Busy Weekend

It's Wednesday, and we've completely recovered from last weekend's busyiness and are getting ready for another one!

Last Friday we spent the day with Shannon, Jack and Cade Milinovich. Ella was so excited to see Jack that she was awake at 6:30 am (and that is the reason I typically avoid telling Ella about any upcoming trip or event until as late as possible - I like my sleep!). That night Shannon went to see Greg get ordained through the Methodist church - a ceremony that was being held 10 minutes away from where we live. The boys stayed with us and we all hung out at a a Greek Fest being held by a local Orthodox church. Shannon joined us for dinner and then after she left we all went on rides.

The first was a ride down the fun slide. It's unfortunate that our camera card was full and Matt wasn't able to take a video of the kids flying down the slide. For Jack, he was literally flying. After one of the bumps he got some air - and my heart stopped for a second - until his look of complete fear was replaced with one of complete delight!

Here is a cute picture of Jack and Ella on the helicopter ride.

Here's darling Cade giving us a grumpy look because his mom left him with people he hasn't seen in months.

The boys were both so good, especially coming home with us and staying the night at our house. Jack even let Matt read him a book and put him to bed because my girls were demanding my presence. Cade wasn't as excited about going to bed though. He screamed and was upset everytime I put him in the pack and play. Since Jack was right next door and I didn't want to traumatize Cade, we just brought him back upstairs with us. He would come and play with the toys and then get tired and lay on the ground with his blankie and roll around. When his eyes would get very heavy I would try putting him to bed.

He wasn't having it.

So we repeated the process- come up, play with toys, get tired, roll on the ground.

Meanwhile, Matt and I were watching the season finale of Lost. At one point Matt started laughing, he said "I can just picture that Shannon's going to come in and find us watching TV with Cade sound asleep on the floor."

Luckily it was a long enough service that Cade tuckered out and went to bed (in the pack and play) before she got home.

Oops - here's one final shot of the three kids on a little car ride. It's significant because it's the first ride Catherine went on without a parent. When I asked her if she wanted to go, she said "but I be scared!". I'm happy that she decided to do it and had a lot of fun. It helps having a big sister to sit next to you and keep you safe!

The next day was the wedding of two dear friends, Josh and Laura. It was definitely a wedding we'd all been looking forward to for awhile. Ella was soooo excited to go to the wedding (Catherine stayed home and napped - when I left I could hear her in her room, moaning "I want to go to the wedding!", but she did eventually nap)....can you tell?

Matt and I actually got a picture together. And with OUR camera! Pretty monumental.

Even though she later told Catherine that aside from everyone coming down the aisle, the wedding was boring, she's still looks happy and excited!

Here's a shot of the beautiful bride and groom. They are such a cool couple who seek to honor God in every aspect of their lives and both have hearts that are sensitive to the needs of those who are less fortunate - and they actually do something about it! The reading during the ceremony was from the book Irresistable Revolution by Shane Claiborne and instead of a traditional recessional song, they left the church to the song "Send Me on My Way" by Rusted Root.

The reception was a ton of fun - when you know most of the people there it's fun to have a big group out on the dance floor. Here's a shot of the guys hamming it up.

It sure looks like they had a good time. I think that us girls were having a good time. I guess I don't have ANY pictures to prove it (wink, wink), but I think we had as much fun as the guys seemed to have!

Anyway, we're heading out for a trip to Pittsburgh this weekend to visit my brother and his family and stay with our friends Dustin and Courtney. A bunch of my bloggy and real life friends are out there and they're going to see Over the Rhine in concert. Next time we'll plan on joining them there!

That's my update for now. Have a great weekend!