Breakfast at Tiffany's Shower continued

Gloria

Missy and Lydia

Justin made a showing, but refused to wear a tiara and black gloves.

Breakfast at Tiffany's shower

Last weekend, we threw a Breakfast at Tiffany's style bridal shower for Missy, who is marrying Justin this Saturday in North Dakota. The invitations encouraged everyone to wear their best little black dress, pearls, and fine jewelry. Most of the ladies that attended did indeed get into the classic Audrey Hepburn spirit and dressed up in their finery - it was lots of fun. I sprinkled the tables with rhinestones, ice blue marbles, pearls, and these rings that had an oversized "diamond." I also found some party favor tiaras that some of the younger girls wore.

We served several kinds of quiche -sausage, ham, seafood, tomato basil, gouda spinach, asparagus portobello. The hard part was deciding which ones to try. There was also fruit trays and plenty of cream puffs, eclairs, and finger desserts.

We all had a fun time showing up in our outfits, Baylea and Molly had cute floppy black hats and long black gloves. It was a great turnout, and the shower progressed quickly. I think the deciding factor was eliminating the games - after all, how many times can you play bridal bingo and it still be fun? People are busy and they start to get restless if things aren't kept moving along. We were over and done with in two hours. Missy received a lot of great things that she had registered for - their home will look fantastic!

We leave Thursday night to make the whirlwind trip for their wedding. It will take around 17 hours to get to Bismarck from here. Luckily, we have 6-7 people that are going together in a large van so we can take turns driving through the night. We'll leave Thursday night, arrive Friday noonish, rest a little, then go to the rehearsal. Brett is performing the ceremony on Saturday at 11:00. We'll leave late Saturday afternoon, so one of our friends can be back for work Sunday evening. 34 hours in a van in one weekend will be quite the experience. Actually, I love to travel to new places and now I can see what the great state of North Dakota looks like. We're really looking forward to the wedding and hope that everything goes smoothly for Missy.

The table setting- I can't make this pic any bigger from some reason.

Looks like I have some flower on my face.

Beautiful silver, it all looked so classy -just like Missy always is!

This party was right up her alley.

 

Our sunday school class had a cookout this summer at the Miller's home. Our kids had a blast riding their horses. They even would perform stunts and fall off on purpose . . .if you look closely, Baylea is sprawled out on the lawn. Don't worry, she was laughing the whole time.

It's time to play catch up. I just got 3 discs created from memory cards that hold close to 600 pictures from the last couple of years. I may pick some of my favorites and post next week. Brett and I are driving down to Springfield for the weekend to pick up a piano and some other furniture from my parent's house. Our house is coming along, slowly. We are thrilled with the space and think that the kids are able to play without trampling all over each other. We are so thankful for it and hope to be completely settled in shortly.

Two Men and a Van

Lydia took this picture of the boys helping us move! I haven't had time myself to take any pictures (come to think of it, I haven't unpacked the camera).

We have two rooms completed - the living room and the kitchen. The rest of the rooms are filled with boxes. It's slow going, but we are making progress!

Our New Home

We will be moving to our new home starting tomorrow. I'm so very excited, but I know that there is lots of work to do. As soon as I get off work today, I'm planning on boxing and cleaning and organizing until the movers get here tomorrow morning at 8:30. I've already done a lot of packing, but I still have a ways to go.

Our current house served its purpose for the time being. Just as our church was moving into its new building 4 years ago, the little house next to it went up for sale. It needed work done on it, but it was so convenient to be living right next to Victory during its formative years.

However, I don't think six people are meant to share one bathroom. The kids are definitely growing out of their little-kid stage, where they like to run and play and stomp around. As I said earlier, I never realized how noisy my family was until I was by myself in Chicago. It doesn't bother me, but I'm glad that they will have room to breathe now.

Mom and Dad are coming up here also to help out. There's still a lot of work to be done to put our old house in sellable condition. In the last 12 years, Brett and I have moved seven times. I certainly plan on staying here for a long time.

Chicago Conference

Things I learned at the Ronald McDonald House Charities International Conference in Chicago last week:

- Australian currency is made out of a fabric that you can't tear.
- The Gandy Dancer in Ann Arbor has the best lobster bisque I've ever had.
- You can buy an original Dr. Seuss painting for $30,000 on Michigan Ave.
- There are fireworks at the Navy Pier that explode in the shape of a heart.
- The Chicago Marriott downtown has truly comfortable mattresses.
- It is a small world. I met a girl from Springfield who knew my sister-in-law.
- The Field Museum is a breathtaking place to visit.
- Nights are eerily quiet without my four kids around.
- It is possible to gain 5 pounds in 4 days from the chef's cooking at the Marriott.

I had a great time and learned a lot from the conference that will help our local organization. This week, it's back to the grind and gearing up for moving into a new house. The next couple of weeks promise to be very busy . . .

Exhausting Week

We have Vacation Bible School going on at church this week in the evenings from 6:00-8:30. Roughly 80 kids from K-6 have shown up every night, which has been rewarding, though exhausting. I'm the teacher for the 3rd and 4th graders. It is actually a really good age to work with because they are old enough to understand instructions and follow through, but young enough to not have the "I'm too cool for this" attitude.

We have two more nights left. Several have already made the decision to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, and we're praying for more to do the same. I'm sure Saturday will be one of those collapse-and-do-nothing days.