Wedding adventures

Well, after all was said and done, the kids and I went with Ed to the wedding. I almost didn't go at one point, for a number of reasons, but in the end, Ed wanted us all to go and I was glad.
I'm so thankful that Priscilla and Janell went along on the trip, it was such fun and they were such a huge help when Ed needed me to be his assistant for one thing or another.
We were able to stay with some brethren that had a little guest house so we had our own space for the time we were there. Yay! I was really nervous about that as we haven't really stayed with anyone other than family (and sometimes even with family I'm not as relaxed as at home where I'm not worried about them breaking something or making too much noise =) Anyway, it was such a blessing and it was the nicest little house. With the wedding not being until the evening we didn't have to jump right up but sort of had a relaxed morning. Then we did have to run out to Kohl's to find something for the girls to wear for the wedding.....detouring here to explain. I had packed their tops and had planned to have enough time to sew some little skirts. I took my machine and everything, but wouldn't you know it, half my sewing stuff ended up in Pete and Holly's car and I couldn't get it until it was too late. So I took the girls and Levi into Kohl's while Ed ran to a camera shop for some last minute stuff. Aagh! Levi was ready for a nap by this time and was absolutely wired. If I put him down he kept running into the racks of clothes and hiding, if I held his hand he used my arm as a swing and would practically lay on the ground, then when I finally put him on my hip, he wiggled and squirmed and grabbed clothes off the racks and kept giggling hysterically. I was ready to tan his little hide many times over, but I knew in public I couldn't really do much more than "you are so getting it later" with my sternest look. That would only make him pause for about 5 seconds and then go right back to what he was doing. When he gets tired he does anything to stay awake. So anyway, I finally found the girls something, but only after Ed rejoined us with the rest of the crew.
Then we had to run back the guest house, grab all our stuff so we could get ready at the church, and run to the church. Ed had to be there for 2:00ish to start taking pictures of the guys getting ready etc. and I was supposed to help Holly with her hair. Needless to say, the rest of the after noon was a blur of running around and getting stuff done. I didn't get the kids ready until the very last because they still hadn't eaten lunch and I didn't want them messing up their clothes. So I end up starting to dress them as guests are starting to arrive. (Of course.) Aaron and the girls get themselves dressed and I do their hair and then Priscilla says ( she and Janell have been helping me) "Jessica, this suit doesn't fit Levi." I'm thinking, well a little big is OK ,but then he comes out and he looked like on of those pictures of the little kids dressing up in their Daddy's clothes. The pants wouldn't even stay up and were puddled around his feet, the coat was 3 times too long in the sleeves. It would have been funny if it had happened to anyone else at any other time. But this was me, here, and I had no changes or back-up plan. All he had else was the jeans he had played in all morning. I almost panicked. Then I thought of Isaac's outfit, it was a vest and pants outfit with a tie but the waist was elastic. So they swapped. I put Levi's suit on Isaac with his own shirt (it was even a touch large on him but we just rolled the waistband and the coat covered it all....don't even ask me how that happened) and it was fine except for him having to wear tennis shoes with it. I somehow came off with only one of his dress shoes. At least they were brown ones. =( Then I put Isaac's vest and pants on Levi. It was still big but at least I could roll up the waist and then I put the vest and tie on. His own little shirt did at least fit him right. When all was said and done I don't think you could even tell on either of them. Then I hurried to throw on my own clothes and dab on a bit of makeup. I didn't really have time to do much as guests were arriving and they kept coming in the bathroom and saying " oh wow, looks like a tornado went through here" and such like. Might I add the entire wedding party had used that bathroom and so stuff was everywhere, not just mine, but because I was the one with six kids in there it looked like mine. Lovely. So after they are ready I'm scrambling to clean everything up and hide it so it looks decent-er.
Anyway, all that aside, the wedding was beautiful and Ed got some amazing photos. They are such a cute couple and I know Ed really enjoyed getting to do this.
The next day he had a post-wedding couple shoot with them, while I stayed and did laundry and cleaned the guest house. We finally headed for home about 3:00 Sat afternoon. With Ed going to work and us getting ready for church the next day, I was beat. We got home about 9:00pm and almost right away I get a call from John...he had just proposed to Angie that evening and wanted us to come see the ring. So we crawled back in the car and went over to Mom's for about 45 minutes to give hugs and admire the ring. Wow! it was a rock.
We got in bed sometime around midnight. Yesterday was a blur, as Sundays usually are, and then today I just tried to get the house clean again. So here I am sitting at the keyboard and really needing to be in bed. But I knew if I didn't get this posted now it wouldn't happen and then it would be old news.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'll try to post more later this week. Check out Ed's website to see some of the new pics. They are really amazing.

a new week

Hi all! just wanted to wish everyone a happy week. We've had some beautiful fall weather this last weekend and the leaves at Mom's house were gorgeous all over the ground. With her family coming for a quick visit we took advantage of the opportunity to take lots of family pictures amongst all the fall beauty. I'm posting a couple of them here, and saving the others for my Christmas card which I hope to get out this year.
We will be gone later this week for Ed's wedding shoot in AL, so I have plenty to do in preparation for being gone for 3 days. (Note to self: stop counting how many days we have until the end of the year and just enjoy them.)
Changing the subject here, but kids are so amazing...Aaron was wanting french fries for lunch but we didn't have any ready made, so he begged me to let him cut up regular potatoes by himself. I was pretty skeptical, but I told him he could try one and then show me...well, he just brought me a potato perfectly cut up into french fry strips. He is so pleased that I'm letting him do the rest.=) We have taught him and Lela some stuff in the kitchen, but I still tend to underestimate their capabilities.
Guess we are having french fries after all.

My munchkins

These were taken last night after baths. I knew I needed a recent photo, but I did want everyone's faces to be clean so what better time... =)

Laundry

It seems every time I tell someone what I've been doing, it's always "I'm trying to catch up on laundry". I think I'm just going to make a sign that says "Never ending laundry going on here...any more questions?"
I would love to reach the point where I could just do a couple to three loads a day and stay caught up (it's always possible in theory) but somehow it never works for me. Maybe I should stop being so picky about "how" it gets done and just settle for "getting done".
First of all, I detest folding wrinkled laundry, so if there is a chance that I won't get to it right away I let it stay in the dryer until I can make sure it gets folded immediately. Then, I hate having baskets of clean folded laundry sitting around I like them all put away and hung up right away. But because it would take a herculean effort to get ALL my laundry washed, dried, folded, and put away IMMEDIATELY.... I just always stay behind.... Until the kids are saying "Mommy I don't have any clean pajamas" and then I rush in and start wildly doing laundry until the wee hours of the morning so that it all gets done "right".
Or like today, I just do it and put it in the baskets and if I get time to fold it I do or I let the kids fold it and turn a blind eye to the less-than-perfect results. I am in the process of teaching each of the older 3 how to run the washer and do the laundry...all of them know how to sort and fold...except Levi and he is learning. But they are just children, and since my tendency is to redo my OWN work if it's not just right, I try to be careful not to critique their's very much. They really do a great job for as young as they are, and I know that with continued training they will one day do it as perfectly as I could ever wish. I try to let them do the play clothes and pajamas and I do the dress clothes since it's more important that they look good ( i.e. not get shrunk or come out with stains). I realize most of what I just said all sounds like it contradicts itself, but I feel like that most of the time...that my goals and reality don't live in the same house very often. So the question in my mind is ... do I change my expectations or my reality? and if so how? I do realize that I am just talking about laundry here, but it is sort of symbolic of other areas in my life also, so, I've made it a matter of prayer. I don't want to waste my time on the unimportant, but on the other hand "whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might" . So there you have it...feel free to leave your opinions, I would love to hear them.

forgotten photos

This is a picture we took sometime earlier this summer and I had forgotten about it. I was just looking through some this evening and ran across it and thought it was so cute. We had gone down to Wiggins for a Sunday I think and we stopped and took some pics in Aunt Sha's yard. I've always loved their swing and thought it would make some good photos.
It did. =)