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.

Sledding on Cobb Creek

A few weeks ago, Niki and the kids went sledding over at NanaB and GrandDad's house on Cobb Creek.

The little hill behind the old house turns out to be a great, steep, and fast little sledding hill.

Charlotte loves shooting down the hill with GrandDad.  GrandDad also looks like he is getting a charge out of it.

Made it to the bottom safe!

NanaB has rediscovered her love of sledding - Niki, Charlotte, Peter, and Connie showing up is just an excuse for her to go sledding in the backyard . . .

Connie comes along, and loves charging through the woods in the snow.

Petey is not a huge fan of the cold weather, but he troops up and down the hill and goes sledding, too.  Every time he goes out, he likes it more.

Connie stopped running just long enough to howl with Niki.  You read that right.  Connie and Niki howling together occurs WAY more often than you'd think.  

Petey in the snow

After sledding for a while, Niki, the kids, and Connie hopped in to the minivan and drove up Cobb Creek hill to head home.  From what I'm told about what happened next, they must have been driving kind of like this . . .

. . . until they wound up like this. 

Ahhhh . . .  life in Oakland Township in the winter.

Boat Show with GrandDad and Charlotte

Charlotte, GrandDad, and I headed down to Cobo Hall in Detroit today to attend the boat show.

Charlotte liked the helm of this pontoon boat.  I explained to Charlotte that all she had to do to drive a boat was pull the throttle and steer.  No pedals required.  Even little girls can do it.  So, um, this summer - don't leave your motorboat unattended around Charlotte.

Charlotte was impressed by the fake grapes and cheese on this pontoon boat table.

By far, though, Charlotte really likes boats with "rooms."

Charlotte took a shine to this 16 foot Crownline.

This 29 foot Wellcraft had bunkbed berths . . .

GrandDad really enjoyed the boat show, as well.

At the helm of a Regal.

After looking at all the boats, GrandDad, Charlotte, and I got on the People Mover and headed out to lunch.  GrandDad pointed out the sights along the way.

We had a very good lunch at Small Plates Detroit.  

In the car on the way home, Charlotte was very quiet for a while, presumably thinking about everything she saw.  Then, in her little voice, she piped up   . . .  "How long 'til summer?"

An audience with Santa Claus

I know it's February, but it's never too late to catch up on old blog posts, right?  In early December, we took the kids to Wolcott Mill Metro Park to see Santa.  Unfortunately, our broken camera kind of hampered the documenting of the event, but we had a great time.  The old mill is really cool and there were a bunch of little activities (like making ornaments and roasting marshmallows) that we could have done if the kids were a little bit older.  We had to do a surgical strike to make it to see Santa and get home in time for bedtime, but neither kid seemed to mind.

Santa was very patient (he insisted on taking time to give Charlotte a chance to recover from the horror of the spectacular belly flop she took when she tripped upon entering the Santa enclosure) and very friendly.  He nodded repeated back the things the kids said to him and did all the things you hoped he would do.  Our only regret is the horrible photos we took.  I know we could have gone to another Santa at the mall for some more official shots, but Corey and I got lazy and used the excuse that it might confuse the kids to visit multiple Santas.

Charlotte asked for a unicorn and Peter babbled on and on about something Batman-related.  Charlotte was still a little thrown by her awkward entrance, but Petey was being uncharacteristically smiley for photos.  Too bad this is the best one we got.

Wolcott Mill looks really cool and has a bunch of the old mill buildings still standing for tours.  We're going to have to go back sometime this spring to check it all out in the daylight.  Here's an old bread flour bag from the mill's working days.

Thanks for coming to see Santa with us, NanaB & GrandDad!

Next year, we would love to come back to this same Santa, but we're going to plan the outfits a little better and make sure we have a good working camera along.

Twinkle toes

Anyone who has spent much time in Charlotte's company has witnessed her rather, well, UNIQUE dancing style.  Corey thinks she dances like Elaine from "Seinfeld", but I think even Elaine may have had more traditional moves.  I have asked Charlotte in the past if she would like to take dance lessons, and she told me bluntly, "I don't need to take lessons.  I already know how to dance!"

The stars finally aligned and we arranged for Grandma JoJo and Grandpa Spike to make their early early birthday present to Charlotte the gift of tap/ballet lessons.  Said lessons started today, and Charlotte was super excited (even though she still maintained she is just taking the lessons for fun since she already knows how to dance).  It's so cliche, but there is nothing cuter than a preschooler dressed up for ballet class.

(I made Charlotte that skirt for the special occasion.  Charlotte liked the material because it was "very smooth".)

She tried to entice Rocky to come dance with her.  He took one sniff and scampered off in search of mischief instead.

We had to try on the tap shoes as well.  So. Stinkin'. Cute.

She can't wear her dance shoes outside of the classroom, so she picked her cowgirl boots to complete the ensemble.

It was then that things started to get a little goofy with this photo shoot.

Watch out, dance class.  Charlotte is ready to kick, stretch, and kick!