Bibbity Bobbity Boo!

After Brandon and Amy's wedding at the quaint country church, we drove about 20 minutes or so to downtown Memphis for their reception held in an ballroom! Here a picture of the beautiful reception site!

The centerpieces on the table were so much prettier than this picture demonstrates!
A close up of a glass slipper! Both Amy and Brandon love Disney, so they had a Cinderella wedding!!!
No area in the entire venue was neglected from decoration! I even loved these little cuties sitting in the old window sills!

Since we didn't really know anyone besides the bride, groom, and best man, we had plenty of time at the reception to snap some pictures...and we did just that! Here are Steve, Jackie and Henry!
Here we ALL are!!! Me, Dan, Bryan, Papa, Jackie, Steve and in the front row, Nick, Luke, Alyssa, Nana, Henry, Jack - we clean up pretty well!
Here are Uncle Bryan and Alyssa - all dressed up for the big day!
The three original "Enzwiler" kids and our kids!!!
Jackie, Papa and Me - notice our great smiles???
That is in comparison to these three...
This was supposed to be Dan and Steve surprising Nana by kissing her on the cheek. Unfortunately, Nana was abreast to their shenanigans and ducked!!! Good thing Steve had his eyes open so he knew Nana ducked...Dan had his lips out and eyes closed - that could have been bad!!! HA!
Now here are me, Nana, and Jackie!
Another pic of the 5 cousins!!!
The boys and Alyssa were SO good during the fancy reception! Check out how calm Luke is playing with Papa!!!
After all the pics were done it was time for dessert! Dan was thrilled to see the groom's cake was a tiramisu cake - this was the BIGGEST piece of cake I have ever seen!!!
Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles...these were pulled out at just the right time, toward the end of the night, which was great to keep the kids busy!!!
The trip down to Memphis was so great - fun family time and a great wedding!!! Congrats to Amy and Brandon!!!

Going to the Chapel....

Brandon and Amy got married in the cutest, little church in Tennessee! They could not have picked a better flower girl - Alyssa Jade! Here she is walking down the aisle!
And there she goes...
Amy and Brandon are such a beautiful couple and the flowers were amazing!
The wedding party! Bryan is standing to the right of Brandon, the groom. Doesn't he look so handsome?
And Alyssa Jade is such a doll!!! I love her "shoulder up" look! :)
Pictures are done...now it's off to the reception!

Pre-Wedding Pics!

Brandon and Amy got married on 10-10-10 - the Sunday before Columbus Day! The wedding wasn't until 3 p.m., so we had some time to kill in the morning - what better to do than to go swimming! Here is the crew!
Alyssa was the flower girl in the wedding so she had to head up to her room early to get her hair and nails done! Aunt Jackie helped with her mani and pedi!
And Nana styled Alyssa's hair beautifully!
We finished with all the primping earlier then we thought, so Alyssa had a little down time - good thing Jack was there with his DSi for her to watch! She really likes to watch them play their video games! :)
Papa had to get all done up too - here he is getting ready to shave and playing a bit with Alyssa!
Before we knew it, it was time to head off to the wedding!

Pics in PJs!

When I found out that we were all going to head down to Memphis for the wedding, I decided to buy the 5 cousins some fun Halloween pajamas! Of course, we turned our hotel room into a small photo studio! Here is what we got...
The kids were SO good for their photo shoot and I think the pictures show that!!! Good job, guys!

A Party in the Parking Lot!

Over Columbus Day weekend, we headed down to Memphis to see my brother's best friend get married! On the way down, we usually stop at the Sikeston Outlet Mall - it is about the halfway point and who doesn't like an outlet mall??? When we got there though, there was a fair like atmosphere going on in the parking lot! The boys loved the pirates there!
They especially loved the fact that they made them balloon swords!
And the fact that there was a "real" pirate ship they could ride in!
This worked out great as the girls all were able to do a little shopping while the dads all took care of the kids! Papa even got into the action with Luke when he needed a little "help" hitting the bulls-eye with the ball he was throwing. Good thing Papa was there to help him out!
After our little shopping stop we headed back into the car and were off toward the hotel! Stay tuned for wedding pics! Uncle Bryan was the best man and Alyssa was the flower girl! Fun times!

Roastin' and Toastin'

SOMETIME in October - I'm honestly not sure when exactly - my parents had yet another bonfire. The night started out with the majority of the group going to a wurstmart at a local church for pork sausage and all the fixins! I opted out - so did Jackie and the boys, as well as Kari and her boyfriend, Nick. Well, one of her boyfriends - if you ask Luke who his girlfriend is he will always, respond, "KARI!" Here is a quick pic of how he greeted her!
Dan and Uncle Steve got the fire going, but before they did, we chilled by the house...
Once the fire was warm and toasty, we headed out with our blankets...
...and booze! Well, it is this FABULOUS Viennese coffee drink that my mom makes! We all LOVE it - especially Dan and Nana!
Not everyone wanted the spiked coffee though! Of course we had s'mores! It wouldn't be a bonfire without them! Here Dan and Nick start to make them...
For Jack and Luke to enjoy!

We did the same thing last year and Sandy brought over a FABULOUS caramel apple pie! This year was no different! Here Aunt Jackie shows off her piece!
We had I guess about 25 people there, all of us, sitting around the bonfire! These two lovely gentlemen - my dad on the left and his identical twin brother, my Uncle Jim on the right, kept scaring people!
I was the most vocal about being scared though and it got to be a fun game of scaring me - which, by the end of the night was not that difficult! Everyone was getting involved - walking around my parents fenced in backyard and poking me with sticks and everything else! We got home that night around midnight and wouldn't you know it, Dan got called into the hospital, so I was at home by myself and after the night of scares, I was totally freaked out! Good thing he was home by 4 a.m.! :)

Thanks to Nana and Papa for hosting such a great party! I honestly think I love these nights almost more than holidays!

September Showers???

Miss Laycee is a great friend and blessing to our family as she babysits the boys whenever we need her - and, she actually enjoys playing with 3 boys under the age of 9! So, when she asked our entire family to be in her wedding, how could we say no? So, as Matron of Honor, my first responsibility was to throw her a fabulous bridal shower - all with her "black, white with a touch of canary" color scheme!

So, with that in mind the decorations for this fall outdoorsy shower was easy - beautiful yellow mums!
With yummy black, white and yellow gumballs in a vase - too easy!
And an even more yummy Peggy Brown cake!
And even more yummy Peggy Brown musical note cookies! (Laycee's fiance is the music director at a church and LOVES to play the piano, so music notes was an easy choice!)
Here is the bride-to-be with her soon to be step daughter, Maya!
The shower was held at one of Laycee's church member's houses. We initially had the party outside, but then the bugs were SO bad we quickly moved indoors. Good thing there were so many great friends there to help us out! Here, Ms. Heather unknots some of the balloons!
Laycee's sister, LaToya, the maid of honor planned some fun games! Here, my great friend Angie, is getting dressed up in her own bridal gown - made of toilet paper!
The games got a bit more intense with the purse game! Laycee called out items that the guests had to find in their purse to earn points! The first person to stand up with wanted item earned a point! Here two players jumped into the air, holding kleenex!
Of course the main reason for a shower to for the bride to get some great presents! Here Laycee is opening one of many gifts - her canister set!
After such a great shower, I can't wait for the coming events - the bachelorette party and wedding itself! Stay tuned!