Ten Years Ago Today...(or More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About My Wedding Day)

Ten years ago today, B and I got married. It was a wonderful day full of joy and family and friends. It was a beautiful wedding and a really fun reception. And for ten years now, I have been blessed with a wonderful husband.

As I think back on my wedding day, it's funny the little details that I remember.

I remember that I wanted my sister to spend the night before with me (like I did with her the summer before) but she didn't-- so I woke up alone in the bed I slept in as a child. I couldn't believe my wedding day had finally arrived.

I remember that my mom bought sandwiches (turkey and apple) from Magnolia Foods but I was too nervous/excited to eat much.

I remember arriving excitedly at the church to get dressed with my bridesmaids: my sister, B's sister, my college friend Nicole and two best friends from high school, Ann and Emily.

Ann and Emily arrived last with a bag from Burger King. They'd had a late night the night before. They had taken B and his groomsmen out for an informal bachelor night in "happening" downtown Lynchburg.

I remember that my sister couldn't find her earrings. I had given all the other bridesmaids a pair of dangling pearl earrings as a gift, but Cat already had a pair so I gave her a necklace instead. But the day of my wedding, Cat couldn't find hers so my mom lent her a pair that had belonged to her mom. They were perfect. They looked exactly like the new pairs except they were screw on instead of pierced. Since my mom's mom, my sister's namesake, couldn't be there (she passed away when we were babies), it seemed appropriate that something of hers be there with us.

I remember that my something old was a handkerchief that my grandmother had made for my great grandmother. Grandmother had passed away a few months before the wedding and I thought a lot of her that day. I also thought a lot of Corrine.

I remember my something borrowed were my mom's pearls and my something blue was my sister's garter. My brother caught it at her wedding the summer before and happily passed it back to me for mine.

I remember feeling so perfect in my wedding dress, but struggling to get my veil to look right--and getting grumpy with my sister about it.

I remember taking pictures with the bridesmaids and with my family before the ceremony in the church courtyard. We had to be sneaky so we didn't run into B. I remember there were these little tiny bugs that keep swarming around my veil and, at one point, we had to rush under cover when it started to sprinkle.

I remember that my bouquet, cream roses, was really heavy and much bigger than I had wanted. I remember that the bridesmaid bouquets weren't quite right either, too pastel, but I didn't really care because I was so happy that it was my wedding day.

I remember being so ready just to walk down the aisle and see B.

I remember walking proudly next to my dad down the aisle. He looked so handsome in his tux. I remember saying hi to friends and family on the way to meet B at the front of the church.

I don't remember much about the service except being glad that I was Presbyterian and that the service was pretty short. I have a vague recollection of my ring getting stuck but am not sure if that is an accurate memory or not. I mainly just remember being really happy that B and I were finally getting married. We dated for five years and I had known I wanted to marry him when I was nineteen years old. At twenty-four, it was finally happening.

I remember kissing B at the end of the ceremony and then going in for a second kiss because the first one was too short.

I remember feeling like I was floating at the end of the ceremony as we walked hand-in-hand down the aisle.

I remember how my brother's girlfriend, now wife, had decorated the trolley that we were taking to the reception with our groomsmen and bridesmaids. She had even decorated a Styrofoam cooler which was stocked with champagne. I remember thinking how lucky my brother was to have her. I thought back to the year before when we had ridden the same trolley to my sister's reception in the middle of a huge storm and I was thankful for the nice weather.

I remember our reception in snippets. Little things.

I remember being proud of how beautiful the setting was as all our college friends experienced this part of Virginia for the first time. I remember being so happy that so many of our friends had traveled to come to our wedding. I remember that two of them had to leave early because oddly enough they had another wedding in my home town to go to that evening.

I remember standing and greeting a long line of people and my friend Kate bringing B and I drinks.

I remember feeling grateful for B's one high school friend who traveled all the way from New York to be at our wedding.

I remember trying to sit and eat but getting interrupted every time until almost all of the food was gone and I was still hungry. Somehow we managed to get plenty of drinks.

I remember taking lots of group pictures: my mom's side of the family, my dad's side of the family, B's family, all of our friends from William & Mary.

I remember that B had brought a few kegs of beer from the brewery in Ohio where he worked and that all of our friends kept asking for a cup of "B's beer."

I remember my friends Ann and Emily hanging out in the cigar bar with my dad and uncles and how my friend Ann made an impression on all of them when she wet her cigar.

I remember how at one point I thought everyone had cleared out early because the reception area was empty. Then I realized that everyone had just wandered outside to enjoy the beautiful evening.

I remember "dancing" with B for our first dance and telling him that he had to at least move his feet a little because he was just standing on the dance floor holding me.

I remember dancing with my dad and thinking of all the other dances we'd danced together when I was little.

I remember dancing with my grandfather and being grateful to have him there, but worrying that he was going to fall each time he swayed. I remember he was so proud of himself for wearing the same suit he had worn to my sister's wedding the summer before. I remember being so proud of him for holding it all together only a few months after my grandmother's death.

I remember B's little cousin Olivia, around 5 at the time, kept wanting to dance with me.

I remember our friend Chris catching my garter and how happy I was that he caught it.

I remember B's cousin Kara, about 8 at the time, catching my bouquet and feeling bad for all my single friends.

I remember cutting the cake with B and how I neatly fed him some. I remember him holding a piece of cake and looking at me and telling me he was going to put it on my face because people would be disappointed if he didn't. I remember staring in disbelief as he actually did it. I remember being mad at him about it for much too long afterwards. MUCH too long. In fact, this might be the first time I've told that story without getting a little upset about it. Sad, but true.

I remember that every time B and I were apart during the reception, I just had to go find him because I wanted to be with him all the time.

I remember B kept making "suggestive" comments to me and was ready for us to leave. In his defense, we had been in separate states for the last year and hadn't seen each other in several months.

I remember that my dad had rented a limo to take B and I to Charlottesville after the reception because we had a 6AM flight the next morning (our flight out of Lynchburg had been canceled and thus our night at a local bed n' breakfast had to be canceled too). Unfortunately, the limo driver got lost and was over an hour late to arrive.

I remember that the band was kind enough to play an extra hour. I remember that my brother-in-law volunteered to drive us to Charlottesville. I remember that finally we were staging a fake exit because the photographer had to get home to take his babysitter home when the limo pulled up.

I remember that we left our reception wearing Mickey and Minnie house hats, mine with a veil and B's with a top hat, because B had bought them while at the World Brewing Conference in Orlando a few months before. Everyone kept asking if we were going to Disney for our honeymoon.

I remember having to give the limo driver directions and then being very happy to finally be alone with B as we drove the hour or so to our hotel for our first night as husband and wife.

I still can't believe that it's been ten years. I feel so very blessed.

Happy Anniversary, honey. I love you so much!

Zoo Vet

For a while now, J has been really into animals. He LOVES going to the zoo. He is always reading books about animals and spouting animal facts (true and made up). We have a membership to the Dallas Zoo and go often. His latest obsession is a game he created called Zoo Vet. He and N play all the time. It's great.

Here are the top ten things you need to know about Zoo Vet.

10. To play Zoo Vet, you need stuffed animals...lots of them. In fact, it is best to round up every stuffed animal in the house, even the ones hidden away in closets.

9. All Zoo Vet patients should have names. Names don't need to be overly complicated or accurate. A lion: Lion. A giraffe: Giraffey. A little baby sheep: Lamby. A polar bear: Poley. A raccoon: Roley. An otter: Beaver.

8. Every animal needs its own cage. Cages can be any kind of box you find in the house. If the box happens to be full of toys, don't worry--just dump all the toys on the floor.

7. To properly care for your animals, you must have an animal cleaner. If you don't have an animal cleaning tool around, don't worry--a potholder works just fine.

6. You must also clean the animals cages. Have your dad tape a napkin onto the end a pen. With this perfect tool, you can easily clean all your zoo animal cages.

5. Zoo animals must also be fed. Any play food will do. Make sure that you give each animal some food at feeding time. Remember that all animals like the ice cream.

4. Zoo animals must also be given drinks. At the boys' zoo, they have three choices: water, milk or beer.

3. An important part of Zoo Vet is checking on the animals with your veterinary tools. If your zoo animal has a fever, you must put a top on his cage so that he doesn't sneeze on people.

2. As you can probably guess, Zoo Vet can be a very messy game that often ends with lots of toys on the floor and lots of boxes filled with animals and food covering all other available floor space.

1. It is SO adorable watching a two year-old and a four year-old play zoo vet together (hugging the animals, feeding the animals, giving the animals beer) that you really won't care how big the mess is. You will just be so happy watching them play so nicely together that you will LOVE the game of Zoo Vet.

How to get your child to model his handknit sweater in July...

Take him ice skating.

I think it's a perfect fit!

I do knit... I do knit!

It's been a while since I blogged about it, but I do still knit.

Last night, in fact, I finished knitting N's Wonderful Wallaby. His first one was actually a hand-me-down from J and he wore it all the time. But it had gotten too short in the body and sleeves so I decided to make him a new one.


The yarn is from my stash. I bought it on my first trip to the LYS in Texas. It was on the clearance table for $1 per skein and I bought it intending to make N a Wonderful Wallaby. Funny how it worked out that I finally did it two years later. But since he had a perfectly good hand-me-down Wallaby from his brother I decided the wait was good.

Anyway, this is my sixth Wallaby I've knitted and I still love the simplicity of this pattern and the little clever touches like the construction of the pocket and the simple Kitchener seam on the hood. I did my usual modifications: seed stitch in place of ribbing and garter stitch.


I started the Wallaby after I finished my Minimalist Cardigan. I had other projects in line, but at that point B was on week 4 or so of 6 weeks out of town and I was feeling a little tired and stressed. The Wallaby with it's stockinette in the round and familiar pattern was just what my brain needed at the time.

I worked on it on our rides to and from the beach. At one point on the way down, about 4 hours in, when I finished the body up to the armpits, I thought maybe I had not packed enough knitting for the 40 or so hours we'd be in the car. However, I quickly realized I was in dreamland and that the boys would keep me plenty busy and that knitting would be only done in short stunts. All in all, when we got home, I had only gotten one and a half sleeves done. Oh well. It is finished now.

Pattern: Wonderful Wallaby by Cottage Creations
Yarn: 6 or 7 skeins of Phildar Falaise (50g/ 82 yd/ 48% Cotton/ 39% Acrylic/ 13% Viscose)


Size: 3ish (I made up my own numbers between the size 2 and size 4)
Modifications: Changed numbers to suit my size. Changed ribbing and garter stitch to seed stitch. Three needle bind off for armpits (instead of Kitchener).



Sorry for the lack of modeled shots. For some reason, N did not want to model his new sweater on a hot July day in Texas.


Next, I'm going to make my self a Circle Textured Shrug like the one I made my sister. This is the yarn I'm using.
Guess, I should have had them wind it a the yarn shop. Oh well.

When the boys get older...

Today as we walked into the house (though the garage and past all the lawn equipment), J informed me that when he and N get older they are going to "help Daddy cut the grass while Daddy sits in the house and drinks beer." I could tell immediately that B has been talking to the boys about their future duties and knew that B would be happy to know that J was listening and excited. J then informed me that when he and N get even older they are going to "drink all the beer in the house themselves." I don't think B will be very happy about that at all.

Well, honey, if you're ready this...consider yourself warned.

It's Official!

The boys helped B take apart N's crib. After two naps and one night in his new bed, N is officially out of his crib.

My Littlest Man is Growing Up!

My littlest man is sleeping in his big boy bed tonight!

We've had the bed (part of a twin bed set) since before the boys were born. B and I bought them at an antique store. J sleeps in the other one.

B set up N's bed this morning after one of his coworkers was kind enough to give us a set of mattresses he didn't need any more.

N was so excited. He tried to put himself down for a nap about an hour early. When naptime actually arrived, N did his usual fighting his nap for about 10 minutes, but then settled on down and took a great nap.

It took him a little bit to settle in tonight, but then N went to sleep just fine. Let's hope there are no thumps or bumps in the night. So excited for my little man in his big boy bed!

B, N and J doing bedtime stories in N's new bed.