a long way for a short visit, but we loved our time with them.

They arrived before dinner with two girls who were VERY glad to be out of the car, and one mother who was happier to be out of the car than anyone else could have been. She's a trooper. 

Graceanna quickly recalled her friendship with "Mista Ca-sun" and goaded him into reading our collection of children's books.  

Wren helped me get dinner ready while her momma was taking a relaxing shower. Note the shirt.

Graceanna had cucumbers for the first time and called them pickles. The rest of us had a new recipe that tasted fine but was terribly ugly. Jillian is a queen of both tasty and beautiful food, so my incredibly humble presentation disappointed me. 

We had an early evening since everyone was tired and I had to work early. When I got home the next day, things were a little chaotic, but they started to slow down when both girls went down for naps.

I'm glad I got a picture of Wren sleeping because it only lasted 15 minutes. Gracie didn't sleep at all. 

Napless but brave (or stupid, we would soon find out), Jillian and I decided to proceed with the plan of getting ready and leaving the house, figuring that if things went south, we could come home again no problem. 

We went to the used bookstore first. Everyone loved it, except maybe the staff who I'm sure had to re-reshelve the books I probably grossly misplaced when reading to Gracie. 

We hit the very thrilling Wal-Mart next because we were obviously all about shopping and exploring local on this trip. Had to take a selfie on the car ride out of the parking lot. 

Our third stop was going to be a park, but since we were sweating from just the walk from the car to the store, we decided to opt for the air conditioning of a Chic-fil-a play place. That didn't happen either because Graceanna read herself to sleep.

Jillian and I drove around since both girls had fallen asleep and we wanted to keep them sleeping for as long as possible. We headed home when Wren lost her mind in hunger. Graceanna continued to sleep until 6.

We knew it would be a late night, so dinner and everything else was late. I made a much better-presented Chicken Cordon Bleu which everyone except Graceanna enjoyed. 

We'd planned to put the girls to bed and then let Carson stay with them while we went out and talked, but the late naps changed things. Carson grabbed Pizooki for us and our night instead included a movie, a toddler pedicure, reading books, jumping on our mini trampoline, takeout dessert on the couch, and bottle feeding a baby. We didn't get the hours of conversation I'd hoped for, but the alternative was pretty good too.  

Graceanna got fig cookies and a tiny handful of chocolate chips, but she enjoyed it with more gusto than we had for our (much tastier, sorry G) desserts. 

The next morning was going to start pretty early but plans changed, so we got a late start. We hit the splash pad at Cascades Park and Gracie loved it. She was a bit apprehensive at first, but by the end she was soaking went and having a blast.

We met her twin!

And another selfie for the books.

I sat in the car with the girls while Jillian gathered the rest of their things, and we FaceTimed with Emily and baby Tirzah. We wish they could have been here!

One last hug from baby Wren, and they were back on the road. Love my "nieces" and my "sister" and I'm thankful that it's now a shorter trip, but I wish these weekends together happened much more often!

Becca's Wedding, Part Two

The morning of the wedding was bright and clear. There were only fluffy white clouds in the sky, the humidity wasn't suffocating, and birds were singing. It was a beautiful day. I woke up early to do a few wedding things before we dashed off in the car to Savannah to get ready.

Once we arrived, I noticed that Becca's wedding countdown had changed. 

And her dining room became full of pins, hairspray and curling irons.

It took a few tries to get her hair just right, but in the end she claimed to love it. Becca's tastes are so different from mine and I was worried that her hair would look like something I'd like and not something she loved. She tried to say that she loved it the first time, but Meagan wiggled the truth out of her and we started over. It was messy and sort of natural, but perfect for her. In the back, we put a dogwood pin that used to belong to Thomas' grandmother, the perfect "something old". 

Sometimes we look so alike that I see a picture of her and think it's me, sometimes we couldn't look more different. This day, we definitely looked the latter. Isn't she beautiful? 

There were a few hours between the getting ready and the getting married. The bride and bridesmaids took pictures in a park before the wedding, then went off to the church to relax before the ceremony. We sat there, got water, talked, and finally prayed with my parents before the time came to walk down the aisle. 

I loved the music they chose for the ceremony. It was by Fleet Foxes, whom I hadn't heard of before, but the instrumental versions especially (they had a guitarist) were beautiful and perfect. 

Becca was so calm before the wedding and right before she was SO excited. I was amazed at how surreal it felt to give her a hug before I walked down the aisle. For the first time, I felt like I could understand why people cry at weddings. 

When the doors opened and everyone stood for her entrance, Becca started to laugh. She was the happiest bride I think I've ever seen. She beamed down the aisle and started walking pretty fast, dragging dear old Dad along with her. 

 The ceremony went off without a hitch. The rings were present and accounted for (I wore Thomas' on my thumb), the vows (borrowed from her friend Meagan's wedding) were perfect, and suddenly, they were Mr and Mrs Mole! There was a kiss and then they beamed down the aisle. When we walked out after them, Thomas was telling Becca how beautiful she looked and how much he liked her dress, giving her a big hug. I think it was surreal for them too ;)

After the ceremony came pictures, of course. Carson took some while the real photographer was at work.

This was my brother's boutonniere. He found this dead dragonfly and added it. It's so him. The boutonnieres, by the way, have chicken feathers on them - how creative!

There were bridal party pictures taken in the park (Carson came too because I didn't think to secure a ride of my own, but he did get fun pictures, huh?).
Dresses:  Meagan's: Modcloth; Mine: Vera Wang White by David's Bridal; Jennifer's: Made by my mom!

And then we arrived at the reception. I don't have terrific pictures of the couple, because I was busy greeting family I hadn't seen since our wedding. But the reception details were so fun!

There was grilled chicken, wild rice pilaf, fruit, black bean salad, caprese salad and bread. So good! I ate like a barbarian. By that, I mean that I hadn't had time to eat much earlier in the day and I wasn't putting food into my mouth in a ladylike manner.

The cake. It was so Becca. That's one thing I kept hearing the whole night, "It's so Becca!" everything really was. Definitely reflected her in so many ways.

There wasn't supposed to be dancing other than B+T's first dance, but they'd chosen upbeat music for the reception and people couldn't help themselves, so there was dancing after all. I'm pretty sure someone else took over the music toward the end though, since "Cupid Shuffle" doesn't seem a very likely reception song unless dancing is intended. In other words, people really enjoyed themselves at this wedding. 

They got ready to go as the dancing wound down, said their goodbyes (everyone filed past them, hugging as they left before the grand exit, which was kind of fun)

And then they were off! 

Click here for many more wedding pictures.

Becca's Wedding, Part One

We arrived in Beaufort at about 10pm on Wednesday, three days before the wedding. I stayed up until 1am talking with Mom and doing various wedding related activities, mainly writing a sign proclaiming the order of events for the wedding. 

 On Thursday morning, I got up and practiced Mom's hair for the wedding. At 9am, I headed over to Emily's, where she showed off her Mary Kay skills and gave me a facial. It was fun and something we've never done before. We went downtown after that and met Ms. Stephanie for coffee at Common Grounds. At noon, I said goodbye and headed over the bridge to Ladys Island, where I had lunch with Grandmama. We chatted and reminisced and discussed outfits for upcoming weddings. Then I was off to Savannah. It was a busy day. 

When I got to Becca's, this is what I saw:

She and her good friend Meagan had spent the entire day decorating and baking in preparation for the shower that evening. The house smelled full of baking things... and then burning things, because the poor cookies in the oven were forgotten in my arrival. In any case, it was festive and fun inside.

At six, Becca's friends arrived. There was small talk as we sat around in the cozy living room. One friend suggested that we each share one thing that we love best about Becca. I was at a loss there. Not because I couldn't think of anything, but because I feel like I know a different Becca.

Before I go any further, allow me to explain. I haven't seen my sister in almost two years (and it's been over four years since we claimed the same address), and in the time that's passed, she's moved to a different place, made friends whom I've heard about but never met, and begun a life as the same person, but she's also changed. I knew this, of course, but as people arrived and greeted her and said things about her heart and her personality, I realized that they've seen my sister as she's grown up. I know the Becca that I grew up with. I remember her quirks, like never ever wearing shoes, and the fifty stuffed animals she slept with every night. I know more about her from our emails than I do from her in real life these days.

That's why I didn't know what to say. There was so much to say, and no way to say it. But basically, I was overwhelmed during the weekend - even though I was her matron (ugh, hate that word) of honor, I was struck by how little I knew this person who had become a WOMAN in the time since I'd last seen her. This should be its own post, clearly.

Anyway, there was also a sort of game where Meagan had asked Thomas questions about his relationship with Becca. Instead of making her guess his answers, we listened to Becca's own answers and then heard Thomas'. After that, gifts. This was a personal shower, so there aren't going to be any of those pictures shared here :)

Meagan and I spent the night with Becca. I was really tired, so I did what I tend to do when I'm really tired - talk a mile a minute. My poor sister. She probably wanted to throw something at my head, but she politely yawned as a hint instead. 

The next morning, Becca frosted her wedding cake. When we were planning our wedding, Carson and I talked about making our cake, but were talked out of it because we'd "be too stressed"... while that was probably true for us, it wasn't for Becca. She frosted away like it was no big deal. 

Once the cake was completed, Becca was adorned with this star crown and we headed off for lunch. We went to Green Truck, which is just down the street from her house and a favorite spot.

I think you can see why.

Lunch completed, we went to a place to paint pottery. Becca chose a plate, Meagan a vase, Jennifer a leaf plate and I a spoon rest. It was relaxing and neat to see so many different ways of painting each piece. The colors were also much more muted than they'll be once the pieces are fired, so that too will be a nice surprise.

After we'd painted, we went over to the church to set up tables, but Thomas had just finished doing it when we arrived. So we went back to the house and got ready for the rehearsal instead. Carson took a lot of pictures of that, but here are just two.

Next up: The wedding!