Weekend at a Wedding

On Friday, my sister showed up just before I got off work.  We had a nice dinner together and had some icy drinks on the deck that evening.  This was the first time she'd had alcoholic drinks with any of her sisters before...  I find that hard to believe.  BUT maybe...  

EARLY the next morning, like around 3:30am, Leon came in to sleep on our floor.  We got a little more sleep, but not much.

So around 4, Robb and I got up and got the last minute things packed up while Leon still slept.  We popped him into his car seat at 6am, still in his jams.  Sent one person to ride with Tammy in her car and we headed out.  

I really thought I'd sleep more, but no...  

I really thought Leon would sleep more, but no...  

I had made a pan of rice crispy bars and a pan of Cocoa Peanut Butter Puff bars.  One pan was almost gone by the time we got to the Chicago burbs and Leon discovered that since he already loved Cocoa Peanut butter puff cereal, he was totally down with eating them with a wee bit of marshmallow on them.  He yummed and licked his fingers after a couple bars.  

Since he didn't like what we'd brought for him all weekend, that's what he had for breakfast.  

Marshmallow is dairy... right?  It's like eating a condensed bowl of cereal/milk. right?...

That's my story. And I'm sticking to it.

We stopped in some Rock town in Illinois for an early lunch and I rode with Tammy from there.  While there, unbeknownst to us, Robb's wallet fell out of his pocket.  We didn't notice until we were checking in at the hotel that afternoon.  Whoops!  We called back and they'd found it.  We stopped there on the way home Sunday.

A dance to celebrate chicken nuggets and the day in general.

But back to the wedding!  

It was beautiful.  My BIL walked the bride down the aisle, I mostly hissed at Leon to "sit down!"  I was pleased that he just wanted to share his Starburst with his cousins sitting in front of us.  So I didn't care if he just did that.  And no one broke into the wedding to halt proceedings so all was good!

They're married!!! 

We visited out on the patio with everyone while photos were being taken.  Hors d'oeuvres , drinks and popcorn are the best accompaniment for visiting!

And apparently Teresa and I look an AWFUL lot alike as many people came up to me to say that I must be her sister.  Darn.  I should have gotten a photo of her and me. The resemblance is probably just our noses and hair color.

Leon disappeared once, ok 4 times, but we only panicked once and sent people off in search parties to find him.  He was found by a cousin in the dining room where waitresses were getting the dinner ready.  

He had a blast with his cousins and when Robb thought he was harrassing them, we found out that they were just playing a game.  But he did do his fair share of harrassing people too...

This is just a small sampling of the cousins in attendance.

Leon couldn't wait until eating was over so he could go play with the cousins.  

He has no idea what their names are.

A selfie with my daddy!

There was a video of the bride/groom as they grew up, starting with the birth of my niece. My brother turned around a little confused and asked "Did I just witness Christi's birth?..."  

Nephews and their brides.  Within 2-3 years married.

The whole video was adorable. And a slide show preceded that one.  I feel like I know the groom now, even though I didn't actually get to meet him until much later during the reception.

I videotaped every spot lighted dance just in case something potentially viral happened.  The first bride/groom dance, the daddy/daughter dance, the obscure relative and the bride's cousin dance... 

The momentous ones!  

And then the whole wedding party performed a choreographed dance that got everyone up on the dance floor at the end.  Good segway!

When the dancing really got going, my sisters and I, except for the bride's mom (couldn't find her), got up danced to the Animal House song Shout.  GREAT fun!  However, while we were throwing our hands in the air with each shout, we failed to notice when everyone got  a little bit softer now and they'd squatted WAY down to the floor.  Oops!  My sisters and I tried but we just looked like foolish middle aged women trying to bend over...  It was not pretty...  

We just stood there until things got a little bit louder now...

SHOUT!

After that, I ran to find Teresa and told her that we needed to get the sisters all out there.  She said that the DJ hadn't played Sister Sledge yet, so since we needed to take off in roughly 20 minutes, I ran to request We are Family from the DJ.  He said, "We've found that that particular song has fallen out of vogue lately..."  

Not in MY family bubs!!  

He played it next.  I probably should have tipped him, but I think the veiled threat was enough incentive for him.

Dad, Ruth Ann and me.

Ruth Ann grabbed my dad as the song started and he relinquished his cane to someone and danced in the middle of the girl gaggle of his own making.  We had a blast!  Each of danced with him briefly and passed him off to another daughter.  Come to think of it, when each of us got married, we didn't have dances at our weddings, so this was the first daddy/daughter dance we'd ever had with Dad!  It was wonderful and I'm tearing up now just remembering...

But then we had to say our goodbyes and in a family my size, that takes a while.  We tracked down Meri in the foyer with her favorite cousin and a laptop.
Bethany is an author and was letting Meri read her new book.  

How many chapters Bethy??  Is she almost done??! Can you just email it to her??

 Fortunately, it didn't take much longer and then we got to see the get away car.  My BIL has cherished this one since his younger days and it's in excellent condition.  

At least it looks like it!  

Meri would be perfectly happy to trade in her truck for it.

The bride and groom are currently on a cruise in the Bahamas.  Lucky ducks!

They're going to be very happy together.