Erin's Wedding - Photo Overload!

So, this is my last post for the night! Blog overload! What can I say - it's been a busy month!

My cousin Erin was married two weeks ago. The wedding was beautiful and perfect! It was inside of a restored barn and the ceremony was outside. The only downside to the whole evening was that Jack barfed all over me during the toasts. Thankfully, we were in the back and very few people noticed! The girls were flower girls and did so well. I actually left them in the processional line (as a very nervous mom) and they walked down the LONG aisle smiling the whole time and used the right stairway and everything. So proud!

Here are some photos from the evening. (Other people got more great photos - the kids were extremely photogenic that night - I think the natural light helped tremendously too!)

Getting ready at the hotel - Josie went for the curlers and Tessa for the curling iron.

Once Josie's curlers came out, Tessa told her she was beautiful.

At the hotel before we left

Love the contrast in this photo!

With the bride!

Love this picture with the flowers. Erin was so sweet and got pink for Tessa and purple for Josie!

My other cousin, Nicole

Jack stole the show in his little outfit! Others definitely have better pictures of this guy.

This is where I had to leave the girls. You can barely see the pink in their flowers.

Starting down the path!

Almost there!

Josie looks so old in this photo!

This is my brother, Matt, and his girlfriend, Sarah. I like this one because Sarah is so serious but Matt is losing it!

Mom did NOT think she should be hitting the rock.

That's better.

The family! (I haven't figured out why I'm at such an odd angle. Oh well!)

Tom was being simple and snapping pictures. I'm hardly ever in any shots, so I'm posting them here!

And, my brother being simple.

And, finally, Tessa being simple.

This was about 5 minutes pre-puke. Looks just fine doesn't he? :)

Fun, fun night!

Emotional Day

Today was an emotional day all the way around. I feel like I have been on the verge of tears (or actually having them roll down my cheeks) all day! 

First - Josie's last day of school was today and watching the teacher give one last hug as they each walked out the door made me start bawling like a baby. She wrote a very nice note in Josie's book too - queue more tears. (I bought "Oh the Places You'll Go" with the hopes of having each teacher sign it at the end of the year - thanks Pinterest!) Josie was sad too because she said Mrs. Brown talked a lot about this class would always be special to her since it was her first kindergarden class. 

A photo from this morning...

Here's a page from her end of the year journal. I think she nailed it and am so glad this is what she got out of the year - the important stuff!

Second - Our Rotary Club put on the annual Memorial Day program. We start the meeting as usual at Ponderosa and have a brief program. This year, Rick Walker talked about a young boy from Hancock County who died in Vietnam. Talk about touching. We then headed down to the Veteran's Park for a prayer, 21 Gun Salute, and taps. I'm glad we do this every year as it always renews my pride in our country. Someone said today that these men died to ensure we were a sovereign nation and ruled by no other. Also, it's always a good reminder that we need to be telling our kids the true meaning of the holiday, just as we do Christmas and Easter. Tom got some great photos here a while back. It's really a fantastic memorial. 

Finally, Andrea visited Timber Run today with Lydia and her mom. Now, we saw her last weekend at the Big May 5K, but only briefly. Seeing her talk about her customers and seeing them again just brought it all rushing back. One of our homeowners went to visit her at Methodist and cried today just talking about it. I'm so proud of how far she has come and how much strength she and her family have demonstrated. The event last weekend was a raging success and more photos can be found on our Joyner Homes Facebook Page, but here are two of my favorites of Andrea.

So, all in all, I'm exhausted. But, just like always, getting my thoughts on paper has helped immensely. I'm ready for the holiday weekend so we can just chill out as a family for a while. We have lots of fun things planned but also lots of downtime planned. My definition of a perfect long weekend!

Random May Mumblings

I have a lot to catch up on so I'm doing it all in one post. Sorry it's so random! 


1. Tessa had her first "friend" birthday party at our house. It was a great time and everyone was able to come even though it was extremely short notice. (Bad mom of the year award - right here). Funny thing - there were FOUR Josie's there! Who knew it would have been such a popular name. (I don't want to post a bunch of photos of the other kids, but here are a few from the party.)

The pink cupcakes

The gift table

Post pinata

 The birthday girl!

They ate out on the back porch - less mess!

2. It's only May 24th and we've already been swimming three times! The girls are getting really good at swimming under water and Tom was teaching Josie to tread water last year. This WILL be the year I get them in swimming lessons. :) Jack is getting more adventurous too! 

3. Tessa definitely reacts poorly to real milk. Over the last weekend, we really didn't pay too much attention to what she was eating. Four horrible fits later, I said to Tom, "Uh, she's had a lot of ice cream lately..." Turns out a little every once in a while doesn't seem to bother her, but two days in a row of ice cream and cheese sticks and she really let loose. We're back to normal now. On a similar note, I did ask the doctor about the whole thing at her five year check up and he said he certainly believes that milk can cause behavior problems even though there haven't been studies to prove it. We just need to make sure she gets enough calcium and Vitamin D. Turns out there's more of both in soy milk than in regular milk! 

4. Josie had a really nice Mother's Day Tea at school. It was actually the morning after the graduation program. I had to hand it to the teacher's for doing such a nice job on both! They were able to show us some of their work and had drawn pictures of their mothers for us to guess. I picked the right one. :) Afterward, the kids went out to recess and Josie showed me that she was able to go across all of the monkey bars - something she's been working on since the beginning of school. Pretty proud girl! 

5. Wholly Guacamole Spicy is about the best thing ever created. I can’t believe I even thought I didn’t like guacamole. One trip to Mexico as an adult changed that. This stuff is delicious and super spicy, but a good spice. I like it with Kashi’s TLC Original 7 Grain Pita Chips. I tell myself they’re not as unhealthy as regular tortilla chips, but they probably are…

Told you it was random!!! But now I feel better having it all documented!