The big wedding day arrived

Here is my family, in the marine's last moments as a single man! He looks pretty calm, huh?


Our darling d-i-l was calm too. Nerves of steel, those two.


Then came the ceremony.

It is official!



After 10,000 pictures, it was time to eat cake.....


....and party like rock stars......



It was a fun, sweet, crazy day. However, I am glad it is a big happy memory now! Looking at pictures is fun....and no stress! Welcome to the family darling d-i-l!!

Goin' to the chapel....

The Marine is getting married Saturday.


Hubs and the marine looking dapper.

Can I just say I am thankful I have boys. This wedding stuff has worn me smooth out. And I was only worried with the responsibility of the rehearsal dinner. I. Can. Not. imagine being the mother of the bride.

The shower was this past weekend.
Cute daughter-in-law to-be and me at the shower. (D-i-l needs a blog name...hmmmm.)
Whoa, the shower was a serious loot fest. They got everything they registered for at 4 different stores, and then some. Very blessed.

(I need to have a 16th year of marriage shower. I'm just sayin')

It is down to the wire now. I have lists on top of lists.
The guest bedroom looks like Hobby Lobby vomited all over it.

Due to Uncle Sam owning the marine, the wedding that was going to be in May, was moved (in January) to March 12. So we had 3 quick months to prepare. Living in a small town has made the task a little more challenging...having to drive 90 miles for anything other than what could be bought at W-Mart!

It has been a frazzled 3 months. It hit me yesterday morning while I was ironing blonde rascal's clothes for the weekend....The Marine is getting married. It suddenly jumped from this event that was running me ragged to my son getting married. A huge life event. Then the tears started rolling all over my ironing board.

The marine is my stepson, but has lived solely with us since he was 9. When hubs and I married he (the marine, not hubs) was 7. He was the cutest little thing and he worshiped the ground I walked on. He became a teenager and I did not think he was so cute anymore....nor did he worship the ground I walked on any longer for that matter! But through it all we stayed tight and not once has he ever disrespected me with "you're not my mom" as can happen in so many blended families. For that, I love the kid even more. In my heart he is my son.

Now he is approaching a milestone and I fear I will be a snifflin' blubbering fool at the wedding. I think I need to add a flask, matching my dress of course, to my list. Surely taking a snort from a flask is acceptable at a small town wedding, right? Think charming, like Steel Magnolias.

I am gaining a darling daughter and I pray much happiness over their union.

Should I mention that my washing machine went out a month ago? How is that for timing?
How about the fact that it went out the week before we were going to Mexico in September. (Read: this is the second time in 4 months that it has petered out.) Did I mention it is only approaching its 2nd birthday. We bought it new when we bought this house.

In September it was the main computer board that went out. Same part again this time. The repair man came a month ago, determining that it is the same part. He ordered it and it took 3 weeks to get the part. When he came to install it, the part was bad. Re-ordered another one. Still waiting.

Should I mention how terribly inconvenient it is to go to the bloody laund-ro-mat while trying to plan a yippy skippy wedding?

Oh, and how there is family coming to stay with us this happy weekend? Hope they are understanding of the roll of paper towels I leave by the shower for them to dry off with.

I will also say that one of the machines I was using at the laund-ro-mat yesterday malfunctioned mid-cycle. Completely true story. It seemed like a really good time to "go postal", if you will.

It goes without saying that I now have a flask that matches both my washing machine AND machine #14 at the laund-ro-mat.

Which leads me to my final point, very soon my name will be Brooke G. Whirlpool. Someone at Whirlpool is mere days away from me opening a can of you know what all over them. Won't be pretty.

But don't worry about me, I'm not stressed.

A big week for birthdays!

Today is my adorable twin niece's first birthday! Woo hoo! Happy Birthday Hadley and Isabelle!!!Big sugar lumps of sweetness, those two are!!


Tomorrow is my wonderful Mom's birthday! Happy Birthday Mom!! The following is a picture of my me and Mom circa early 1971. How precious is that?

Truly visible depiction of the love of a mother. I have a picture of myself and blonde rascal in a very similar pose, when he is exactly the same age, circa 2000. That was in the stone age before digital, or at least before we had a digital camera. I was going to scan it and show it here....but said picture is in a frame and it is stuck! I will shred the picture if I try to remove it. Hmmmph. Anyway just trust me it is cute. And would have been super dooper cute to compare with the one of me and Mom. Hmmmph.


Finally today, in addition to my nieces, is another noteworthy family member's birthday...

Yep, it is true. Missy the wonder weenie dog turned 4 today.

Yes it is also true, we made a big deal and bought her gifts. Won't you please notice my dusty floor in the picture above?

She waddled around this morning trying to decide if she should tear up her new "baby" or chew on her new bone. She had no idea what she did to deserve the sudden bestowal of gifts. She is a brat, but we are ridiculously in love with her anyway.

There you have it, 2 days and 4 amazing women celebrating birthdays! Admittedly I use the terms "amazing" and "women" loosely when describing one of the birthday girls today...but would hate for her to feel left out. Brat.

Merry Christmas!! Oh wait...it's January.

Christmas Eve, blurry photo, but at that point I was feeling rather blurry myself. As in tired, weary, worn out.

Well, no rest for the weary, as they say and as always the entire Christmas season was wonderful despite the lack of sleep. Full of family and fun and cherished memories!

Since one of my most recent blog posts was chocked full of Halloween festivities, I must recap for the sake of keeping the blog chronologically in check.

November brought our 15th anniversary. I had an adorably talented local chic (thanks Ashley!!) make a mini-wedding cake for us. It was so fun!That's some cake baking, decorating fabulous-ness right there! Almost too pretty to eat....almost.

That weekend we took a trip to San Antonio for a little celebration get away.We remembered The Alamo.

Had an all around great time, just the two of us. I love this man. He is my rock, my bff and he holds the key to my heart! I am blessed by having him and honored to be called his wife for the past 15 years!

Next up on the time line....
The Marine got engaged! Wedding March 12, 2011. Jeepers, right around the corner. Darling girl and we are thrilled to be welcoming her into the family!

Followed of course by ThanksgivingYes, I decorated for Christmas BEEEFORE Thanksgiving and it was the best thing I have ever done. Loved it. Yes, blonde rascal was in his pj's for turkey day dinner. Yes, despite how it looks we did have more to eat than pink jello salad. It was a nice, easy going T-day since it was just the 4 of us.

After Christmas blonde rascal and I drove to Houston to spend a week with my family. The best part of that was getting to be with my ridiculously cute and fun twin nieces!Seriously folks, not much more adorable could they get!


The year ended by B.R. and I driving back from Houston on NYE. Hubby left home that morning to go to a roping in San Antonio, so it was just me and blonde rascal.
This is how an 8.5 hour drive from Houston to Snyder treats me. It is not pretty, my road hag look. Anyway we partied like rock stars that night and made ice cream sundaes. Blonde rascal clearly got hopped up on whipped cream. We were asleep in bed by 9:45. Glamorous life.

OK so that catches me up. I'll be back around Easter time for another re-cap. Kidding (I hope) as I do miss blogging and am aiming at being a more regular blogger!

Life in Grace

Funny thing about blogging is that once you start reading someones blog you feel like you know them, even if you have never personally met. I have fallen in love with Edie at Life in Grace! She is completely hilarious, a dedicated mother and wife, a talented decorator, an all around smart and spunky girl...and that is just the tip of the iceberg! My favorite of her posts is this one. Mainly because her decorating style is so amazing...funky and outside the box. Also because that is soooo something I would do, take a ten minute plan and turn it in to an all day house re-arranging! Anyway today is her birthday! She is in need of an extra special "blog hug" this birthday as her home burnt to the ground the Tuesday before Christmas. I pray for her family the peace that only God can provide.

The gamut of emotions that must follow that experience are unimaginable. However as Edie said in her post, the only thing that mattered was that her entire beautiful family, dog included, got out completely unharmed. Thank God.

My heart broke for her as I read her post and at the same time made me think of my family's safety in the event of a fire. I went through the house and replaced all smoke detector batteries. I decided I would do that every New Years and 4th of July. Ordinarily we only replace them when they start chirping and you want to hit them with a baseball bat!

Then Blonde Rascal and I did an emergency drill in his room. I reiterated that should he ever hear the smoke detectors go off in the night, he is to immediately climb out the window. Not ever try to come through the house looking for us. We set an outdoor meeting area by the pool. Then I went outside and coached him through climbing out his window. Of course that turned humorous as he struggled, wiggled and fell to the ground! But I slept better that night. While our "drill" was light hearted and silly, I feel certain that in an emergency the details of how to get out of the house safely would come to his mind.

Then in a dreadful flash of some sort of teenage foreshadowing he decided to try to climb back in the window!I told him in no shape, form or fashion did he need to master THAT skill. That had us giggling again as climbing back in was far more cumbersome than climbing in!

As it turns out Jake wanted to climb in the window too...

Pray for Edie and her sweet, sweet family as they travel the emotional road of re-establishing their home. Then, go change your smoke detector batteries and make an escape plan. I say thank you Edie for sharing this journey with us, as your story may end up saving another family.

I was in the quilty shack today!

I wasn't sewing though.I was using these. Don't worry, all of my digits are still attached.

I SHOULD have been sewing, but alas I was rearranging. I need to go to furniture re-arrangers anonymous. Seriously. Last week in Sunday School I suggested we rearrange the furniture. So we did. It is like if I feel the furniture would work better a different way, it will just eat away at me until it is done. Freak show, I know.

So some ideas had been lurking around in my head about the optimal layout in the quilty shack and they had to be acted upon...post haste.

I'll try to take pics tomorrow for a little reveal.

Here is Alvin on the quilty shack porch...Nothing says sewing room more than a napping cat on a quilt right?


There was a bake sale at blonde rascal's school last week. I made chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes. Oh my.

The cookie dough inside ends up not raw but not cooked either....sort of in between the two. Delightful I tell you. Kids go nuts for them. I got the recipe here. Only difference being I used a cake mix, canned frosting and that Pillsbury break apart cookie dough.

Last night was the rowdy, sugar crazed, exhausting fall festival at blonde rascal's school. Is it just me? I can't wait for that thing to be OVER every year.

Here is B.R. and his buddy the grim reaper. B.R. was an FBI agent. See his little secret agent ear piece? Seriously, we go all out around here.

Gosh, looks like our brave agent is taking out a sniper in the school gym rafters or something.

By the way all you people with daughters, check out this costume....
It was Volleyball Barbie. So cute. The shower thing was fun too.


In other news, we adopted another stray kitten.
Scrappy. Look at that cute little booger. We take all the barn cats we can get. Barn cats= less snakes. Amen.


Look who is driving the tractor?
Yes, he is 10. Yes, that would be his father who let him do that. His mother was in the house and unaware that her baby was driving a large farm implement.

And here he is driving cattle!
Or pushing them or moving them or whatever it is called.

My goodness I love that boy.

Mog

Obviously I am on some sort of monthly blogging thing now. So, I give you my monthly log...Mog if you will.

I have so much more to say but apparently not enough time. You know, important things...like how much money we have spent on pool chemicals, rattlesnake sightings, cool patio furniture from the junk store, how much I adore summer with no schedules. The list of totally irrelevant information I could be forcing on you on a daily basis is limitless. Unfortunately I am not organized enough to blog daily.

Today all I have the energy for is a story from Sunday School. Don't worry I won't be getting all theological on you. When blonde rascal came out of his SS class this morning he was totally fired up because two girls, sisters no less, completely lost their cool and starting fighting over a sticky note in their Bible during class. He said it was off the hook....screaming, crying, slapping. He stated, for the record, it was the best SS class ever.

Does this mean he will be amused by mud wrestling when he is older? Whatever. If unruly girls keep him looking forward to church, then so be it.

A tender heart

I packed a care package for the Marine yesterday. It was sitting on the kitchen table last night, box still open.

Blonde rascal wrote a note for his brother and put it in the box. Then he went off to his room and came back with an armful of Hot Wheels. He put the cars in the box and I asked him if the cars were for his brother. (His brother would totally understand that gesture because anyone who knows blonde rascal, knows that he has 9 million Hot Wheels and loves EACH individual one. It would be a significant symbol of love to be given one of his cars!)

However blonde rascal said that no they were not for his brother, they were for the Afghan children.

Big tears streamed down my face, my heart bursting. He gets it. How proud that made me.

At bedtime we prayed for each child in Afghanistan that the Marine will be giving blonde rascal's cherished Hot Wheels to. Prayed that they would not have fear and that they would know that there is a God that loves them.

I probably should go check blonde rascal's Christmas list now...there might be a plea for more Hot Wheels!

The Creek Bed

In wandering around our property, blonde rascal discovered a little run off creek bed. He has since claimed it the ultimate boy space.

He took me to see it Monday after school. He was so proud of himself because he had chopped down a wayward branch with a little saw.
As we walked to the creek bed, the 3 amigos of course tagged along.

Bianca will follow blonde rascal to the ends of the earth. That is what she does...she is as loyal as the day is long.


Missy, on the other hand, while being somewhat loyal......came along mainly out of concern that Bianca will get more attention than she will.

Not to mention she is always looking for someplace new to get dirty.
The 3rd amigo, A.J., who thinks she is a dog, naturally joined in on the adventure.
Blonde rascal was investigating, he found some sort of wild gourd that he split open.

He claimed he felt kinda like Surviorman, we love that show at our house.

There were rocks to be moved...
...in order to build car garages of course!
There was even some kissing going on in the creek bed....
We had to watch out for these......ouch!


A.J. was in a constant state of adorable kitten pounce readiness...
Blonde rascal played with his trucks......he was in heaven.

I sat there and soaked it all in. It was a beautiful afternoon, rather relaxing in that little creek bed. Blonde rascal chatted away happily. Telling me which of his cars would work the best in the dirt and slopes. How he wanted to put some r/c all terrain vehicles on his Christmas list, to drive in the creek bed. Perhaps we could build a fort down there where he could store his bb gun and a lantern and snacks. Campfires and tents were discussed.

It was time to start dinner and homework so he parked his cars in a hollowed out tree.
We headed back to the house, blonde rascal still chatting away and I felt supremely content. At that moment there is nowhere else in the whole world I would have rather been, than in that dried up creek bed with my favorite 9 year old.