Wedding Weekend

A few months ago our dear friends Kevin and Jane asked Abby to be the flower girl in their wedding. Abby was ecstatic. We have spent the time looking at pictures of flower girls, taking about her job of carrying the bouquet down the aisle (no flower tossing in their church) and being brave. The big day was finally this past weekend and it was a blast.

Thursday night was the rehearsal dinner. Abby loved that she had a night out with Mommy and Daddy while Noah stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa.

Abby actually found this dress a few weeks ago at TJ Max and announced she would like it for the rehearsal, it was only $5.50!

 So this was rehearsal.... Matthew is four and not big fan of people watching him. Abby on the other hand took her time. No worries that she wouldn't do it. Matthew on the other hand had a few people nervous.

 The happy couple after rehearsal.

 The kids bonding over "Fruit Ninja", a way to any girls heart slicing fruit one piece at a time.

 Abby had a great time at the dinner as well, cheesing it up with everyone.

 Saturday was the big day, Dave was also a groomsman in the wedding party so he had to leave early and hang with the guys while I was left to get both kiddos ready and to the church on time.
I did Abby's hair, thank goodness she doesn't mind the soft rollers. She even slept in them. I kept them in her hair to the very last second (it was 90 degrees outside), they held all day. We found her dress off the rack at Macy's, score only $35!

 Noah kept trying to get in Abby's pictures before we  left so I just used him as a prop.

 Checking on Daddy and the Groom, Kevin before  the service.

 They were so cute together.

 Playing games on the iphone was a reoccurring theme this weekend.

 Uncle Kai was a reader during the service so he sat up front with Abby and myself. Thankfully Noah sat in the back of the church with Grandma and Grandpa just in case he decided to throw a fit. He didn't he was great. Such a good little dude.

 Here comes the flower girl and ring bearer... half way mark.

 Closer.....
Just after this picture was taken, Matthew spotted his dad and took off at full speed. He face planted, one shoe flew off in one direction and the ring pillow went another direction. He did manage to hold onto his transformer. Abby just walked around the sprawled ring bearer, sat down with me, pointed at Matthew and remarked "that guy totally fell down." It was very hard to keep my composure. She kept reminding me, "I'm glad I didn't fall down."

 This is after the service as we waited for the bride and groom come out into a sea of bubbles.

 The married couple.

 We snuck in a family photo while waiting for Abby and Dave to be put to use in bridal pictures.

 Beautiful wedding party.

 Finally some smiles from Matthew.

 Abby is all about the cheesier smile, oh being 3.

 Kevin and Dave have been friends since they were little and Kevin was at the hospital when Abby was just a day old. He's great with the kids.

 After the service the wedding party and spouses got on a party bus for pictures around St. Louis. Thanks to Tom and Nancy I was able to join the grown ups and they took the kids back to their house for naps before the reception. It was a lot of fun on the bus, except it was quite warm, again in the 90's. But the pictures turned out beautiful.

Things you should do before leaving for a wedding with two family members a part of the bridal party... charge your camera battery. Ugh. The camera died before the reception so the pictures of the rest of the night were taken on our phones.

After dinner Abby moved up to the head table to eat cake with Dave.

                                          

  Our children don't stay up late. They are usually in bed by 7:45pm. They only got about an hour nap at Dave's parents house.  We were ready for the worst.  However, they were such troopers, dancing the night away with all the big kids, climbing on the stage and partying.  We all had such an amazing time and danced the night away.  It was truly a lot of fun.  I even got a slow dance in with Dave while Tom and Nancy watched the kids!

Noah finally started crashing about 10pm.                                            

                                             
And at about 10:20 he just passed out while Dave was dancing. Abby stayed awake until we got to the car but she was quickly passed out. Amazing. They had the best time. I think they are still catching up on sleep.
Congrats Jane and Kevin!
                                               

Quotables - I Love You, but....

I was in the living room.  Abby went to the bathroom. 

Abby: "Daddy, I love you."
Me: "Awww, I love you too."
Abby: "And you know what?"
Me (expecting something cute): "What?"
Abby (very matter-of-factly): "I need you to wipe my butt."

Chinese Lantern Festival

This past week we had a chance to check out the Chinese Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. It is a special exhibit from China that has never been seen in the US before and is only here for a few weeks.

Dave didn't have any interest in attending the event but Abby saw a commercial for the exhibit and really wanted to go.

The event started at 6p but they don't turn the lanterns on until 8p. Abby's idea of lanterns comes from the Disney movie "Tangled" which is much different than the Chinese lanterns at the festival.

 This was by far Abby's favorite exhibit. Probably because the panda's were the same size as her. Although I have to say this was a very cute display.

 The plus of getting there early, good parking and a chance to take pictures before the masses arrived.

 Abby loved that the dragons on this display because they moved. She is still talking about the moving dragons.

 I thought this was really cool, an old man fishing with his bull. When Abby sat down for this picture she drew a crowd for being so cute. She was naming the fish and just loving everything the night had to offer.

 We made one walk through of the 20 displays before 8p, so we took advantage of the garden and checked out the rose garden. It had been warm all week but this day had been cold and rainy. We dressed for warmer weather but Abby didn't care. She loved her new dress and showing off to everyone.

 It was so cool to see everything lite up. Abby was in awe of the exhibits.

 There was a whole walk way of these moon lights. I loved them. So whimsical.

 And of course we had to stop back at the panda exhibit.

 I think she still loved it. It may also be that I had her say "turkey boogers".

 This is the tail of one of the two dragons that were the centerpiece of the whole exhibit. The dragon was made up of fine china plates and spoons.

 The dragon was a little scary for Abby. They moved and made a lot of smoke.

 I loved this whole garden of larger than life flowers. Since it was getting later Abby wasn't big about stepping away from Mommy, I love that she's such a good girl.

 It's hard to tell from the picture but this boat is made up of tiny medicine bottles filled with different colored liquids. Abby was very concerned about who was living on the boat, how it got in such a small pond and why they needed a boat. Any takers on answering her questions? There a lot of them lately.

 This is one tired girl, who loves lanterns, life and questioning everything we tell her.

Sprinkler Time

It's been hot here. Real hot, 90+ for more than a week. The sprinkler has been our best friend. Noah has no fear of the water and runs right through it, sticks his mouth right over the nozzle and giggles the whole time. 

 Abby has taken a little longer to warm up to running throw the water. She's a fish in the pool but hates getting her eyes wet. She just wants to make sure the grass is getting a good soaking before enjoying the sprinkler.

 They kept drinking out of the pail, it's like their practicing for buckets of beer in college.

 Proton refuses to run in the water instead circling the kiddos.

 These kids love their pup.

New Pets

If you haven't heard we have two new rodents at the Pleimann house. A student of Dave's wanted to get rid of her chinchilla's and Dave has always wanted one of the furry animals. So meet Buzz and Woody aka Jumper and Corner. We were going to call the brothers Buzz and Woody but Buzz jumps a lot and Woody hids in the corner so Abby has taken to calling them Jumper and Corner. They've got to be the softest animals ever. Jumper is extremely friendly and we often get him out to crawl aroun.

 He jumps all over the couch. They don't bite, nibble a little but the kids love them.

 Abby loves to lay on the couch and talk to them. Every night she and Noah feed them hay, I think it's the favorite part of the day for all four of them.