A Wedding

On Friday my brother married his long-time sweetheart.  It was a lovely intimate affair with lovely lighting and decor and fun.

I would be remiss if I said that it was "fun" for those of us with young babies in attendance, but I had a good time after the kids said their goodbyes and headed home for bed.

As I was in this wedding (and I rarely have free hands when I'm out and about anyway) there aren't many pictures.  But there are a few.

To start - of course she got sick the day before the wedding.  Of course she did.  She was doing okay but she wasn't sleeping great and her head was fluid filled so I got spooked maybe it was lungs or ears so a quick trip in to the friendly pedi Friday morning to rule all that out.  Of course it's just viral.  Gotta wait it out.  She's so pleasant right now.  Not.

Sweetie niece and handsome nephew.  Who was also sick.  Who also was over being tired and whisked from here and there and everywhere by wedding time.  More on that in a bit.  They sure look pretty here.

Julia did not want to smile very much.

But she did love holding her baby.  This was all done while we were waiting for the ceremony.

I have no pictures from ceremony time.  Cause I was standing up there making sure Julia didn't scream (so possible) or pull down curtains or light the place on fire with the unity candle.

To that end.  We got lined up and I was holding her.  And she was holding my bouquet.  Gripping.  In the "if-you-take-this-from-me-I'll-scream-until-you-give-it-back" way of toddlers the world over.  And we're standing there about to walk in and I'm weighing it in my mind.  Let her have it?  Walk in without flowers?  Just let her walk in with my flowers?  How mad will bride be to have the pictures messed up?  I did this for about 90 seconds.  The groom walks in with his crew.  The first bridesmaid goes.  The boys are be-bopping behind me going last because we decided this was best.

I took the flowers from her, set her on the ground.  Handed her some of the petals they were supposed to throw.  And she took off for the door and the aisle before the other bridesmaid went.  She's standing there in the back of the ceremony area staring at me with her "how-dare-you-talk-to-me-with-that-tone" face.  And I'm silently begging her to please. just. don't. scream.  please. please.  Don't throw yourself on the floor.  Because she does that.  And it's not really as cute as people were thinking it might be.  She is shrill.  And mean and loud.  Girlfriend has opinions.

So the next bridesmaid goes and just walks past her.  Julia is still staring at me like "why can't I go?" So then we send Nila to go get her.  They are telling her to take julia's hand and I'm like NOOOOOO!  DO NOT TOUCH HER!  Only thing she hates worse than me yelling at her is someone else touching her.  Thankfully Nila just walks by her and Julia grabs her dress inexplicably (almost as if she had listened during the rehearsal) and they walked down the aisle extremely cutely and without incident to stand over by the bridesmaids.  I walk in last with the boys nervously holding on to the pillow behind me.

I stand up there and the kids sit ("sit") with my parents and have dumdum lollipops.  Which was the smartest thing we did the whole event.  They were busy, SILENT, and happy.  Julia did some walking around in front of me, but she was mostly good and I think undetected from the bride and groom.  There was a lighter on the stand next to the unite candle with I thought was unsightly so I grabbed that and hid it.  They said their vows.  They said I do.  He kissed the bride.

Married.

Done.

So then I took a few more pictures.

Julia did not want to participate.  ANYMORE.  She was done.  She did love my bouquet though.

This was pre ceremony.  Only picture of Lewis and I and kids.  Nothing else of Lewis and I together.  Lewis and I didn't even get a dance.

But this was fun.  And the boys had fun, mostly.  They were heavily bribed with pokemon go time if they had big eyes and big smiles for the 4,000 pictures.  They mostly cooperated.  Until they didn't.  And then it was time for them to leave.

Love my aunt and cousin.  Best people in the whole world.  They show up for everything.  They'd give me a kidney if I needed one.  ;)

The kids did great, and I was super proud.  They looked handsome and beautiful but they ran around crazy and people commented.  I wanted to stab them all.  But you know I didn't.  Jail time being inconvenient for modern motherhood.  But they went home with daddy and I stayed and it was okay.

While far from perfect, they are my monsters, and I love them.  My big regret is that I didn't cut the boys hair before the wedding.  But oh well.

She is the troopiest trooper.  The doctor said I shouldn't bring her.  He said I should get a sitter and leave her.  But I couldn't figure that out in my brain.  She did great.  She was unhappy but she didn't scream during the ceremony so that's a win.  She screamed at the reception and my mom, aunt and cousin had to sit outside with her but she was mostly okay.  It was like 730 by that time and past her bedtime.  Plus all week we'd been go, go, go, go with late nights and hard play time with cousins and she was ill.  Plus kids feel stress.  They knew the whole family had a big part and they could feel the tension.

Stars of the show.

It wouldn't be a family gathering if there wasn't some sort of project.  Lewis and my dad installed speakers in the living room.  This was dad with his head in the ceiling looking for the prelaid wires.

The "extra" hole.

All in - it was a good event.  There are enough stories that will make the rounds at Thanksgiving that I think Valerie and Brian will be entertained.  It's not an E* year though it's an in-law year so they'll probably have to wait till Christmas.

Congrats to the Bride and Groom!