I finally have a moment to sit down and write about the wedding weekend. Let me start by spending a little time bragging on my kiddos for just a minute. Thursday morning/afternoon was filled with errands that needed to be done. We started at Walmart at 10am and finally returned home around 2pm-ish. We had to make 2 stops at the mall in Wichita and then pick up the much anticipated "bear suits". The entire time we were out and about all three kiddos stayed right by my side, listened and obeyed, and did not throw a fit.
The boys were super excited that they needed to try on their suits. Oh my how handsome they looked (ok, I'll go ahead and break the news...I forgot to pack the camera so I am waiting for other people's pictures to be downloaded so I can "borrow" them and then I'll post them!) Isaiah's lip quivered and eyes filled up with tears when I told him that he had to take it off. I really thought he might lose it, but he held himself together. After we got back in the car, I treated all of us to milkshakes. I was so proud of how they handled all of the outings (especially since Samara missed her nap.)
We made it back home and I hurriedly started packing us up. James was going to get off of work a little early so that we could start our road trip up to the Hays area. Since gas prices have really spiked, we decided to try to fit George in our Honda instead of taking our Expedition. So, for the 4 hour trip, George was back and forth between my feet and my stomach...well, let's be honest, he was mostly walking on my stomach the whole trip up there. I'm thinking after that my stomach should have been completely flattened. We drove through a hail and lightening storm. Isaiah was very impressed with the light show up in the sky.
When we made it to James' parents' house, there was already a crew at the church decorating. I left the kiddos with James and went up to help. It took a few hours to finish the bulk of it. It looked beautiful. On Friday morning, again James babysat while I went to help out decorating the reception hall. For some reason, everyone (Vickie, Allen, Matt and Ashley) started blaming me for things that were going wrong. It made for quite a few laughs. Afterwards, Ashley and I enjoyed one of the town's pride and joy: Taco Express.
The rehearsal started at 5:00pm. Unfortunately, Isaiah and Samara had a difficult time making good choices and it made me very nervous for how the ceremony would go the next day. After a few attempts, Samara understood that she was supposed to throw the petals on the flower, but because she has been taught to pick up her messes, she immediately wanted to pick up the petals and put them back in the basket. Of course, there was no time for this because we needed to get down the aisle so the bride could walk down it. Samara pitched a huge fit about this. While the boys were standing at the altar, Isaiah leaned over to look at me and gave me a "thumbs up". It was darling! Finally, when their presence was no longer needed, I took them to the nursery so they could play with toys and be a wild.
A little before 7:00pm, we made our way to Hays for dinner. Isaiah and Malachi sat with the bride and groom, Samara sat with the grandparents so James and I were able to eat dinner without the kiddos right next to us. The KU game was on so Ashley and I kept checking our phones for updates. Fortunately, it was a blow-out so we didn't have to worry too much. Since it was such a busy day and the next day would be even more hectic, everyone went to bed early.
All of the bridesmaids had to be at the church at 8:00am to get our hair fixed. It was a C-O-L-D, damp day. I didn't know how I wanted my hair fixed so I watched some of the other girls and decided on a side bun. It turned out very cute. At 11:15am, I rushed back to the house to help get the kiddos ready for pictures that started at noon. The plan was that pictures of our family would be first so that I could take the kiddos back home to eat lunch and relax before the ceremony. Unfortunately, our pictures didn't end until 1:30pm and the wedding started at 3pm. Matt, Jason, and James went to get the kiddos food from Dairy Queen and Aunt Jeana brought cereal for a snack. The kiddos ate their lunch and then hung out in the nursery playing.
Samara did not get a nap and I was really concerned about how she would handle the ceremony. She was having such a wonderful time playing that when it was time to line up for the processional, she threw a fit about leaving the room. I tried to coax her to stop crying with the promise of Grandma's mints, her Mermaid clothes, ANYTHING I could think of that would make her stop. Nothing worked. She was screaming her little head off. I was worried that her cries could be heard throughout the sanctuary. The attendants ahead of us started walking down the aisle. I was still having the dilemma of whether to just let her stay and play so she wouldn't cry the whole way down, carry her and hope that I could somehow calm her down, or try to have her walk and hold the basket. At the last split second, while I was holding her, she just stopped crying. She wanted me to hold her, but at least, she was silent. The boys walked in front of me. Isaiah kept looking back at me smiling proudly in his suit jacket. I held Samara on my left hip along with her basket and my bouquet was in my right hand. Since my dress was strapless and throughout the day, I had to keep pulling it up, I desperately hoped that the dress was where it was supposed to be and not showing something it shouldn't be!
We all made it down the aisle. At first, Samara wanted to stand by me, but then she made her way to Grandma's lap. But she didn't stay there long. She came back up to me, took her basket, shook her hips a little, and then went back to Grandma. A few minutes later, she walked back up the aisle and to the nursery where she stayed until she was needed for pictures after the ceremony.
The boys stood by the groomsmen and were supposed to be dismissed to sit with the family. For some reason, that didn't happen. So the boys stood behind the guys. All of a sudden, Isaiah started to back up and almost knocked the lit candelabra down. OH MY HEAVENS! And right after that was time to pray. I didn't close my eyes for fear of what might happen during that time. Fortunately, Isaiah decided to sit down on the platform and stayed there until the end. Since Samara was MIA for the recessional, I walked back up the aisle between the boys
We took more pictures, this time with the happy couple. The photographer wanted a few outdoor shots so the wedding party obliged, but all of our smiles were pasted on because we were utterly frozen. After all of the pictures, we made our way to the reception. We had a warm, yummy dinner and then Ashley and I attempted to bustle up Kristen's dress. That was the most confusing bustle we had ever dealt with. After spending over 30 minutes on it, we finally resorted to using a few safety pins because the middle of the train was not up off the ground as much as it should have been. We were relieved to finish that job!
While everyone rearranged the tables for the dance, the DJ turned on his bubble machine and the kiddos loved running in the bubbles. True to Dinkel wedding tradition, the first dance was "The Wedding March". It's a dance where everyone has a partner and you dance around in circles and then end up making tunnels for everyone to go under and the finale is that you make a huge circle around the bride and groom. When I became a Dinkel, no one warned me about this, so at my wedding, when everyone started to line up, my friends and family asked what was going on. I had NO idea! It is such a fun dance and I look forward to it at every wedding.
It was now time for the bride and groom's first dance. Samara was on the other side of the room from James and I, but we watched a cousin go up to her and take her hand and they started dancing, too. James captured this moment with his camera phone:
Throughout the entire night, there were 2 boys who kept wanting to dance with Samara. A few times they fought over her. Samara must have had enough of this because she finally started to not give either the time of day and instead danced by herself or joined adults.
Every time James and I tried to dance by ourselves, little Isaiah would come up to us and want to dance with me. He was definitely my little shadow and I enjoyed all of the kisses and hugs he gave me throughout the night. At one point during the night, I asked Malachi to dance with me. He replied that Great Grandma Salzman earlier had wanted to dance with him, but he told her "no". But he was ready to dance with her. He went over to her and asked her to dance. They got out on the dance floor and he put his arm around her waist and held her hand just like all the grown ups. He then laid his head on her tummy. It was such a precious moment.
It was a wonderful evening of laughs, dancing and talking with family we rarely see. A little before 10pm, James and I decided the kiddos should go to bed. Isaiah was getting close to having a melt down and I wanted to get him tucked into bed before that happened. Considering how long the day had been, they were such troopers.
Ashley came with me to help get them ready for bed and keep me company back at the house. The kiddos immediately fell asleep (no surprise there!). Ashley and I stayed up talking for awhile and then called it a day. James got home around 2am because they had to clean up after the dance.
On Sunday afternoon, Kristen and Nick came to open up their gifts. The extended family came over to watch. Samara decided she needed to wear her dress again so she pranced around and the family got a kick out of her. Shortly after they started opening up the gifts, Samara and James went downstairs to nap. Isaiah helped hand the gifts to them, but then decided he needed a nap, too. Malachi started to have a bad attitude so he laid down for nap. All of them slept for over 3 hours. For some reason, I could not sleep...it was probably because I was devastated by the KU game =( After his nap, Isaiah decided he needed to wear his suit jacket so he got all dressed up again and wore it until we got home. His attachment to that suit was simply adorable.
Around 7pm, we packed up our car and headed home. This time James sat in the passenger seat with George and I drove. We didn't get home until 11pm. Isaiah was still awake, but the other two fell asleep somewhere past McPherson.
Ahh...what a weekend! Today has been the first day that I feel like I might be completely rested from it.
