A Wedding Weekend

This weekend was a wonderful one. One of Thomas' best friends from high school, JK, who even lived with us for a while got married on Saturday. We were all invited and planned on going to our hometown for the weekend to attend. Then we found out Jeremy was signed up for a race through his running club in our town Friday evening. My mom and dad decided to run it and Ty wanted to stay to run as well. The race started at 7 pm so I knew even if I stayed I wouldn't be able to go to the race as it would be Carter's bedtime. So I went forward with our original plan to leave on Friday.

I had my 6 week follow up appointment with my OB/Gyn Friday morning. Ty stayed home and went in to work late so I could go alone. Carter woke up really early and Ty got up with him while I nursed Elise. I was tempted to go back to sleep when she was done eating but decided to get up and take the kids on a walk so Ty could go back to bed. I'm glad I did because our walk was so much fun! Ty had dressed Carter in 3T shorts which were so big he was stopping to pull them up quite a bit and I was chuckling the whole time. Our trash day is Friday so we got to watch the trash truck driving up and down the streets collecting trash as we walked. Carter loved it and happily waved to the workers. We made it home just in time for me to wake Ty and head to my appointment.

When I got home Ty showered and headed to work. Carter and I read books, played outside for a bit, ate lunch, and then loaded up to head to Erin's house for a visit. All week long Carter had been asking to go to Hayden's house so I knew he was excited. I couldn't wait to see little Addison again as well as Erin and Hayden. Carter napped almost the whole 2 hour drive despite having told me "No nap, nap not," before getting in the car. Carter and Hayden played so nicely together and Erin and I got to talk more than our last trip which was fun. I took food already prepared and ready to go in the oven so we all ate dinner together. We left in time to get to my parents' house, give Carter a bath, and put him to bed.

I was really tired and not looking forward to the next morning with no one around to get up with Carter if he woke up really early. Not one to disappoint, Carter was up for the day at 5:30! I brought him into my room and told him it was still night night time and we couldn't get up until 7:00. He laid and played with my hair for a solid hour, talking a little, but mostly quiet. I drifted off for about 30 minutes and woke up to Carter standing by the bed telling me to get up. Crazy enough, it was 7:00! Later in the day I noticed random videos on my phone and realized while I was asleep Carter took a bunch of pictures, 8 videos, and set my phone to do not disturb.

Carter's photography skills in action!

I took Carter out to play in the backyard and sat watching him while holding Elise. My parents' dog Fezzik tried to weasel his way into my lap and I pushed him out, afraid he would accidentally hurt Elise. After that if Fezzy got close to me Carter would run, get between us, and yell, "No, that's my sister!" It was beyond cute. When we went inside I decided to take Carter to a paved path by the college to run because the sidewalks around my parents' house are all old, uneven, and difficult to run on with a stroller. After our run we went over to the lake right next to the university. It turned out a campus group was sponsoring a fishing derby. They saw Carter and gave him a net to keep and play with in the water even though he wasn't participating. He ended up with wet shoes and shorts due to slipping in water in a drainage ditch but it was worth it to see him excitedly show me the leaf he caught, then the moss, then the twig.

Our next stop should have been home for a clothing change, but we weren't done yet. There was a playground just down the road which we decided to stop at. Elise was asleep in her car seat and there was no one else at the park so I left her in her car seat by the bench and was able to really play with Carter, looking over to check on Elise while we played. We went down the slide, climbed up the slide, ran across the bridge, jumped up and down on the middle of the bridge, I pushed Carter in the swing. It was exactly what I needed. Quality one-on-one time with my first baby. The sky was clear and the weather was a perfect warm, but not too warm. At one point I looked up at Carter who was being silly pushing me back down the slide while we were climbing up it. His face had a giant smile and his eyes were filled with joy. Seeing that face framed by the bright blue sky with a few perfectly placed clouds, I thought, "I've never seen anything more beautiful."

Carter started telling me he was hungry for a snack and I hadn't packed anything because I hadn't expected to be out for so long. We were right by a grocery store that I knew had a cute little coffee shop inside so I decided to stop there on the way home for a special doughnut date. When we walked in Carter saw carts with little riding cars attached in front for kids. He was desperate to ride in one so I let him climb in, I put Elise's car seat in the cart and I wheeled the cart to the coffee shop. I picked out a filled long john and Carter picked a chocolate iced doughnut. She put them in a bag for us and we picked a table. When I pulled Carter's doughnut out of the bag he excitedly said, "Ooooohh!" It was so cute.

Terrible picture, but it's the only one I took!

When we got back to my parents' house we ate lunch and then Carter went down for a nap. Once he was awake it was time to start getting ready for the wedding. I got ready first because it never seems to fail that I get both the kids ready and then when it's time for me to get dressed Elise wants to eat and then I'm the only one not ready when it's time to go. Then I got Carter dressed in the suit he picked to wear and Elise in her sweet, little dress I've been excited for her to grow into. They both looked beyond cute. Carter did really well during the wedding and Elise slept the entire time. Carter was all about the bubbles we were given to blow at the bride and groom as they came out and couldn't wait to get to the reception or "party" as he called it.

Carter all dressed and ready to go!

Elise looking pretty for the occasion!

The whole group before heading into the wedding: dad, Carter, mom, me. Ty, Elise, Jeremy, and Thomas.

Waiting for the wedding to start.

Trying out the bubbles.

The reception had a candy bar which Carter enjoyed visiting with me and Uncie J. I handed Carter the scoop to add gummy bears to his bag and noticed just in time that the scoop was headed to his mouth rather than his bag. His Oma asked him for a kiss and when he refused, told him she would get a kiss either from him or his candy bag. He was suddenly eager to give her a kiss. Carter was desperate to dance and tried to go out onto the dance floor numerous times during the first dance, father/daughter, and mother/son dances. When the dance floor finally opened he was the first one out there along with a few other kids. As he was dancing he caught sight of a 2 year old girl and stopped in his tracks staring. He spent the rest of the evening chasing her, dancing with her, and intermittently doing his own thing. I laughed and smiled harder than I have in a long time. My parents took turns with Elise out on the dance floor and I was shocked she slept through the loud music! Baby girl is a champ!!!

Candy buffet

Giving kisses to Oma so he could keep his candy Kisses!

Carter and his new found friend for the night.  She was just a few months younger.

Elise dancing with Opa.

Snoozing through all the loud music and disco ball lights!

We let Carter stay well past his bedtime and then my parents were sweet enough to take the kids back so Ty and I could stay. They were supposed to call when Elise was ready to eat and we'd leave, but my dad drove back out with her so I could feed her there and we didn't have to leave. After Carter was gone it took me a while to get back into the dancing because for me he was the life of the party. But I had a blast dancing with Jeremy and Ty and Ty even requested our song which I loved. We also got to dance to "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran. The last time we'd danced to it Elise was between us in the form of my basketball sized belly! As the party started winding down I noticed there was quite a bit of cake left so I tried a piece of each flavor. The night ended after lots of dancing and fun and too much cake and candy.

Oma at home with Elise so we could stay at the party.

While at the wedding the photographer who is a friend of our family talked my mom into a photo shoot of Elise the following day. She talked to me and we decided morning would be best so Sunday morning we went to the studio to have pictures of Elise taken. I wasn't sold on the idea of taking pictures especially because I wasn't prepared and hadn't packed any special clothes for it. I ended up rewearing the shirt I'd worn Friday and Ty wore a tshirt but the pictures ended up being adorable! Seeing the first few sample shots the photographer posted on Facebook on our way home was the perfect ending to a wonderful weekend!