Staci's Wedding

I was so excited when several months back Staci asked me to be the matron of honor in her wedding.  It was so sweet because she said as we were growing up she always pictured me standing beside her on her wedding day and even though we've been miles away for the last several years, she still wanted me by her side.  She also asked Olivia to be the flower girl and of course Olivia was THRILLED! 

I'll start by bragging on the dress bargain.  A couple of days after Staci asked her, I happened to be at the mall looking for some other things.  I thought I would just do a quick check in the girls section of a store that I was right by.  I walked in and there was a cute dress, in the color we wanted and Olivia's size.  It was on clearance for $14.99 (which was already a steal compared to the David's bridal flower girl dresses for $125+) but when we got up to check out it rang up $8.99! I must admit, I get quite the high from bargains like that!

Anyway, we left Thursday around lunch afternoon and with some traffic and one wrong turn we pulled into the hotel at 4AM Atlanta time. It was a long, tiring trip but I still couldn't sleep much! Friday afternoon we visited with Staci and her family and then the girls all went to get pedicures. Olivia had such a blast hanging out with all the women for pedicures and it was great to get to know Joe's family and catch up with Staci and her family. We had the rehearsal dinner Friday night and then wedding activities all day Saturday. Olivia did pretty well but towards the end of the wedding she started getting wiggly standing up there. At one point I could see out of the corner of my eye her twirling her flower basket on her wrist. The mom in me wanted to snap my fingers and give her a look but I didn't want to be even more of a distraction. Staci was such an easy going bride and it made me feel a lot less stressed that she was so carefree about everything. The kids LOVED the reception and they were definitely party animals! Staci was a beautiful bride and it was so fun to catch up with so many people I hadn't seen in a while. Michael was such a trooper and so helpful the whole weekend. We got up at 4AM Sunday morning and made the journey back home. It was a quick visit but so fun and we made so many good memories!

 She bonded with Staci so quickly!

 This was another friend she made..She hung out with her quite a bit! 

 Old friends!  Katie is next..can't wait to go to her wedding in NYC this fall!

 The long trip finally caught up with her at the rehearsal dinner.

 Wasn't she adorable?

 I just loved catching up with Kate some more.

 Getting her hair done.

 Snooki hair!

 We had so much fun!

 Getting Stace ready..She was so elegant!

 I love this picture..

 Enjoying the candy bar at the reception

 Gray was a wild man on the dance floor!

 party animals!

 Getting his picture drawn by the characterurist.

 My hot date:)

 Hands on ya knees, hands on ya knees!

 They were exhausting just to watch!

  It looks like he's break dancing..he was actually doing a flip.  It was priceless!

Homecoming

Olivia was asked to be the crown bearer for the band homecoming.  She was thrilled!  She got to ride with the queen and king in the homecoming parade.  Then she got to go with the queen and attendants to the dress store and try on dresses with all the big girls.  It cracks me up how she just interacts with teenagers and adults so well.  She just strikes up a conversation with them and sounds so grown up. 

The night of homcoming she had a constant smile on her face.  She was so happy to be all dressed up and get to go out on the field.  She even got a pretty crosage to wear.  She did woderful, never got shy or tried to back out.  Her favorite part was hanging out with the queen! 

Talking with the teenagers

Brady calls her his wife now!  He was so shy around her and said she looked so pretty all dressed up!

Liv's First Cheerleading Season

Olivia just finished up her first Cheerleading season.  She loved it!  I initally signed up to help with the team but at the first meeting, they had no parent coaches so another mom and I ended up co-coaching.  Since neither one of us knew much about cheerleading, we called in Alex to help.  It was so nice of her to volunteer her time and the team would not have been as good without her!  She made up a dance for their halftime routine and it was cute to watch them perform.  Olivia would get tired after a few cheers and she was always asking for a water break.  Despite her easily tiring out, she still loved and it was so much better than soccer!  We will definitely let her cheer again next year.  She made lots of new friends.  Sometimes Michael wouldn't get to her game until after it started so Grayson would have to be down on the field with me.  Grayson would do some of the cheers with Olivia but as soon as Michael would get there he would promptly have to go into the stands! 

Halloween 2011

Halloween was fun as always!  The kids get to wear their costumes so many times before halloween that by the time the 31st roles around, it's old news.  This year we did lots of fun fall things.  We went to the harvest festival by our house and the kids got to ride ponies, jump on the inflatables, and visit all the vendor booths.  There was also a chilli cook off contest so Michael and I sampled all different kinds of chilli.  Some were really good, some were really bad but by the time we had sampled almost 20 different kinds of chilli, I felt so sick I didn't want to ever eat chilli again!  Next year we decided we'll only try a few different kinds.  We also visited a pumpkin patch in Claremore to get our pumpkins.  While the kids were out of school on fall break, we had the 1st annual Bippus Boo Bash at our house.  It was so fun and the kids enjoyed having their friends over.  We played pin the tooth on the pumpkin and had lots of scary, yummy food!   The kids both had fun events at school.  Grayson and I tagged along on the pumpkin patch field trip with Olivia's class and it was neat to meet some of her friends.  I helped out with Gray's trunk or treat at preschool and that was fun too. 

I love this picture..you can see the joy written all over Luci's face!

All the kids at the party, they all looked so cute!

Mommy and Olivia enjoying the hay ride at the Harvest Festival.

 She is one happy girl when she gets to ride a pony!

Getting her face painted..a pony of course!

At the pumpkin patch

We love family days!

We brought our own clothes and got to stuff a scarecrow at the pumpkin patch.

All done!

Not happy that I'm trying to make him take a picture.

Olivia's pumpkin patch field trip at school.  Grayson and I were happy to come along!

Trunk or Treat at Grand Central Preschool. 

Seriously, could they be any cuter?

And finally, Halloween night.  Our old neighbor Tripp came and went trick or treating with us.  Luci came along too.  It was so funny, at one point Grayson didn't make it up to the house with the other kids to ring the doorbell so he just decided to stick his hand in some random child's bucket as he as leaving the house.  Needlesss to say, the kid was did not like that idea!