Cousin Ken Gets Married

Ken, one of my dearest and most favorit-ist cousins (finally) got hitched over Labor Day weekend (yes, that was back in September and yes, I am THAT far behind in blogging). Who knew Appleton, Wisconsin could be so beautiful?

Here's the beautiful bride, Amy.

Beautiful Molly watching the wedding.

My beautiful cousin, Dani (Ken's sister).

Little pit stop between wedding and reception: local pub with video gambling for children.

Beautiful.

James & cousin Peter hit the slots.

Off to the (you guessed it) beautiful reception. A lakeside affair with delicious food, heartfelt speeches and puzzles and games at every kids' place. BE-A-U-TI-FUL!

James, watching the dancing at the reception. He was all wedding'd out and just kept asking to go home and go to bed.

He wasn't kidding.

Brunch the next day. Look at the grass! Look at the sky! Look at all the ride-on toys for kids - Beautiful!

A sampling of cousins and aunts....

And while everyone else flew home or off to their honeymoon, we stayed an extra night and found, what else?

Oh yes, an air and space museum.

Seriously... Appleton, WI.

It's like someone is playing a joke on me.

Having a little snack outside.

I love this pic because Molly's just looking at James like we all do:

"WHAT are you doing?!?"

Congratulations Ken & Amy!

Wishing you lots of little James and Mollys.

Alabama Grape Stomp

A PERFECTLY appropriate place to take children! Ha! It really is set up for kids, except for the 1000 degree heat, one tiny food vendor and the only beverage offered is wine. Other than that - perfect! Really, what more would you expect from a winery in the middle of Alabama?

Please note the overheated pink cheeks.....

FYI - the wine from this particular winery tastes exactly like Molly's been putting her feet in it all day...

James, Phoebe, and Chase taking a break in the shade.

Except Me...

Upon arriving at school in his new t-shirt (thanks, Oma & Opa!)...

James to teacher: "Ms. Bethany, look at my new t-shirt. It has all the superheroes on it! Well, except me..."

Budding Picasso

Brian recently had a nine-day trip to Korea (yes, I got two new bags, thankyouvurymuch) so I took the kids to the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.... again. We just really do love a good museum! It was close to closing time and the Children's Museum director was walking around asking kids if they wanted to do an art project. James of course said, yes. I had Molly, too young for the activity so I couldn't really sit with James and monitor the sharp scissor/sticky glue situation.

Didn't matter. He didn't even need me. He did everything she said, didn't do anything she said not to and I'm pretty sure he told a couple of jokes to the group during the activity. Next time, I am going to just roll up to the front door of the museum and let him out. He's good.

The final product:

Molly did some artwork of her own and clearly mastered the "show me what you did!" look.

Girlfriends

Molly's learned a thing or two from her brother (and mother) and wasted no time in making friends down here in the south. Meet Gracie and Maddie - fraternal twins, born just before Molly, in December, but they were really early and Molly was a little late so they're like the exact. same. age.

Gracie, Molly and Maddie all have "school" together on Wednesdays and they see each other once or twice on other days of the week. Maybe it's just a "girl thing," but the incessant hugging and kissing every time they say hello and goodbye to each other can just melt your heart! They really do adore each other and play like they are twice their age.

A perfect demonstration of the "goodbye hug/squeeze."

Sweeties!