Stress, Drama, and FUN!

The 3 components of any family gathering...stress, drama, and fun.  At least that seems to be the case in our family when we all come together.  It's not a bad thing.  We may butt heads, complain and cry, but it never lasts long and our love for each other always prevails. Not to mention the laughs. Gut wrenching laughs.  Pee your pants laughs. All this brings me to my son's wedding weekend...

Scooter and his fiance, Tracie

April 9th was the blessed day. Family started rolling in the Tuesday before and all were here by Thursday.  We had a house full, the youngest being one 2 yr old charming grandson (she smirks)!  Let's just say he's not skipping his terrible twos.  Love him to pieces...every ounce!  We have two other older grandsons, who are equally lovable.

Rooster, our smart and funny redhead

Blake, our adorable little monster :)

My husband, who happened to be our son's best man, decided to have a bachelor party at our house on Thursday night. The plan was to bbq, play croquet, and then poker.  The girls now had to decide what we were going to do. We tossed around dinner, the movies, hanging out at Aunt J's and locking ourselves in my bedroom.  I had spent the day with Kira, my daughter who is getting married in September.  We looked at wedding dresses and couldn't find one that screamed her name.  She found one from a NY designer, which was ridiculously expensive, so we decided I would do my best to replicate it.  Yes, that's right.  I AM making her wedding dress!  We found a shop that carried exquisite bridal fabrics and lace. There will be more on that later, but I will say this...French lace is IT! The comparison between domestic lace and French lace is as different as night and day.  Ok, so I went off track a little...by the time we got home, we were pooped and just wanted to chill.

So, the guys showed up and all of us girls locked ourselves in my bedroom.  We crowded on the bed and in chairs, had the tv on and pigged out on our stash of goodies: cookies, chocolate, chips, and drinks. We laughed and laughed and had a great time. The guys were doing their thing on the back patio, which included smoking nasty cigars..cough, cough.  Then the wild poker game began.  The house was filled with loud raucus...the sound of cards shuffling, chips sliding across the table, drinks being poured, kids running through the house and one HUGE MESS!  I absolutely LOVED it!!!

The groom with that "nasty" thing in his mouth

Scooter and his cousin, Jeff

Crazy uncle "Mac"

Hubby, the mastermind

Now we moved forward to Friday and the wedding rehearsal that afternoon.  That was a quick run through at the chapel and  then it was off for a dinner at a local mexican food joint with the wedding party and grandparents.

I think there were 25 of us

 After we were stuffed to the gills, we continued the party at my sister-in-laws.  All of the family,that was not included in the rehearsal dinner, was there for a bbq and celebration of her grandson's 2nd birthday.  There was food, drinks, cake, bocce ball and 8 little rug rats running all over the place.  I love these family gatherings.

Piper focused on the necklace Tracie gave her for being in the  wedding.   It had a  SS charm with their initials engraved and their birthstone.  It came in a cute silver  jewelry box. The girls were in awe and beaming with the biggest smiles.

Scooter and his "soon to be bride" sister, Kira.  My sweet kids!

Kira with her new "sister" Tracie

Tori, my step-daughter...always smiling!

Emma, another sweet flower girl

Gamp doing his famous Donald Duck impersonation. The kids LOVE it!

Harper, the youngest one there and little sister to the triplets. She stole my heart!

The 3 flower girls.  Kennedy and Piper, in the pink are part of a set of triplets and  Noah, in the green shirt, is their brother.  Ben is the birthday boy and his sister is Emma.  Proud jammy (grandma) stand in the back.


The wedding day has now arrived. These photos are taken from cell phones and personal cameras.  I'm still sorting through 700+ professional photos trying to decide which ones I want to order.  Needless to say, it's OVERWHELMING!

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Nix with proud parents!

Jer and I with Scooter and Tracie

She was a stunning bride!

Our immediate family:  Scooter's 3 sisters, Adri, Tori, and Kira

Jer and I 

Who is this goofy guy with Kira and I?

Me fixing Kennedy's bow in the bride's room

Fixing Piper's hair before she got dressed.

~~~~~~SIGH~~~~~~until next time!

Tea Cup and Little Britches

Thanksgiving is always a very special holiday in our family.  It's rare that our immediate family is all together, but my husband's sister's family always come to OKC to gather for the occassion.  So, we spend our Thanksgiving with them.  We all pitch in and fix our specialties and have this huge delicious feast. 

Jo, my sister-in-law, rents 2 small horses, Teacup and Little Britches to visit for an hour so her grandkids can enjoy a ride in the pasture.

                                                                       Tea Cup

                                                                     Little Britches

 This year was so much fun.  She has 7 grandkids under the age of 4!  A set of triplets, age 3 and another grand daughter, who is 3.  These four enjoyed the ponies the most.

                              Noah...he took that hat off, waved it up in the air and yelled, "Yee Haw!"

                                                                             Piper

Kennedy

Emma

Benjamin, Emma's younger brother, decided his truck needed to ride with him.  He wasn't so sure of the ponies, but give him another year or two and he'll be raising his hat, too!

Miss Harper Jane all snuggled up from the cold.  She's the baby sister of the triplets, Noah, Piper, and Kennedy

Last, but not least, baby Will...he's thinking, "I can't wait to get my hands on those ponies!"

Here's some more pics of the fun they had. As you can see, I can't get enough of these adorable kids!

Look at that smile!

Walking the dog? Err, Pony!

A boy of many hats.

These girls know how to dress!

Wonder who's gonna win this one!

Cousins

How cute is this?

Saying goodbye to the ponies.

Notice anything missing?  Let me say it was very cold and shoes should be a necessity.

We'll see ya next time!



Children are the hands....

I recently discovered the wonderful artwork of K.c. Willis. The moment I saw it, I fell in love. I then discovered she offered online classes and I was over joyed with delight!!! More than that...I've come to know her a bit, via the wonderful world of cyber space and she's giving and fun and has this wonderful way of looking at objects that most of us would just toss away. Well...not me! I have more junk, but now I'm seeing it's not exactly the "junk" I wish I had...rats!







As you've probably guessed, I signed up for her collage workshop, along with another class. The workshop was a pre-requisite to the other class. I can see why. There's a lot of information and instruction regarding technique and such. I had to watch it a few times to absorb it all.





My goal with this project was to only use what I have. No more buying! Use up what I have. I thought, "oh this will be easy"...not when you want MORE! lol! I stuck to my guns and this is how it came out....VIOLA! I must admit, I'm very happy with it. I'm sure I had moments where I spent too much time "analyzing" instead of just "doing."


I hope you enjoy the layers of love I put into this collage. You should see the MESS I turned my dining room into, not to mention my office/studio. I can barely walk in there. I'm thankful I have a husband who doesn't mind the mess, because he loves to see me creating again. It's been a long time.



Thank you, K.c. for sharing your gift of collage with me and the rest of the world. You are truly an inspiration!