Amy & Ben's Wedding Day

I posted a very tiny preview awhile back about Aunt Amy and Uncle Ben's wedding day, with the promise of more to come....I'm finally getting around to doing just that with their gorgeous pictures!

All pictures are from Daniel Moyer Photography; if you're in the Philly/NJ/Eastern PA area, this guy was fantastic!!

The ceremony took place in the church that Brian and Amy grew up going to (and where my mother-in-law currently teaches preschool), and it was gorgeous inside, I especially loved the petal filled aisle.

Jake and Liam were both ringbearers; to be honest, I was more nervous about Jake making it down the aisle than I was Liam.  Jake gets a bit anxious in situations like that, whereas Liam just doesn't care.  What I didn't take into account was the fact that the ceremony started at 2pm; for a child who is still heavily reliant on his afternoon naps, that time of day becomes very dicey and unpredictable.  Sometimes he can rally just fine, others he's a mess.  Unfortunately, he turned into a bit of a mess that day.

We were all getting ready to head down the aisle and I told the boys to line up right in front of Aunt Amy and PopPop; at rehearsal the night before, they went down the aisle together.  As I'm getting them in their spots, Liam said he wants to walk by himself and he wanted to go last.  Fine.  Then I realize that he means last-last....as in, behind the BRIDE.  Um, no, kiddo.  By this time, it's getting very close to being my turn to go so I turn to the pastor in a slight panic and tell him I'm not sure that the little one will make it down the aisle.  He told me not to worry about it, he'd take care of him.  I assume this meant he'd take him through a side door and drop him off with my parents or Brian's parents....fast forward to a few minutes later, the music changes, the gorgeous bride steps through the door, tears are falling....and then you see Liam turn the corner right behind Aunt Amy.  Yep, he got what he wanted somehow, and brought up the end of the bridal train!!  I don't think Amy even realized he was behind her until they stopped and he had to figure out how to get around her dress.  Oh, Liam. So Jake definitely surprised me and did a great job...he took it very seriously as you can see from the picture above :)

The ceremony itself was beautiful, we're so happy to have Ben in our family!

Once again, No-Nap-Liam made for a bit of a difficult time in trying to get some pictures at the church post-ceremony; thank goodness for a great photographer who let them have some fun with the petals, finally getting some smiles out of Liam!!

A huge thank you to my parents for taking the boys in between the ceremony and reception, and to my dad for sitting in the car with a sleeping Liam for almost 2 hours so that he could rally for that evening!!  It made a HUGE difference and he was ready to go for the party! 

After leaving the church, we got some more pictures....isn't Amy just stunning??  Ben looks handsome too, of course...but the bride!!

Time to head to the reception!  Amy put a lot of work into the details of the wedding, and it showed!  Everything pulled together so nicely, the room looked gorgeous:

Brian gave a speech that was just the right combo of funny and heartfelt; I know everyone at our table was laughing and tearing up over his tribute to his sister and new brother-in-law....

Next up....PARTY TIME!!  The dancing endurance shown by our kids was astounding....they were out there shaking it pretty much all night!!!

 

 

About halfway through the reception, Jake declared he was exhausted.

 

After peeling him off of the ground, we made a little makeshift bed out of 2 chairs pushed together and he did rest for quite some time.  Then, he seemed to get his second wind and it was back to the dance floor for him!!! 

The kids got a kick out of the many, many, many layers of Amy's dress.....

I love that in addition to the awesome dance pictures, the photographer also captured some really sweet moments:

It was definitely a day that we will all remember, and we were so happy to have been a part of it. 

"You're a Jedi, you have to care."

If we're friends on facebook, you probably saw this already but I wanted to share on here because I love having a record of the funny things the kids say. 

Let me set the scene for you.....
All of the lights are out in the house, I've turned on the "Star Wars" theme song on my phone, and we are preparing for an epic lightsaber battle.  Jake is running through some quick directions before we start.....

Jake: Mommy, put your lightsaber up in the air.

Me: And wave it around like I just don't care?

*At this point, Jake puts down his lightsaber and gives me a look similar to the one pictured below*

Jake: What?  No.  Why would you do that??  You're a Jedi, you have to care!

Christmas Break - The We Left the House Sometimes Edition

Better late than never, yes?  Lest you think that I did nothing but sit around in my pajamas and eat Christmas cookies all break, I present to you.....the few times we left the house!!  Hooray! 

On Saturday after Christmas, the beautiful weather continued and we ended up going skiing.  Yes, you saw that right..."we".  As in, me too.  Actually, me AND Nana!  Nana ended up being a ski hustler, she told me she hadn't been in over 15 years and assured me that she would be at my level.  First run of the day?  She's swooshing down the mountain like she does it every day!  Hustled by my own mother in law!! :)

Here is a lovely shot of me, looking about as clumsy as I feel coming down the slope.

But seriously, the weather was perfect that day, and the boys had a blast of course!  I was completely drained by the end of the day, and well into the next day... Sunday was a blur, I was pretty much useless.

The week after Christmas, I decided that I needed to get back on track with some type of workout.  The number of times I exercised since the first week of December added up to zero.  That week was when my total body fusion class I take at work ended, and then I spent the remainder of the month walking to the closet to get cookies and called it a workout.  I had signed up for that class again and would start the first week of January after going back to work, so I knew that if  I didn't do something over the break, it would be absurdly painful to start that class back up.  So I popped in the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred 3 times the week after Christmas and tried to not die or swear at the TV.

 You know, they say you can learn a lot about yourself when you work out....kind of get lost in your own mind and really focus on YOU.  I found that I did learn something that week....I learned that if I mute the TV so I don't hear Jillian's voice yelling at me to keep going and replace it with a blaring Britney Spears playlist on my phone instead, I am much, much happier.  Namaste.

I'd like to think that maybe Brit was even cheering me on....

For new years eve, we headed over to the neighbors house, they host a small get together every year (super convenient for us, since we just have to walk across the street!)  We came home around 11, got the boys to bed, then I declared that I was going to bed, too.  Brian gave me a hard time since it was almost 11:20 by then and couldn't believe that I'd just give up on seeing midnight at that point.  Ugh.  FINE.  So I drag myself downstairs (just in time to see Taylor Swift perform, so at least there was that!)  Then, I look over after her performance to find this....

 OHHHHHHHHH.....maybe going to bed wasn't such a crazy idea, huh??  Then I promptly passed out myself during the commercial that aired around 11:55pm.  We woke up on the couch in a state of confusion at 12:30, mumbled a "happy new year" and stumbled up to bed.  #wildandcrazy

On New Years day, we met a few friends and their kids at the bowling alley, which is always a good time!

And that, my friends, pretty much summed up our Christmas break.  As always, it went too fast, but we had fun while it lasted!!