Two

Two more days until I see Greg again... Today I need to make the starters for this bread, batches of granola and raw-nola, and a small grocery list to accomplish so that we can picnic in our hotel room.

Right now, I'm enjoying my current favorite salad (romain hearts, goat cheese, spiced dehydrated pecans, avocado) and taking a breather while my children wind down for naps and afternoon quiet-time.  Two days......

The three-day countdown....

It's been seven weeks since I saw Greg last.  In three days he will come home for the weekend, and we will be celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary on a little get-away in Austin. Our children will be farmed out to friends for two days, so it will be just us.  I'm trying desperately NOT to count down the hours, because the days are dragging as it is...but this makes me feel overwhelmed, uncreative, unable to manage a proper schedule.  I just want him to be here already.  It's funny how I can go for weeks...even months, functioning perfectly fine, managing our household and our lives, but then when the clock is ticking down the last few days to the next time I see him, I can't seem to think about anything else.  It's hard to fall asleep at night, yet all that I want to do is sleep until he gets here.  I'm a mess.  Unsurprisingly, I have no fun little pictures of our everyday lives at the moment...but I did find this great set of un-blogged photos from this past spring.

My friends Jenny, Lisa and I threw a bridal shower for our fun and quirky friend Pixie.  We went with a mad-hatter theme, complete with a silly photobooth, and it was so much fun that I intend to steal this idea for a future birthday party (for myself, of course.  Obviously.)

The prop collection is a set that I made for a friend's birthday party last year.  They are made out of printed illustrations (from here) glued with spray-adhesive to foam core, using skinny wooden dowels for handles.














Jenny, Lisa, me, Pixie


With my lovely friends Angela and Alicia




In pictures with Jenny, I am always on her right.  No need to break with tradition now.  Oh, and yes, I made both of those top-hat fascinators.  Details here.


From sweet...


To very....


VERY...


Strange, in the blink of an eye.  I LOVE my crazy friends!

All photos in this set (including more decor detail) can be found in the Flickr set here.

Whew, well at least that distracted me from the Greg Countdown.  For at least 10 minutes.  AGGHH!!!

Wedding Week

One week ago, I flew to New York BY MYSELF for my sister Hannah's wedding.  In the past, Greg and I have gone away for a night or two at a time, leaving our children with relatives, but since having children, I've only had one trip completely alone.  I fly back to Texas tomorrow, and it has been a nice break from the emotional work of raising children, but I have to say -- I miss them SO MUCH!!!

This trip has been very labor-intensive -- our family decided that, as our wedding gift to my sister and her new husband, we would coordinate and cater the entire event.  Since I landed last week, my parent's kitchen has been in full gear, making spinach pie, vodka sauce, boiling pasta, prepping chicken, making salsa, etc.  My sister also made her own cake.  Yes.  Yes she did.

All of this was just as crazy as it sounded, but the upside was that we had a lot of serious family bonding time as we worked together, and the food at the wedding was fantastic.  I've also never really gotten a chance to hang out with my littlest brothers, because I've always had my children around to take care of.  It's been a great visit, overall.

Here's a little bit of a photo journey through the past week...


Running errands with Grace and Joy


Setting off fireworks in my parents' backyard


Grace entertaining with sparklers






Jonathan, Caleb and Christopher processing 200 lbs of chicken 




Hannah, sitting us all down to plan out the last two days of prep before the wedding (all of my siblings in one room!!)


Joy practicing a song at the rehearsal




Rehearsal




With Chistopher and Caleb at the rehearsal dinner




Joel, re-styling his tux




One of the most terrifying moments -- transporting the cake tiers from my parents house to the Bed & Breakfast


Hannah, assembling and decorating her own cake, with the help of Hailey, Aunt Terry and Aunt Mary Ann.






The angry sky, which quickly turned into quite a rainfall...


Setting up the reception area under the tent while the rain poured down








Hannah with her son Isaiah, her new step-daughter Little Hannah, and Rachel




Rachel, Joy and Grace


Waiting to walk...

By the time everyone was seated outside and we were ready to walk down the aisle, the rain had stopped, and the sky was perfectly overcast.  Not too hot, no bugs flying into our hair -- perfect.


Photo courtesy of Liz


Photo courtesy of Liz