#MAYDETOBE

Our friends and coworkers Lauren and David May got married tonight! The Kennedys joined us for a pre-wedding ceremony dinner (and drinks) at the Cottonwood, we partied at the reception until we got tired, then made it home in time to send the new babysitter home before midnight. We had such a fun evening (and definitely need an excuse for date nights and babysitters more often)!

Lauren and some of her coworkers (and husband): Jim, Jay, Tom, (Lauren and David), and Al

The reception was held at the BB Club and our table had some fun exploring the library and searching for the (locked) pool while the crowd danced upstairs.

It's fun to have a reason to dress up now and then!

We even saw James' homeroom teacher there - Mrs. Jones!

SURPRISE BRIDAL SHOWER

Cora's teacher is getting married next weekend, so some of the class moms got together and planned a surprise bridal shower for her with her kids. They didn't know about it beforehand either and they were extremely excited when they came back from recess to find parents and cupcakes and decorations in their room, and it was nearly impossible to keep them quiet while the head teacher distracted Ms. Nichols long enough for us to get the kids situated.

Ms. Nichols (soon to be Mrs. Boler) with all her girls and their "diamond" rings!

DECEMBER WEDDING

I found this photo of Cora's recent artwork in Jay's phone and had to share it. After visiting the church where we were married (and where both she and James were baptized as babies), she was inspired to draw our wedding for us, complete with stars and a Christmas tree (and both she and James, even though I assured her she wasn't there - not even a twinkle in our eyes yet!)

NEWLYWED NEWELLS!

Aunt Sandy got married today! She and Barrett had a private chapel ceremony (family and some very close friends), followed by a casual reception complete with three types of cake (yes, Jay had all three, obviously) and a beer garden (yes, Jay was in charge of keeping the kegs rotated and properly flowing) at Barrett's grandparents house, situated across from a pond in a beautiful neighborhood over in Brandon. I can honestly say that other than my own wedding, I have never known so many wedding guests before! Lots of coworkers, Delta Brews members, and other friends. Lots of kids. A couple of dogs (Bernadette was very well behaved and even wore her own corsage). Team Lindsay shut the party down as usual and we had a very nice evening. Thank you again for the invitation Sandy, and congratulations newlyweds!

One quick photo before they ran rampant and got dirty. Thanks for the beautiful dress Grambot - it fit perfectly! Hard to believe she's in 5T already...

Bernadette, the bride's awesome dog.

Front yard reception!

Cora, James, and Kara on the porch swing.

Posing in front of the portable keg bar that Jen and Rob built (their wedding is next weekend).

Delta Brews fools: Nate, Heather and Nathan, and Jay

Tiny porch rocker

Cora and Will, sharing a cold beverage on the side steps

Everybody vying for some of Christina's red velvet cake!

The "tree" (giant vines, actually), that the kids climbed for over an hour...

This was taken RIGHT before I walked away and Cora fell...

Ms Jean helped cheer her up with grapes and crackers.

The happy couple! Sandy's dress was all-over lace and perfect for her - such a beautiful bride!

Watching the newlyweds load into the convertible and head down to NOLA

Bernadette immediately missed her mama and relentlessly searched the crowd for her. Cora tried to cheer her up with a hug.

Cora's new best friend (they ALWAYS make a new best friend, wherever we go - they must get their mingling skills from their daddy because I'm not nearly so brave)

Since she lost her corsage, the kids gave her a magnolia

Check it out - we remembered to snap a family picture!

View of the wedding keg bar. Thinking we might need one of these for our house at the rate Jay is brewing and accumulating kegs... not for weddings, obviously, but it would be useful for parties... if only there was a way to hook it to the chest freezer-turned refrigerator/kegerator that Jay already has so that we don't need coolers of ice...

Nathan captured this one of Cora jumping down the front porch steps and I love it!

Another photo credit to Nathan. We were playing chase and she was peeking out from behind someone else.

SHOWER WEEK!

If we haven't mentioned here yet, Aunt Sandy is getting married! Just 2 months to go and we celebrated accordingly this week with bridal showers via the work folks as well as her local buddies. 

Shower #1 was back on Wednesday and Jay's team set up a really nice party at Martin's (our favorite restaurant!)

Will and James acting like the awesome, calm, older brothers that they are, happily playing on LeapPads and iPhones for the duration of the 3 hour event. They win in the "ease of supervising preschoolers" department.

Cora made sure to get into the laps or arms of at least half the party attendees, LeapPad or not. She always wants to be the center of attention lately (who would have thought she'd ever be like this, way back when she was a super shy 18-month-old afraid of everyone except her mama and daddy?) She of course needed a few minutes with Aunt Sandy!

Lauren found the stack of kid games and James tried to show her how to play the penguin game.

Half the crowd at present opening time!

Barrett and Sandy in front of the crowd

A very cool set of mugs handmade by a local artist

There's nothing better than a 4-year-old bellied-up to the bar, eh? Don't worry, it was a private party so there were no regular restaurant goers to judge us. She happily colored a few of the coasters as we shut down the party at 7:45pm...

Lauren took a turn at the bar too.

 Shower #2 was hosted by Ned and Mary Beth, and Lauchlin and Olivia. The kids had an absolute blast playing with their buddies and hanging out in David's room most of the afternoon/evening.

Teeter-tottering with David

Adding Lauren and Will and little Houston to the mix

Getting a lesson in sea creature names from David

Sweet little Mary Claire stole everyone's hearts, as usual

As soon as she noticed my camera, she turned a series of amazing grins my way. This girl knows she's adorable!

Yup, everybody's favorite kid is MC!

Lauren was so jealous of Christina holding MC! She retreated to the couch and Cora followed, but was of course uncooperative in my attempt at a cute girl photo... Thanks for that Baby Doll. P.S. This is the face I'm going to blow up and show at the rehearsal dinner of your wedding someday, just so you know...

 Congratulations Sandy and Barrett! We can't wait until the big day!!

AN IRISH WEDDING

 We attended my coworker's Irish wedding this evening. (We even paid for a babysitter so that we could stay out as late as we wanted... which turned out to be 8:30pm... we're getting old...granted there was an hour drive to get home afterward...)

 The couple (Matt and Kayla) used the Irish tradition of ringing bells at the end of their ceremony, so all the attendees went outside with their bells and rang until the getaway car was out of sight. The significance of the bells is that the couple is suppose to keep a set in their home, and should they ever have an argument that they have a hard time solving, they ring the bells to call a truce and remind themselves of their wedding day and vows. Jay and I thought it was very sweet.

The reception was held in a barn. A FANCY barn. There were buffet tables set in just about every nook and cranny, and each held a different southern specialty: shrimp and grits, BBQ sundae (cole slaw, baked beans, and pulled pork layers topped with a cornbread muffin), potato salad, black-eyed peas, and chicken. There was a table devoted to coffee and sweet tea. A table for party favors (mini jars of honey, produced just down the road at the bride's family's farm). A table where you could cook S'mores. And of course a bar. The cake table was our favorite though... There were FIVE different types of cake (and a sixth was tucked away at a separate table - a strawberry cake), and you better believe Jay tried three of them...

 I've honestly never been to a wedding (even when I worked at fancy restaurants and country clubs as a waitress) where the cake table was more demolished than this one...

There was dancing...

...and Jay even got out there for a slow dance with me, despite the ankle brace.

 We had a fun evening out, celebrating our friends' new adventure. Congratulations Matt!