Eowyn & Ben's Wedding - Part One

I'm going to break this post up into sections - it was a big week!  After over year of this wedding being way out in the future, it finally happened!  We drove down to PA on Wednesday afternoon, making our best time ever and discovering a nice Burger King with a playplace just where we needed one.  We stayed with David & Nan Powlison (and, most importantly to the girls - their dog Bailey) since Heather Lane was full of much of the rest of the wedding party.

(breakfast chez Powlison)

Thursday morning Alasdair had meetings at CCEF, and the girls and I visited Amanda L and her girls.   When I got to Amanda's, we decided to take the girls to the zoo (Emily has been asking to go ever since we went for her birthday last year, so I couldn't resist), so after a flurry of moving carseats and packing up snacks, we piled into her car and had a lovely quick tour of the animals.  We were able to have some good catching up time around the chaos.    (I really wish God would call them back to New England too!)

Thursday afternoon we joined Eowyn and a bunch of the wedding party, who were at Heather Lane making preparations for the big day....packing up food for the reception, creating decorations for the church, last minute errands, etc, and that night Granny sat with the girls while we went to the bachelor/bachelorette parties.  

(Shawna watching the girls so we could help without their 'help' for a bit.)

Friday morning Alasdair went along with everyone else to Lancaster to spend the day transforming the basic church gym into a beautiful site for the reception.  I was amazed at what they accomplished with a lot of white lights, tulle, and candles.  My job was to keep the lovely flower girls out of the way, which was our excuse to spend the morning with Katie and Luci at their new house.  We've been trying to convince Katie she should come work for CCEF New England, but she & Chris seem to think they are called to be in Philadelphia too.  Boo.    

(3 small children sitting still, smiling, and looking at the camera!  Clearly I was not the one taking this photo.)

Friday afternoon was a trip to the mall to pic up Alasdair's tux and a little impromptu dancing for the girls.

That evening we arrived at the church a little early for the rehearsal to get the girls warmed up to the idea of walking down the aisle.  To my surprise, they were really into it.  We had prepared Emily, but Adara was a bit more of a wild card.  She loved holding Emily's hand and all the praise she got for walking down the aisle, and wanted to do it again and again and again.  The night, my parents watched the girls in our hotel room so Alasdair and I could go to the rehearsal dinner.  

Sleepover

Last month, we kept some good friends kids for the weekend.  The girls loved having their friends here all day, and especially having them sleep over!  (Not in the same room though - we did actually want to get some sleep. :)  We were amazed and grateful that all four kids did sleep through the night.)  

The E's are a big part of our life here - Jill is a good friend, and since our kids are the same ages and get along really well, we do a lot together.  We swap kids once a week as well, and the kids spend so much time together that Emily sometimes calls Alex her brother, and their names were some of Adara's first words.  (I am in complete denial that they will move away in a year after her husband finishes med school.)

One Year

Last Sunday marked the one year anniversary of moving into our "new blue house."  I can't believe it's been a whole year...but the Moose Mountain house (our "old red house" in Emily's terms) feels like another lifetime.  We still talk regularly about how much we love this house and this location, how we haven't seen another house in the last year we'd have rather bought.  We feel so lucky!  I still love that I can vacuum the whole house (except the finished basement) from one outlet.  It's very manageable for this housework-averse girl who likes to be in a clean house!  Even the yard doesn't take too long to mow, but has lots of space for little girls to run, and woods to tromp in.  I could go on.. the deck!  The swingset!   The short flat driveway that can park 9 cars.  We do laugh that after I was so keen on buying a house with a two-car garage, we've since become a one-car family.  More room for storage and painting projects. :)  We hope to call this place home for a long time.

The house was move-in ready a year ago, but we've still done a lot of work making it our own.  We hired someone to do the big stuff: a major kitchen face-lift, finishing the partially finished basement playroom & guest room (so thankful to have all that space when our wonderful church community group including sixteen children under the age of 5 descends every two weeks!) and building a mudroom in the back of the garage.

Since then it's been all DIY. I've been working on painting just about every surface in the house, and making no-sew curtains (thank you pinterest).  I am one room away from having all bright white doors & trim!  Yippee!  Just the girls' room left to go.   Right now I'm in the middle of staining our dining room set, and Alasdair is building a path from the driveway to the mudroom door.  I'm hoping in the next year we will (do fewer house projects!) finish decorating some rooms, re-do my office, and tackle the neglected flower beds. Our neighbor's house is going on the market soon, so it might be time to up the curb appeal.:)

You can see an album of house pictures here.

Rock

 I love that Emily has gravitated towards the exact spot that I would have as a kid.  There's a little strip of woods along the side of our yard that is technically common to the neighborhood, but it feels like ours.  This rock is right on the corner, looking out at the street but sort of hidden.

Visitors

My cousin Rob and his fiancee Katy (Alasdair will be helping perform their wedding in a few months) came up to visit us a few Saturday's ago.  We went on a hike around Boston Lot Lake and played with the kids.  Fun. :)

The same night, we got a super short visit from Andy, who was in the (general) area touring colleges with Collin.  

Spring in MA

Alasdair spoke at a church in MA this week, so the girls and I tagged along to play at Mimi & Papa's.  Alasdair & I also got to visit Becky & Brian in Boston all alone. :)  Yummy dinner, fun conversation, and a drive by the castle where they are getting married in the fall!

The next day when I got Adara up from her nap, she immediately said, "Papa.  Mimi.  Home...  Seat."  I asked her if she meant that she wanted to go in her [car]seat and go to Mimi & Papa's house... "Yes!"

April odds & ends

playing with friends on the swingset

snuggling in Emily's bed

picnic with friends at the Montshire

smelling the flowers on Main Street in Hanover

(after a Boloco picnic on the Green with with the Powlisons)

trying on sunglasses

(More pictures & video - click on the links to the right.)