Wow, now that is what I call a weekend!

My Dad invited us to his company's 21st birthday celebration at some beautiful botanical gardens that were about 3 hours from our house.
That town also happens to be where one of K's fraternity brothers and family live.
We were supposed to visit them a while ago but Lee had a stomach bug that nixed that plan.
Anyways
.
.
.
Botanical Gardens~

It was beautiful.

They had a brand new children's garden that was so much fun.

The kids ran around like little chicks.

Abby fell in love with a mosaic water fountain. 
 

 

{Apparently I laugh really loud, so you have to listen closely for Abby's hysterical giggle.}

The entire garden was beautiful.

K and I took a lot of pictures that I will probably intersperse in the next few posts.

But this picture of Abby and my Dad is just too sweet.

He was thrilled that she wanted to go through the garden with him.

Then as awe were leaving we stopped to look at a beautiful pond with a Weeping Willow right next to it.
If I were ever going to do an outdoor wedding, that would be the spot.
{I think K might have gotten a photo, I'll have to check.}
While we were looking at this beautiful place we saw that there were two duck standing at the waters edge.
Abby was thrilled to see them, tried to get a closer look and tumbled into some tall grass.
She hoped back up, no tears and we went on our merry way.
Then K and I saw what the grass had done to her face.

Poor thing had cuts on her nose, lips, chin, both cheeks and both arms.
It was awful!
She was a trooper about it.
Poor baby!

Saturday we decided to do something indoors because the temperature was beastly hot.
Indoor putt putt won the vote.
We got there and discovered that their air conditioner was broken and had been for a month.
It was hot.
Oh well, we were having too much fun together to complain.

K's friend T and his was J were so incredibly sweet.
The have two boys that were very close in age to Adison and Ainsley.
The kids got along famously and it was just a wonderful weekend.

Saturday evening as T was grilling, Lee and her little buddy were playing dress up.
This is a costume that was a first for us, ha ha!

She was a wonderful Iron Man.
{Her face broke out from some sort of allergic reaction., I need to talk with her doctor about this.}


On Sunday K and I overslept and we missed church.
We both felt awful about it, sorry guys!


We decided to head out for breakfast and my oh my, the place we went was soooo good!
I got an omelet with cheese, bacon, mushrooms and avocado.
It has become my new favorite.


Shortly after we headed home.
To get there we went through an area of Kansas called the Flint Hills.
I was awestruck by their beauty on the way down and made sure to take a few on the way home.

I told K on the way home that I have lived in Kansas for the last 15 years and never truly appreciated the beauty until recently.
Sure the summers and winters are miserable, but the land is gorgeous.

How about you, how was your weekend?

A beautiful family {wedding style}

The wedding was beautiful.

The thought and attention put into each detail was amazing.

The love that the couple had for one another was captivating.

I was/am so very honored to have been a part of such a special day.

A day where two people make a pledge before God, their family and friends.

A day that forever unites two families and makes them into a bigger one.

We had such an amazing time being a part of this day.

To have laughed and loved with them.

{To endure the heat too, ha ha!} 

The pictures are all over the place, there were so many great ones to pick that I just grabbed them.

 The newlyweds: my brother and his bride Betsy.

 Our youngest and Joe & Betsy's little girl {my niece} Cameron.

 Adison and K at the reception.

Adison made two new friends and was pretty much running around and playing with them the entire time.

We are lucky to have gotten a picture with her, ha ha.

 My step-mom and dad.

 My uncle, step-dad and mom.

We were so blessed that all of our side of the family was able to come.

 At the rehearsal.

My soon-to-be-sister-in law, me and Abby's head.

 This is at the rehearsal dinner.

This picture makes me smile so I just had to include it.

My dad was playing with Abby and K snapped a photo of the largest smile ever!

 They had a pink candy bar.

How amazing is this!?!

 Isn't this the sweetest picture!

Yes, my brother chose pink.

Yes, my husband loves my family enough to wear pink.

He may or may not be thrilled that I put this picture on here.

 K's parents came down for the wedding.

This is K's mom and pretty much the only picture of Ainsley smiling.

She was being really shy with the camera.

His parents were so helpful with the child wrangling as K and I were both in the wedding party.

Thanks Bob & Terrie!

 All four of the granddaughters.

I love this picture.

I have so many more pictures to share.

Maybe I will sprinkle some in here or there.

I had such a hard time limiting how many I put in this post.

P.S. I have more wedding photos and personal touches to share later.

 

A quick post

This weekend {so far} has been crazy busy.

It has also been beautiful, fun and hot.

I have talked, cried and laughed all within moments of one another.

The kids have been doing amazing.

Considering there have been very short or no naps occurring.

Oh, and that there entire routine has been off for the last two days and they have been surrounded by new people.

I am beyond thrilled at my brother's choice of bride.

Betsy is such an amazing addition to our family and I am so happy to have gained a sister.

Kirk gave the most amazing speech today.

{He was the best man.}

I cried, it was that good.

Everything and everyone have been simply lovely.

We are all simply exhausted too.

I have been taking a lot of photos and can't wait to do a much bigger post.

To be honest though, I am tired.

Congrats Joe and Betsy!

Some Easter hoppiness and today

On Friday after dropping Adison off at school the little girls and I headed to the store to pick up some Easter egg dye.

Lee picked out the dye.

You're not surprised by this either, are you?

Since Adison didn't have a soccer game on Saturday morning, we decided that we would dye the eggs then.

My plan went nothing like I "planned" but at least we had a goal and it got accomplished.

We decided to wait until Abby took a nap.

She wouldn't have understood and it wouldn't have been as much fun for her.

The big girls though loved it!

Adison really took her time working on her eggs.

Lee on the other hand wanted to draw on and dye as many eggs as humanly possible!

Adison worked on 6, I worked on 2 and K and Lee did 10.

Yes, we did 18 eggs.

I am thinking that I will have to double this for next year.

She was really into it this year and took her time.

Lee was fascinated watching the eggs change colors.

Pretty little eggies!

The glitter in the dye.

Looks pretty, didn't really work out how the box had it pictured.

Glitter + kids = fun not matter what!

Eggs!

Lee got a bit bored, here's K quick thinking craft idea.

It was a hit.

Adison's darling chick egg, she's so creative!

+++++++++++

After we had our fun, festive Easter morning and going to church was nixed {Lee had super gunky eyes} we decided to have a fun family day.

Lee loved her Easter dress.

I walked in the living room and saw the older girls watching a movie in the laundry basket.

Yes, they chose to do this.

I don't get it but they loved it.

Abby hanging out with Daddy in her pretty dress.

Abby and Me!!!!

She wasn't really looking in either picture, so I decided to add them both, ha!

She's getting some really loose curly bits in the back.

{The picture does not do them justice.}

Abby and K.

The big girls were too busy hanging out in the laundry basket.

Okay, flash forward and Ainsley eyes start looking really bad.

They didn't look like pink eye, but weren't responding to the allergy medicine.

K and I decided to call the doctor's office this morning to get pink eye meds for her.

It had to be that.

Right?

So, she woke up this morning and looked like this!

Oh my goodness, my poor child looks like a zombie!

Yes, I HAD to run to the store this morning, but we were safe and I took the proper precautions.

Yes, we were getting crazy looks from people, her eyes really look that bad.

Oh and I got her some pink eye meds.

I HOPE that they start working ASAP!

Okay, y'all, I hope that you had a blessed Easter!
What did you end up doing?

Rainbows, puppies and dancing, oh my!

Let's try this again!

Rainbows

I love them.

Love the colors and the meaning.

They just make me happy!

Well, fact that they mean that rain is over is such a BONUS!

I love rainbows so much that I even dress my kids in rainbow colors.

I love seeing my children so brightly dressed!

As a kid, I loved them so much that Rainbow Brite was favorite show!

{Please tell me that you remember Rainbow Brite!}

I even love rainbows so much that I put my Fiestaware in rainbow order.

Yes, I do that every.single.time.

Puppies

I love puppies.

They are so cute and cuddly and darling.

K and I have often talked about getting a puppy, but with his asthma I don't forsee that happening.

Sigh.

I grew up with dogs and love them!

Dancing

I have always loved dancing, for as far back as I can remember.

I remember as a child standing on my Dad's feet as he led me around the room.

Then when I was older, two stepping with him around my grandparent's living room.

I took dance as a child.

Tap, jazz and ballet.

Ballet though was my favorite.

I loved everything about ballet.

Especially when we got to toe shoes.

Oh my.

I loved how graceful it all was.

The fluid movements and the beauty of the form.

How I wish that I could still do it.

But, a bad knee cut that dream short.

These days though, you will often find us after dinner having a dance party.

Music turned up, kids & adults dancing and singing.

Enjoying one another and the moment.

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You see, these three things make me happy.

Like, happy, glittery, flying unicorns happy.

Like cupcake happy and that is some SERIOUS happiness!

What about you?
What makes you cupcake happy?

A mish mash

Thank you so much to Meli over at Domestiquette.

Trust me when I say that you NEED to head over to her blog.

She shares wonderful tutorials and has some rockin' ideas on all things fun and pretty.

Seriously, head over there ASAP!

7 Things About Lil' Ol Me

1. I really want to learn how to sew. I have a sewing machine and everything, but I only know how to turn the thing on, sigh.

2. I cannot stand it when I think that people are upset, angry, disappointed with me. It literally makes me feel sick.

3. I LOVE to read. I am currently reading three books at once, I just can't get enough of them! 

4. I have actually started writing about a book about having a molar pregnancy.

5. When I laugh my hands get really weak and are basically useless. Hubby loves to tease me about that one.

6. I am absolutely terrified of sharks.

7. I don't enjoy cooking. I really like eating though. It is such a good thing that K loves to cook!

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This is the beautiful sunrise that I woke up to this morning. It was actually much prettier than this. Yes, I was awake when the sun was rising this morning. For some reason my kids like to wake up earlier on the weekends. I have tried explaining how this whole "sleeping in" thing works, I don't think they are buying it though.

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This picture is awful, I just need to apologize in advance. But, Abby would NOT stand still for even a moment for me to get a picture of how cute she looked this morning.

She is wearing light pink tights with little silver strips, a denim skirt and her sweatshirt says "LOVE" across the front of it with a heart on the left sleeve. She is wearing a shirt under it that says "Daddy's Sweet Heart" on it. She is just too cute for words, literally I can't think of any words that accurately describe her.

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Okay y'all, that's all I've got for now.

See you later!
Have a wonderful Saturday!