27 days to go

Thanks for the comments girlfriends.
I liked Angie's idea of getting more invitations but there is NO WAY Leah is going to let them be "handmade". :) FYI Angie, I did make my own wedding invitations when I married Lonnie, & honestly, they were beautiful, but still obviously handmade. I embossed them, used fancy scissors to give them these beautiful scalloped edges, had a dear poem on the front, blah, blah, blah. At some point maybe I will gag you all & go in that nasty attic & dig one out.
I could get one of those kits from Walmart though & print them out myself. I could do that & those getting them would never even know I had run out because I would do such a SPLENDID job of doing them. :)
Thanks Jessica for your gift ideas. Sweet of you to think of her too.
Now on to Dr. Maren: my big question is that your answers were based on the conditions that I had not paid for the invitations. Uh......what if I paid for half? I feel like it is only fair to blame myself because "my list" was longer than Leah's. I thought we had ordered enough "extra". Thanks for all your much needed advice. I am really happy & excited for her & Brent. Each day the prospect of the wedding gets me more excited, but is sort of bittersweet. It wasn't sad thinking of her moving out :) (kidding Leah) but it does make me sort of sad her moving so far away (wish it was me!)

28 days to go & advice needed

This is Sam (the maid of honor) & Leah EARLY in the morning at EFY from last summer. The best part of that church camp was Leah finding her best friend. I LOVE Sam! Thinking about Sam makes me think about the shower. She does not live local so couldn't do as much with the shower as I'm sure she would have liked, but the shower preparations are on their way. Even though it will be a while till the shower there is still so much to do. (please don't blog about the date if you know it :) ) Maren came up with a fabulous menu. My sister is having a yummy cake made. The maid of honor is doing the games & the bridesmaids are going to decorate. My mom & I are making the coolest favors ever! I have also recruited help to prepare all the food. I have more shopping to do yet for paper products & such, but for the most part I'm feeling good about it.

My biggest quandary at this point is over the wedding invitations. I don't remember to be perfectly honest how many invitations we ordered. It seemed like plenty. Leah did the math on figuring out the correct number plus some extra but after we actually received the invitations it s-l-o-w-l-y became apparent that we did not have enough. She came up with her list based on how many she was allowed to have at the banquet room which did limit her unfortunately. I feel like everyone local was taken care of but the problem is that I would have loved to send invitations to those who do not live locally. I know they may not have been able to come but I would have wanted them to know of Leah's special day or they already know & are probably wondering why they DIDN'T receive one. I'm feeling much guilt about this now. So here is my etiquette question for the day.........do I go ahead & order more invitations knowing they will be getting them too late to respond. I DON'T want people to think I'm sending them so that they can send a gift. Do I not send anything at all? WHAT do I do????? I am a freak about hurting people's feelings. HATE IT. Hate the possibility of it even!! HELP!!!

29 days to go

Is it going to drive you all crazy as I blog every day about Leah? It's my coping mechanism okay?
Today she received her first shower gift. She was SO EXCITED. It makes everything seem so REAL !!! It was from my sister-in-law, Julie, who is unable to come. It was really nice of her to send something. I had Leah immediately write a thank you note. Julie is GREAT about writing little notes. She NEVER forgets a birthday & always sends a card & gift.

Julie also makes a Thanksgiving FEAST every year & always invites us. She really is an amazing cook & so is Lenny. They love to entertain & are great hosts. Josh LOVES spending time w/ his cousins & really misses them since they don't live around here.

Thanks again Julie!


(Julie & Lenny & their boys Austin & Drew)

One month to go

Okay, tomorrow will be EXACTLY one month till Angelia gets married! I just cannot believe it. She has done an amazing job preparing for it, & is soooooo organized with all her wedding prep. Organization is not her strength (apple never falls far from the tree) so it's been quite refreshing to see her in this light. It has helped me a lot to see her be so responsible at such a young age since she is not going to be close by. Everyone keeps asking, "Why are they moving to Florida?" I find the whole thing funny because it's what I always WANTED to do but just never did. I am vicariously living through her Florida move as we speak. I know I'll be going to Florida a lot now since she will be there. Who knows? If we have the opportunity to adopt Kirsten & Aaron maybe we will move there ourselves someday.

The sight of their faces...

This weekend Leah, Brent, Josh & I all went to the King of Prussia for Leah's last dance competition. It was LONG but wonderful. I LOVE watching her dance. On the way home we went to the Stewart picnic. The Stewarts are my father's nieces & nephews. The oldest is Susan, then Bruce, & then Jeff. Outstanding family. They're all grown now of course w/ families of their own. Some of my fondest memories are of going to their home to visit Aunt Emmy & Uncle Jack, playing in their beautiful yard, relaxing on that cool screened in porch they had, always having Dunkin Donuts, celebrating Easter, their BEAUTIFUL fish tanks, & of going into Susan's room! She had the most beautiful bedroom. I felt so important when she invited me in. The boys were always nice & always had a smile on their face. They still do.

Anyway, it had been WAY too long since I had gone to the picnic I am ashamed to say. But........the sight of all my cousins faces brought more joy than I could say. Susan & I went on a wonderful walk & caught up w/ each other's families. I love spending time with her.

When it was time to leave & our families said our goodbyes I got into the car & cried for several minutes on the way home. Seeing all of them made my heart happy & made me think about my Dad who passed away many years ago. I can't let this much time go by again.

Greatest friends ever!

I would be remiss if I did not post about the absolutely, awesome time we had last weekend with the Milams in New York City. They took us for our anniversary which was May 10, & we once again have wonderful memories with them. Our temple trip last year, our Codorus Sunday nights, THE BEACH & now this fun NY trip. I am so happy the Lord blessed us with such good friends. There truly are only so many people that you can call your great friends, but Barry & Maren are those people to us. Maren took all kinds of phenomenal pics (as always) & I still need to post them, but I had to add this to my blog before life got away from me again. I want to do a David Letterman top 10 reasons to go to New York when I post my pics. Again, THANK YOU BARRY & MAREN!

Your son......

So much time has gone by since I last blogged. We are just so busy & I'm sorry for whining about it earlier hence the reason for the disappearance of my "whiner" post. Anyway, on to something positive that I just HAD to blog about. This week at Josh's baseball game the family all came & watched with their usual excitement. Besides Lonnie & the children & I, Pappy & Grammy always come to the games, & Papaw would never miss a game. We all sit together & talk & cheer. Josh played well, made a run, and played first base & third base. Their team won & it was a great game. BUT......the highlight of the game was when it was over. Another mom from the team came up & asked me if I was Josh's mom. She then proceeded to tell me, "I just want you to know how nice your son is. This is my little boy's first year & Josh is just so nice to him. We noticed how Josh was helping him. My husband even commented on what a nice kid Josh was." The tears came to my eyes. I thanked her so much for telling me. It just doesn't matter to me what else happens on the field if my son isn't a good example to others. Thank you Lord. That made up for all that guilt I was going through previously. Josh is such a blessing to our family.