Wedding in Nappanee

We were very grateful to be invited to Brandon and Brittney Williams' wedding in Nappanee, Indiana this weekend.  We left the kids with NanaB and GrandDad and joined Grandpa Spike, Auntie Erin, Grandma JoJo, Meem, Pop, and Greatest Aunt Janet for the action

First, Niki and I met Spike and Erin at the Miles Lab burger bar in Elkhart, Indiana.  Food was excellent.  Company was better.

The wedding was at Amish Acres, just west of downtown Nappanee.  The wedding ceremony was in a barn theater on the property. 

The wedding ceremony was fantastic.  Normally, I find those things really boring, but the officiant really hit the sweet spot of conducting a meaningful, fun to watch, short wedding.   Here is JoAnn and Erin at our table at the reception, which was also on the property.

The second-most beautiful woman at the function.  (Brittney took those honors, seeing as it WAS her wedding . . . )

Grandpa Spike was enjoying himself.

The table decorations were sheet music with candles.  This song looks sweet.

This one not so much . . .

The view from the reception hall.

After the receiption (where we were delighted to catch up with Jordan and Anna), we dodged Amish buggies in the dark to buy beer, and then headed over to Great-Uncle Leo and Aunt Bev's for beers and basketball.  Brian, Melanie, and Beaver-Dodger Cam joined us, as well.  Since this shindig WAS in Indiana, it should be no surprise to anyone that Great Uncle Leo, Bruce, and I wound up in the garage looking at Great Uncle Leo's impeccably-restored 1944 Allis-Chalmers tractor.

The next morning, we had breakfast at Amish Acres before going our separate ways.  Niki, her Diet Coke, and Spike.

Greatest Aunt Janet, JoAnn, and Niki (Amish cookies not pictured.) 

Meem, Niki, and Pop!

Biker chick

Charlotte got her first two-wheeler for Christmas, but claimed she wouldn't be able to ride it until she was five years old.  True to her word, she started riding it on her fifth birthday (with training wheels, though).  We didn't take any photos that day, but here is one of the biker chick braving the cold to practice on the driveway.

Children

When did my babies become children?

Not to forget Peter's birthday (almost three months ago!!!)

Poor Peter.  I should have posted ages ago about his Batman-filled third birthday.  His obsession with Batman has lasted eons (in toddler years, anyway), so we seized the opportunity to wrap his presents in Batman paper.  We did give him things OTHER than Batman, but he still called everything a "Batman present".

We Face Timed with Grandma JoJo while we opened a very special present.  It started with a book about how a nearly three-foot-tall Batman doll was in Texas, looking for Peter.  It ended with said doll "knocking" on the front door and finding him!  Peter was so shocked he could only maniacally giggle.

Charlotte helped take pictures of the present opening.  Notice the awesome tent clubhouse that Auntie Erin, Uncle Andrew, and Sonia sent.

More Face Timing with Grandma JoJo while Peter opened -- what else? -- Batman pajamas!  Notice the shirt I appliqued for him.  It's the number "3" out of -- what else? -- Batman-print material.

No matter what present he opened, Peter always came back to check in with his new BFF.

Here's another shot of Peter with his favorite guy.  I hope Batman didn't notice that Peter was cheating on him by wearing a Spiderman shirt.  That IS a Batman cape Peter is wearing, though.

Happy third birthday to our big boy!  More on his birthday party with the Stringer side later.

Charlotte's "Cousins" Party

Charlotte had her "Cousins" birthday party this weekend.  For the first time, ALL of her cousins got together for a party!

Our little birthday girl!

Before NanaB, GrandDad, Quinn, and Maisie came over, Spike, Charlotte, Sonia, and Peter played a game with the balloons.

Quinn and Maisie arrived, and Quinn, of course, immediately hugged Sonia.

 Before having lunch, we tried to have a Strawberry Shortcake-themed game.  It included Charlotte feeding Grandma Jo ice-cream while Grandma Jo had her eyes shut.  Brave Grandma!

It also included the cousins trying to break the world record for combing each other's hair at the same time . . .

The kids had a pizza lunch - Charlotte's favorite!

After lunch, the kids all helped Charlotte open presents.  The cousins took turns bringing presents to Charlotte.

And, the cousins helped her open her presents, too.  In a couple of cases, I'm pretty sure the cousins opened the some presents before they even got to Charlotte . . .

Erin came up with Sonia to help celebrate Charlotte's birthday.  It's always nice to get the two prettiest twins in the world together.

 Then, it was birthday cake time!

YUM!

After dinner, Spike fell into a cake coma . . .

 . . . until Maisie crawled on top of him and poked his face until he woke up.

The end.