Since vacation

Whew!

A lot has happened since we got home like 5 days ago.

Friday was the last day of school.

The girls are very excited for summer break.

So am I!

We've gone kayaking twice.

The kids are loving it.

And Jordan loves it even more.

Tori and I are enjoying watching from shore for now.

Here Sully was racing them!

Just cute.

We took Trina and the kids on Saturday.

Trina said, 'wow, kayaking takes a lot of prep-work'.

I said, 'uh, Trina that was the 9 kids that caused all the prep-work, not the kayaking!'

The babies were so good...happily playing together on blankets.

We also discovered a robin's nest in the bush outside our door.

I love this.

On Memorial Day we went on our first family bike ride.

That's just plain sad - but this spring has just been so yucky weatherwise.

Torrance is not so sure about the burley. But once we got moving she was good.

The pool opened on Monday and we hit that as well.

It was so windy this little peanut didn't know what to think...so she took a nap on me instead.

She was the cutest girl there in her suit and coverup!

And tonight Lauren had softball.

She got a nice hit and did a good job fielding.

They were really fun to watch.

We'll have many more nights at the ball park this summer.

And oh my this little girl.

She is on the move.

Mostly army crawling but just tonight it seemed she might have figured out real crawling.

And last night she pulled herself up to her knees on something.

And today - to her feet!!!!

She was very wobbly and I doubt she'll try it again for awhile - I hope.

Slow down little girl.

She is so happy and easy going. Just tons of fun right now.

double whammy

Today is Jordan's first day back to work in almost 2 weeks.

It is also the official start of summer vacation.

If you hear screaming don't be alarmed...its just me trying to adjust to this horrible double whammy that has just slapped me in the face.

The happy couple

I love weddings.

I love studying the bride and groom and their expressions.

My favorite moment of all weddings is when the groom sees the bride for the first time...especially when they do not see each other during pictures which was the case for Robert and Jen.

I almost missed this moment because of Miss Contessa...but I did get to see it from the very back...

You can see in these pictures just how happy they were...

I really think they might have been one of the most excited and joyful couples I've ever seen get married...kind of like kids in a candy store and it was so fun to watch them.

Some of my favorite quotes from the night:

1. Robert 'Even better than getting married this weekend would be to be perpetually ABOUT TO get married.' (isnt that the truth? That lead up to your wedding is about the most fun week or two ever!)

2. During the reception our kids were running everywhere...and I heard Robert say to Jen, 'Jen, isnt this perfect? Its just like I hoped it would...people running around, kids laughing!'

It made me feel so happy to know that he was happy...

The above and below pictures are my 2 favorite. I love the look of complete happiness on Jen's face. And the sheepish look on Robert's face that I know means he's embarrassingly happy.

Again with the ridiculous happiness.

And there is a story behind this frame on their table...

You cant read it but...

My brothers and I each gave a toast. My brothers' toasts were all funny - making fun of Robert and adding in nice things about him too. Made me sad for Sully that he doesn't get a brother. But I remind myself that he'll get brother-in-laws like I got awesome sister-in-laws on both sides!

Anyway, my story. So when it was my turn to give my toast I was prepared.

Long ago, June 26, 2004 to be exact Robert wrote on a piece of paper and signed it that

1. he would NEVER get married

&

2. he would NEVER have children

(It is funny to note that he did this after witnessing us bring child #2 home from the hospital and viewing the chaos!)

Anyway, I unwrapped this framed piece of paper and presented it to Jen and held out my hand to Robert who owed me $50 for breaking the first part of this covenant!

It was very, very fun!

And Robert knew it was coming from one of us at some point...but he never knew WHO actually had kept it and he didnt know WHEN it was going to come out...so it was fun to present it when everyone could witness his embarrassment and the look on his Father-in-laws face!

The Wedding and the Botanical Garden

The wedding was at the Buffalo Botanical Garden.

Here you can see part of the outside with this gorgeous couple in front.

(wink wink)

Its hard to describe but the whole place is pieced together by brick walk ways and bridges. And its kind of laid out like a bicycle wheel inside a bicycle wheel.

The string quartet was set up down one of the spokes just outside the center circle.

The ceremony took place in the center circle...the bride walking down one of the spokes and the guests seated inside the circle and in the other spokes then outside of all that was the food and seating for the reception. It was all kind of like a circular maze - otherwise known as paradise for small kids and a nightmare for parents thinking their kids might drown in a random pond, creek or well!

But it was a beautiful setting and simply perfect for pictures.

And these are just a few of my other favorite pictures at the garden.

You know how normally the ring bearer carries a pillow with fake rings?

Well, not this time...this time it seemed like a good idea to have SULLIVAN carry the real rings. I was so terrified he was going to drop them in one of the ponds.

But he didn't -- he completed his job with no incident.

We tried to find my 'little' brother Jordan a future wife while we were there...but no such luck.

Cant imagine why with those dance moves!

He and Sully had a competition to see who was more of a ladies man.

Uh, Sully won!

And this is just so my family.

Robert had been carrying Contessa and her shoes were dirty.

So of course, dirt got on his tux.

And as you can tell...none of his siblings felt sorry for him or offered to help.

But if you know Stacie you can tell by this picture that it is just killing her.

Pretty girls before the wedding.

People often tell me that Avery looks like me.

I rarely see it.

But when I look at this picture...wow, I see it.

She is my family.

Makes me happy.

And she's about 125% Jordan...or his sisters.

And that makes me really happy too!

Really he looked so good in that black suit.

That made me pretty happy as well!

And my brothers...my oldest brother Jeff was unable to attend.

So this picture is about 90% perfection for me.

Seriously, I love them so much it hurts.

I love that losing my dad made us closer.

I love that we laugh and give each other a hard time 99% of the time we are together...and the other 1% we are probably fighting.

And really, we are all pretty darn cute or at least really happy in this picture.

Robert (2nd youngest), me (smack in the middle), Jordan (youngest), Nick (3rd oldest), Joe (3rd youngest), Brian (2nd oldest - we dont get to see him very often either so this was just so fun and of course, way too short.)

And well it just seemed like a good opportunity to throw Robert into a pond.

recap

For my own record keeping purposes I need to get this down...

We left home after school on Wednesday and arrived in Buffalo at Robert's door step about 8 am the next morning. The kids slept most of the time and Jordan and I managed to split the driving and each get a little sleep.

Once we got the tour of Robert's place he and Jen took us out for breakfast at their favorite local diner. We each ate a full breakfast for $1.99. yeah.

Then Robert wanted to show us around the city some. Of course because it was Robert this itself was an adventure. To start with, before we could leave his house he insisted we take a potted flowering plant from his door step. So we traveled around Buffalo for the rest of the weekend with a potted plant in our van.

Our intent was to head to the harbor to see the boats but we made some detours prior to that.

We were following Robert in our vehicle...no small feat.

First we swung past the Buffalo zoo and ran across a busy intersection to see some giraffes through the gates of the zoo. Then we swung past a Frank Lloyd Wright home and then somehow ended up in downtown Buffalo viewing the capitol building and climbing up like 27 flights of stairs to get the view of the city from the observation deck.

We never did make it to the harbor. I'm telling you...Robert as a sight seeing guide is a cross between an episode of Seinfeld and the Twilight Zone.

And I. Loved. Every. Second.

At about 1 pm we checked into our hotel and all fell asleep. That night the rest of the family arrived and on Friday we did Niagra and that night was the rehersal and dinner. Saturday was the wedding of course and we headed out of town on Sunday late morning for Chicago.

The weekend was a whirlwind as most wedding weekends tend to be...but I loved being with my family and seeing Robert just about as happy as I can possibly imagine him being.

There were gaping holes in the weekend...like the absence of my dad. When someone is missed so strongly on 'ordinary' days...their absence is all that much more noticeable on days when family members are added. There were moments when we would make eye contact with each other and it seemed we were all thinking the same thing...'if only dad were here'...

But just as he would have wanted...we did not let his absence keep us from supporting and loving Robert, welcoming a new sister and creating memories that we'll all treasure.

Contessa

So as I mentioned before Tess was a little trying during certain moments of the wedding.

I dont recall what was going on here but she was

definetly off on her own pouting...looking precious.

But boy she can turn it on when she wants to!

And she's crazy beautiful to me.

And like every wise daddy's girl she knows just where to run when mommy's had enough!

She wore her shoes on the wrong feet almost the whole day.

And refused to switch them.

And she almost fell in a wishing well...and got pretty wet during the reception.

But Robert didn't seem to mind.

And they had a nice little conversation about it all.

My mom and my kids

I just love these pictures of my mom with the kids...

And didn't she look so pretty!

Sully Man

So we found this hat...

And decided that it was the perfect accessory for Sullivan as Robert's ring bearer.

And it was.

and he turned into some kind of dancing/posing fool when he had it on.

And he's so beautiful

And such a character

He makes me want to pull my hair out frequently...

But he also makes me want laugh hysterically...several times per day.

He is a comedian...so seriously funny.

And a lady's man

A lover

And a crazy man

There is really no way to tell you how much I love this boy.

In a word...he. is....

AMAZING

There is only one Sullivan Joseph that's for sure.

And I'm so lucky that I get to watch all this!