T & K 7/11/14

The Zappia clan had the honor of being in Tommy and Karis' wedding this past July.  I'm just now getting around to writing about it because I've just now finally recovered.  While the wedding preparations surely took more time in the lives of Tommy, Karis, and Mimi, it also took a serious amount of planning and prep on our part as well.  Considering that I'm the only one, of five people who dresses herself, (appropriately, at least) the outfit coordination alone was no small feat.  Five people, 3 days, multiple outfits per day, for all weather types, activity types, and comfort types.  And shoes, don't forget shoes!  Don't forget the camera, the sippy cups, the necklace to go with the grey dress, the infant tylenol, the swim vest, the black socks, baby monitor, the phone chargers, the card, the actual baby...you get the idea.

So the months of prep are finished and the wedding weekend is finally here.  We take half days from work on Thursday, pull the kids out of camp/daycare early, feed the cat and head off to Corning.  

And then the real wedding prep began.

And by "begins," I mean the last 10% of turning the 80 acre farm into a ceremony and reception site.  There were signs and lanterns to be hung, table decor to be placed, chairs to be setup,  and lights to be strung to name a few tasks.  I tried to keep the kids out of the way as much as possible while trying to help at the same time.  That was next to impossible.  Friday was more of the same all day until we had to get our hair done.  Even so, I was still making the seating assignment display with my bridesmaid dress on while the first guests were arriving. We used every possible minute.    

We also had to fit in practice being the ring bearer, the flower girl and jr. flower girl so that we didn't have any runaway wagons, guests with flower pedals flung in their faces or untimely swims in the pond.  

So the moment of truth arrives and it's time to walk down the aisle.  I'm the first one to go down and as I'm standing there, I realize Matt is standing next to me.  He was supposed to be with the groomsmen but he claims no one told him where to go.  Like this is the first wedding he's ever been to.  So we go down the aisle together and it works out fine.  The rest of the wedding party proceeds and then it's Luke's turn with Coco.  He did a very nice job of pulling her in the wagon slowly and and an even nicer job of conveniently parking the wagon in front of Matt instead of me.  Hallelujah! Ade comes down with her petals next and also does a great job. I expected her to come stand by me but instead she chose to stand with Karis' sister Libby.  Maybe I smelled bad?  Anyway, next came our beautiful blushing bride and the ceremony commenced.  I'll have you know that my kid was not the first one to melt down.  She may have been the second one but she wasn't first and she wasn't the loudest - I was so proud.  Actually, Corinna wasn't that bad but she did cause Matt to exit the groomsmen line for a short jaunt as quickly as he could exit stage left and as far as he could get - "stage left" being out into the middle of the field away from the ceremony.   

Tom and Karis had a really nice and brief (!) ceremony just as they had planned.   They could not have looked any more perfect and all of the hard worked paid off.  

Day 2 of the wedding was the "reception."  And there were quite a few people receiving and receiving pretty hard.   The weather cooperated and there was lots of fun happening left and right.  This included our own little maniac Luke on the golf carts.  Note to self: do not ride with Luke on anything with a motor.  It is scary and life threatening changing.   And it is now September and we hear about the golf carts every single day without fail.  Luke might actually be let down by Santa this year.

Anyway, we all had the best time that we never want to have again (kind of like college spring break in Mexico) - you're glad you did it and had a blast but it was exhausting and a lot of hard work having that much fun.

Summer

Our summer is well under way and we are having a fabulous time so far.  Luke is back at Camp Sisol and Adrienne is back at the JCC.  Coco continues in her same infant room at the JCC so that makes 3 kids in the same place for drop-off and pick-up!  It still takes me at least 30 minutes (at least) to get through the place when picking them up!  We spend extra time admiring all of the pre-school artwork, pushing ALL of the buttons in the elevator, talking to all the teachers, running people over with the stroller, stopping to use all of the restrooms (and steal the rubber gloves stocked in them), making sure we sample the water at each water fountain, using all of the handicap buttons to open doors...you get the picture!

So back to our fun filled, no spare minutes, summer...

We've had bonfires, been to lakes, gone to festivals, had a lemonade stand,
lived it up at the waterpark, been to parties with water slides and bounce houses, been to parks, swung on the neighbors' swings, ridden bikes,  and everything in between.  After the winter we had this year, this nice warm weather is just what we needed.

We are about halfway thru the season and dreading the change of weather already.  And I almost had to start boycotting Target (gasp!) because they have back to school supplies out already.  Not what I want to see, Target.  You don't want to lose one of your best customers.  And take those jeans and sweaters out of the store, too.  stat.  Do not even think about putting Halloween decor out or you're finished! We still have more summer to experience!  And while I'm making threats, you listen to me Rochester, it better be a warm fall and winter or I'm moving!  Rant over, proceed.  


Luke's last day of 1st grade:

The Cutest  Lemonade Stand that Ever Existed:

Somewhere over the rainbow!

SMORES!

Babers!

Twins matching:

Squish

Look at my squishy baby!  I just love to squish her.  I will call her squish!  Actually, I've been calling her piglet because she does the sweetest little squealing noise when she wants something.  She is *this* |<--->|  close to crawling and is just starting to pull up on things.   She has also mastered the butt scooch and is putting that, uh, extra surface area to work.  

We are up to 4 teeth now - ouch, and we've started solid foods. So far she loves bananas and avocados.  She does NOT like apples!  Is that possible?  You know what she really wants to try?  Chocolate cake.  Yep, that's right, she was throwing elbows at me trying to get a taste of some cake at a recent birthday party.  Girl knows what she wants.  And she is my child, after all.

Oh , oh, OHH, and she's been sleeping through the night.  Hallelujah! So here are some pictures of the babe:

Birthdays, 2014 Edition

So we've had a few birthdays: Luke #7 (WOW!) and Adrienne #4 (double WOW!).  Both kids wanted parties at "fun centers," but "fun" isn't quite the word I would use.  Nevertheless, Luke had a blast on the go - carts and Adrienne bounced her little heart.   Each birthday is so bittersweet. So bittersweet, in fact, that we take at least a week and a couple of cakes per birthday!

Attention!

Here ye, here ye, we have a grand milestone to document...princess baby finally rolled over. all the way. over.

Ok, so maybe it's not that exciting but what kind of mother would I be if this went undocumented?  At least I was around to see her do it for the first time (that, or the daycare ladies have learned the art of not spoiling "firsts").

High Tea

Anyone want to come to a tea party?  High tea will be served in Adrienne's room today!

Super Cup

Luke participated in his Taekwondo studio's annual Super Cup this year.  He chose to do the board breaking competition.  Each kid in the competition gets two boards to break: one upper body technique break and one lower body technique break.  Luke decided on the "palm hit" technique and the "axe kick" technique.  He broke both boards on the first try and actually looked like he knew what he was doing (despite mine and Matt's fear that he didn't).  He earned the silver medal for his group which he was super proud of. Go Luke!