The Big Day

Andrea's wedding finally arrived! The weekend went off beautifully. Andrea and Jerry did a fantastic job and they had so many wonderful friends to help them pull it off. This was the most beautiful and meaningful wedding I have ever seen. They were clearly so much in love and SOOO happy to be together forever. They are perfect for each other. As promised, I have lots of pictures. I'm going to try to cover everything. I arrived Thursday night. Mom and Amy were already at Andrea's house. Andrea's flowers had arrived and they were assembling the bouquets. They turned out great!

Friday morning, Amy and I picked up Andrea and went for manicures. After that Andrea wanted to go shopping so we went to the mall. For lunch we met Jerry and friends at Carolina Cafe.

We then went to Vintage 21, Andrea & Jerry's church, where the reception would be held, and decorated. Then Amy and I went back to dress for the rehearsal followed by the rehearsal dinner at Tir Na Nog, an Irish pub. The food was *YUM*.

Saturday morning, Amy, mom, and I headed to Andrea's house for the big day! A friend of hers did her make-up, and mom did her hair.

Beautiful! Great job mom!
At the church Andrea has one last moment with dad. (mom made the little jacket she's wearing with her gown) Isn't she gorgeous? You may kiss the bride! (heehee, I love how she has to stand on her tip-toes to reach him! She always did want someone tall....!)
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. Updyke!
The kids were very good and looked great in their matching finery. Here they are patiently waiting for the pictures while eating chocolate cookies. Clearly, the mom's were not there! Kuddos, by the way, to Dean, Brad & Grandpa for doing kid duty all weekend. I must say that Dean went above and beyond, even taking all five kids to Ci Ci's pizza by himself!

At the reception Andrea and dad danced together to 'Unforgettable'.CAKE!

My kiddos.Oh, he's thinking about it.....
....And there he goes!What???
He can't believe he ate the whole thing.
Time to go! Andrea and Jerry assembled all those ribbon wands by themselves!
Since their hotel was only 2 blocks away, they walked.
Yay!
The next morning Andrea and Jerry hosted a goodbye brunch for the out-of-towners. Isn't she pretty?
They flew out early this morning for their honeymoon. They are going to San Francisco then renting a convertible and driving up the coast to Oregon. Have an awesome time you guys, see you on the flip side!

First Day of School

I know I promised next post would be wedding news, but I thought I'd squeeze in a pic of my kiddos from this morning. After school we will leave for Raleigh. Have a great weekend!

Almost There.....

So, we have Alyssa all registered for 6th grade and got Kai all set last night. We've finished the school supply shopping and clothes shopping, and haircuts and Dr. appointments and BOY am I ready to go to the grocery store without all three kids! But the unfortunate balance to that is getting up at o'dark thirty in the morning and let's not forget homework. (Please, CAN we forget the homework?) *Sigh* Anyway, Thursday is the first day of school. When we pick them up we will leave straight for Raleigh for Andrea's wedding! The kids will just have to miss their second day of school. They're really bummed about that. (cheering and dancing in the background)

Sunday afternoon was our church picnic. It was a lot of fun. The kids swam in the lake the whole time. There were canoes, paddle boats, kayaks, even a floating trampoline! Our resident scientist even did some cool demos. This is one called 'The Sacrificial Gummy Bear'. Kai yelled out "WHY do the good die young?" LOL, yup, this one takes after his dad!

A few weeks ago, we finally made our reservations for our trip to Disney, and today I paid in full! We are all so excited. We've been saving up for five years! Roan wasn't even born yet when we first started talking about it. I grew up going to the Magic Kingdom, but have only been to Epcot once! Dean went to the Magic Kingdom once when he was twelve and to Epcot once. Neither of us have been to the other two parks. The kids have never been, so we're having so much fun planning for this trip.

The next time I post, I'll have wedding news! (and pics)

Roan Quote: Dean walked through the living room and belched. As he turned around to say excuse me, Roan said, "THAT was uncalled for!"

Welome to Angie's Blog Part Deux!

Yesterday, Alyssa had her 'Welcome to Sixth Grade' Canoe trip with the youth group. Dean went too. It sounds like they had a lot of fun. There were about 20 people. They even stopped and swam at a water hole. I wish we had pictures, but didn't want to risk Alyssa's camera. It seems no one else did either....*sigh*. While Dean and Alyssa were out gallavanting, I took my boys out to lunch.

*picture of canoe trip would go here, if I had one. (sigh, again)*

Last night we watched the movie "The Ron Clark Story". It is a true story about a teacher (played by Matthew Perry) who made a big difference teaching in a school in Harlem. I watched this movie by myself and thought it was so good, I had Dean and the kids watch it too. Awesome movie, Dean and I highly reccomend it! (There is language, and one scene that is a bit intense, so maybe not the little ones. The story is about a sixth grade class, so let that be your guide. I showed it to my fourth and sixth graders, but not my 4 yr old.)

Today my goal is to visit both schools and show proof of residency so I won't have to stand in long lines at registration. I also need to go to the grocery store and clean my house. Will these things get done today? Time will tell...