Katie's wedding

Jon's niece, Katie, got married today. The wedding was held at a beautiful estate in Sarasota, FL. Although it had been in the 40s and 50s all week in Sarasota, today was warm (70s), sunny and beautiful.

Cousin Andrew, and Jonah, Elijah, and Isaiah passed out bulletins and guarded the guest book.Ezra and Malachi, the ring bearers, played and chilled out and waited for their "big show".

Before the wedding they posed with Katie.

Katie loves color and mismatch. All the bridesmaids picked their own dresses in the color they wanted. All the men and boys wore peacock feathers for their boutonnieres.
The flower girls (who are Wyatt's nieces and also 4 and 2) did a beautiful job.

Ezra and Malachi had to be helped by Jon, due to a break down on Ezra's part.

Both Wyatt's dad and Katie's grandpa are ministers, so they preformed the ceremony together.

They happily skipped down the aisle when they were done.

The wedding scene was transformed into the reception scene while Katie and Wyatt had pictures taken.

Katie's parents, Robin (Jon's sister) and Harry.
Katie does things her own way--she loves tea cups, books and lots of color. Every table was decorated with old books and a tea cups full of flowers. After the reception all the guests were invited to take a tea cup and a book home as a "favor".
Katie and Wyatt entered the reception after taking lots and lots of pictures.
Their first dance.

Time to eat.
Some enjoyed dancing.

Some enjoyed watching (Jonah, Andrew and Isaiah sat on the steps).
Some enjoyed the chocolate fountain.
Some used their shirts for a napkin.
God sent a beautiful sunset.The kids played in the grass. They cut the cake near the end of the reception.
Katie's very good friend and bridesmaid, Sarah Cooper, made both of the cakes. Yummy!
The groom's cake was the famous red velvet armadillo cake (from Steel Magnolias).
And guess who asked Sarah Cooper for the first piece? Of course, Ezra did.
Katie and Wyatt left on a boat (Mr. Cooper's famous boat--according to the kids).

What a beautiful, fun day!

The Reindeers

Malachi and Ezra had the privilege of being ring bearers in their cousin, Katie's wedding today. Yesterday, on the way to the rehearsal Malachi announced that he was going to be a "reindeer" in Katie's wedding. Word got back to the wedding coordinator and she referred to them as "the reindeer" for the whole rehearsal and wedding.

At the rehearsal, the property was set up for the wedding that was going to take place that day, so we weren't confident that they were really sure of what they would be doing today. They had to walk out of the estate and down the steps and across the lawn and to Sara (Katie's sister).
The first time through there were a few tears and some shyness. But the second time through they did great! They were all set...right?
Ezra started to show some nerves even before the wedding had begun. All this attention was a little too much. However, Malachi thought everyone was there to see him--of course.
Malachi, thinking everyone was there to see him, took every opportunity to woo the flower girls.

First, he was found holding hands with 2 year old Lauralee during photo sessions with the bride and groom (he was not asked to do so, he did it on his own).Later he was seen walking into the sunset with 4 year old Abigail.

She was rescued by her mother moments after they got to the water's edge.

But no girl compared to his cousin, Ella Grace--what a sweetie.

As for their job as reindeer...Ezra started crying as the bridesmaids made their way down the aisle. By the time it was their turn to come down out of the house, the reindeer had to be rescued and escorted by their Daddy.
Despite the "rescue" they charmed the crowd and I was told about 100 times how cute and adorable they are.
As part of the wedding "fun", Katie had a dress up spot. Everyone could dress up, write a note on a chalk board and have their picture taken for Katie and Wyatt. Here is the picture that the "reindeer" took.

Cutest nerds in town!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning started like most Christmas mornings: kids up too early, impatiently waiting for everyone to be ready to start opening presents. Around 7:00, I jumped in the shower, wondering what happened to the snow that the weather men had said would start falling at mid-night. By the time I got out of the shower, the snow was falling. It was beautiful. Within an hour every thing was white.Jon and I wondered if we should go ahead and head to FL today instead of waiting until tomorrow. The snow was piling up quickly and they were calling for sleet by the afternoon.
We started opening presents around 8:00.
This year we had the boys draw names among themselves. Jonah got Isaiah a wood-building set. Elijah got Jonah a Halo Mongoose. Isaiah got Elijah a Dragon Egg. Ezra bought Malachi his first Lego set--construction workers. And Malachi picked out an Anakin Skywalker Galactic Hero for Ezra.
We gave Isaiah his own video camera (the only thing he really asked for).
We gave Malachi a Moon Dough Barn.
We gave Jonah another Halo set, Ezra a Lego castle and Elijah a Lego Dictionary.
Mimi and Papa gave the 3 big boys scooters.
Ezra got 2 Playmobil sets from Mimi and Papa.
And Malachi got a tool box from Mimi and Papa.
Jonah, Elijah, Isaiah and Ezra got a Hero Factory guy and Malachi got a rug that looks like roads.
We gave Jonah a Airsoft pistol.
There were a few more Legos given and Granny held Allie through the whole thing. All in all everyone had a lot to do to get all the "sets" built. So the boys starting playing.Jon and I made a decision to go ahead and leave. I packed the suitcases as fast as I could and Jon loaded the car top carrier and van in the falling snow. We got on the road a little before 11:00. Once we hit the road we were so glad we had left, another hour and we wouldn't have made it down our hill. Even the interstate was bad.
After about 2 hours the snow let up and was mostly rain. We found out that they canceled church for tomorrow and that made us even happier that we had rushed away when we did. After all, we might have only got trapped for a day or two, but when you drive 11 hours, you want to be there as long as possible and get the most out of the time.
We arrived safely but tired tonight around 9:45.