Aunt "Kake's" Wedding

The grand event my kids (well at least my 2 girls) have been looking forward to since last fall, finally arrived.  My younger sister, Aunt "Kake" or Kate, got married.  The girls have been trying on their dresses, shopping for shoes, talking about flowers, practicing walking down the aisle, dancing, talking about kissing, and picking out bows for their hair, all in excitement for July 20th. 

All 5 of us played a role in the big day.  I was matron of honor, which required me to buy a strapless bra and learn to walk in heels.  Jerad was an usher.  Which required him to remind me the day of the wedding that I should probably iron his shirt and pants.  Which would then require me to do some major digging for the iron...as well as figure out how to tie a tie.  Leah was a junior bridesmaid so she thought she was pretty big stuff.  Her main reminder all day from me was, "CALM DOWN!"  And quit asking Jeremy (the groom) if he is going to kiss Kate for real...Autum was a flower girl and Blake a ring bearer.  I just kept telling myself to breathe as I caught myself holding my breath wondering what kind of show they would put on when it was their turn to walk the aisle.  *sigh*  I am finally breathing normal again today..and it is Thursday...

Anyway, the rehearsal dinner was a good practice for us all.

I decided I didn't get the memo you had to be red-headed to be a part of this wedding party! :)

Leah learned how to straighten out Kate's dress properly after pretending to swoosh it in the air like you would a sheet when making a bed.  Which lead to Kate's concern as to what type of under panties to wear under her wedding dress--just in case Leah got carried away with her "swooshing" mid-service.  Leah then explained to the audience during the preacher's mock-message that if Aunt Kate farted, she would just wave her hand back and forth behind Aunt Kate's behind to clear the air...no one would even know...

The groomsmen.  And more red-heads...

That was just the beginning...and still only the dress rehearsal...

Blake and Autum were next.  I was to be waiting for them to make their grand entrance at the front of the church.  So they would theoretically run to me.  Well, they get to the front of the aisle.  Autum holding a cowboy hat full of teal and white rose petals and Blake a dainty while pillow with fake rings tied to it...Blake takes one look around...throws his pillow down on the floor and does an elbow drop on top of the pillow.  Autum begins to panic and starts to turn around toward the back of the church.  The other little boy who was a ring bearer and supposed to be in charge of coaxing these two crazy kids down the aisle just starts walking...I'm assuming he was hoping the would follow.  Blake gets up and turns the event into a race...without his pillow.  He takes off running down the aisle toward me.  So then Autum follows.  Blake realizes she has something cool to throw so he turns around and starts back toward Autum.  He grabs a handful of her rose petals and begins throwing them everywhere, like party like its 1999, everywhere!  Autum freaks and abandons the hat.  Blake continues on with his rose petal party until I finally get his attention to come to me.  He comes up toward me and stands...then Kate and my dad quickly make their way down the aisle.  Everyone is nearly in tears right now laughing...Blake sees Kate and Papa coming and he runs back toward them and stops them mid-aisle, by holding his hands up in the air and yelling something that sounded like "Heeeeyyyyy!"  As if he was not done performing, so go back to where you came from...

I scooped him up and shuffled him to my in-laws who were waiting on the side of the church to help.  Along with 'Autum who had no idea what was going on by this point...

And that was just the first night...the real deal wasn't until Saturday.

Mimi even got her hair done.  Not sure what was so scary, though. :)

Actually, the day went well.  We got to the church on time to get our hair done and nails painted.  We all got ready to go take pictures and Leah informs me she didn't wear any panties...and that she didn't bring any either.  Would that be okay?

It was kind of hot, so she should be fine...

She wouldn't let me comb her hair before the stylist did, so this is the reaction I got with the first pull..

We managed to squeeze her into a pair of 4T panties from the other little flower girl and kept on moving.  Pictures were stressful as usual.  And it was clouding up and you could hear thunder in the distance.  This was not good for Leah or Aunt Kate who both share the same genetic tendency toward 'freak-mode' with any sign of a storm.  But we managed..

Leah making sure Kate wasn't out of her site all day...

Now for the main event.  Everyone had on their panties, last bits of hair were tied in place with hair spray, lips tinted, ties tied, flowers pinned...I had a few drinks of wine to take off the edge, I think we were good to go.

Up until this point I was seriously considering switching Autum to ring bearer and Blake to flower boy because it just made more sense.  But the programs would be wrong...so we kept it as it was.

These two were SO happy to be there..

Leah made it up with no hitches.  I didn't trip on my heels.  Autum saw all those people and hit the brakes.  Blake just started walking and hitting the people in the back row with his pillow as he walked by.   Then he started throwing flowers out of Autum's hat...which I was fine with....they were moving everything was good....but then Blake got the novel idea to go back and pick up all the flowers he had already dropped.  I believe his OCD kicked in about now...and he was determined to pick them all up one-by-one.  Any other day I would have been thrilled to see him use his pincer grip so well, but not TODAY!  I had to walk halfway up the aisle and lead both of them to the front of the church and quickly shove them over to my in-laws so the wedding procession could reconvene.  Whew!  That part was over...now if Leah would be gentle with her dress adjusting skills, I could relax.

Thank God for the iPad!

We did make it.  Finally!  The wedding party left the wedding in old cars and I got the privilege of riding in an old remodeled semi truck...it was pretty sweet!  We took some fun pictures at the farm in the rain, in our cowgirl boots, I might add.   And then headed to the party.

My kids danced the night away.  Seriously they did not leave the floor for one song.  Autum even broke out some break dancing moves on the floor in her all white dress.  IT. Was. Hilarious!!  She had a circle surrounding her clapping before it was all said and done.  Who would have thought?  My little shy girl...hmmm...

Anyway, it turned out to be great day! And I was so excited to see my sister happily married off!

 If she would have only taken me to Hawaii with her...what a great end to a great day that would have been!