Bennett's Wedding

On Saturday we traveled down to Clermont for Bennett and Natasha's wedding. Janice and Richard offered to hang out with Ben while Jonathan, Rosemary, and I went to the wedding.

Rosemary thought the cake was beautiful. She told me that she will also have purple on her wedding cake.

Rosemary and Jonathan waiting for the ceremony to begin. It was about 60 degrees outside, but by that window it was about 80.

Looking angelic

Each chair was tied with a purple organza bow with a carnation tucked in the center. Rosemary very much enjoyed the carnations and seeing who had what color on their chair.

The stained glass Jesus window.

Bennett's first glimpse of Natasha. Note the pink highlights...courtesy of the stained glass.

Exchanging vows

Husband and wife!

Rosemary made her way around the room to collect the chair flowers to make her own bouquet. I don't think she took any out herself, some had fallen on the floor and others were handed to her.

  So happy!

I took it to mimic one of our wedding photos.

The Stiller family

Rosemary went up and asked the photographer if she could have her picture taken with the flower girl. The photographer very kindly agreed.

Cutting the cake.

The bouquet toss. Rosemary was very much looking forward to being a part of this since we left before the toss at the only other wedding she has attended.

Guess who ended up with the bouquet? She didn't catch it. I didn't see it all unfold, but I think what happened was this: Natasha threw the bouquet and it hit the ceiling then plummeted to the floor in front of all the ladies. A woman walked over, picked up the bouquet and handed it to Rosemary who gladly took it.

This little girl loves a wedding. Afterwards she told me I could be her flower girl when she gets married. In her world, that's the coolest role (after the bride) so I guess I feel pretty honored.

Congratulations, Bennett and Natasha! And thanks for including us in your special day!

Ballet Parent Observation Night

I got to watch Rosemary's ballet class tonight. It's fun to watch as she learns the steps and dances.

Waiting to share special news about going to SeaWorld before class starts out.

A nice smile

I missed the photo of her arabesque, but it does look like she's about to Gator chomp.

Two ballerinas, Rosemary and Hannah

A Sam's ICEE

Perhaps not the healthiest of lunchtime drinks, but at least they're sharing.

Harvest Party

Rosemary got to don her Snow White gown one more time for the Harvest Party at church. And Ben got to dress up as one of the seven dwarves, Doc, to be exact.

This is the closest I got to a photo of Ben wearing his glasses.

Hi!

Doc getting a drink before heading out. His beard was a bit loose. :-) But his costume was fun to make and cost a total of $2.80.

 

Rosemary was so excited to see Dynah and get her face painted

Dynah

Ben had diamonds on his cheek since he was one of the dwarves.

There was square dancing too. Ben loved it. At one point, Jonathan and I looked around and found that Ben had made his way into the dancing circle on his own. He cracked us up! Rosemary, on the other hand, did not wish to dance...that is, until the band started packing up.

SeaWorld with Becky and Abby

So what do you get when you combine eight hours at a theme park, four hours round trip in a car, three kids ages four and younger, and two pregnant women? A very exhausting, fun, and great day.

On Friday, the kids and I headed down to Orlando to spend a day at SeaWorld with Abby and Becky. It was a full day, but we had a great time!

The kids got to meet Shamu and get lots of candy in the Spooktacular area.

Rosemary and Abby were finally willing to get some pictures...even if they didn't want to look at the camera.

Before heading home, the kids played a bit in the splash area.

The only shot I have with all three kids in the frame, even though they're really nowhere near each other!

Preschool Costume Parade

Today was Rosemary's last costume parade at her preschool. She decided that she wanted to be Snow White this year. At least with a princess costume, I know she'll wear it a lot more than for the parade and the party at church...this little girl LOVES to play dress up.

A few poses before heading to school.

 

One of Rosemary's classmates was Snow White too so they walked together.

Sweet girl

It's always fun to watch the kids. This year it was pretty warm so I felt bad for the kids in heavy costumes. We saw lots of Buzz Lightyear's, Woody's, and Jessie's this year and pretty much every Disney princess was represented (although the only other Snow White was the one in Rosemary's class). And there were even a few Thomas the Tank Engines...that made Ben's day!

Adventures of the Odyssey

I have a general list of things that we need to get done before baby girl arrives in January. The major things on that list are:

• Move Ben & Rosemary into one room
• Change Ben's old room into the nursery
• Get a minivan so we can travel anywhere as an entire family

Not a long list, but things that don't necessarily happen overnight since the rest of life doesn't just stop for them to be taken care of.

So we've been minivan shopping the last few weeks and last weekend we bought a Honda Odyssey. We owned it for two whole days before we took it back.

Our old car?

Ugh. I thought we could cross one thing off our list. Ah, well. Back to the drawing board.

Chocolate Night - Fall 2010

A local ice cream shop, Sweet Dreams, hosts Chocolate Night twice a year. While Sweet Dreams is delicious any night of the year, Chocolate Night is especially fun and since we were around and didn't have plans, we took the kids down to Mi Apa Latin Cafe for dinner then walked over for Chocolate Night.

Every Chocolate Night also tends to be a bath night.

UF Homecoming Parade 2010

Jonathan had Friday off and Rosemary didn't have school so after a relaxing morning at the house we headed down to campus to watch this year's Homecoming Parade. The kids had never been and Jonathan and I hadn't gone to one since college, so since we had the time and the weather was so nice, we decided this was a good year to go.

Rosemary and Ben were sporting their orange and blue...although neither of them have any 'real' Gator clothes at the moment.

Rosemary took this pic of Jonathan and me (at 27 weeks).

Enjoying his shades and some apple slices

Gator Cheerleaders

The Pride of the Sunshine

This was Rosemary's favorite float. The one with the ballerinas.

 

  A self portrait

We lasted about an hour then went to the library and Mac's for a late lunch. Such a great day!

Our 'trip' to China

We continued our adventure of learning about different countries around the world with China this month. After reading The Story About Ping and The Seven Chinese Brothers (and at Rosemary's request, watching Mulan) we picked out a night for our feast. Since I didn't plan on cooking this one, we just went to China Bowl for our meal.

Rosemary requested 'red chicken' (most commonly known as General Tso's) so we got one of those and then some sweet and sour chicken to go along with the fried rice, egg rolls, and the requisite (if not truly 'Chinese') fortune cookies.

The General Tso's had a pretty good kick (for me at least, but I'm a big fan of bland) and Rosemary still enjoyed it.

But they both really enjoyed dipping the sweet and sour chicken. It was a hit.

For dessert, we enjoyed some Chinese fried donuts.

They were super hot, so we ate them off our chopsticks.

Ben stood most of the meal. Pretty sure that most people don't eat their Chinese food at the restaurant so I guess they don't really have a need for high chairs.

So perhaps not the most authentic of meals, but we had a great time. And the kids really enjoyed it.

I think our next stop will be somewhere in Africa. We'll probably try to cook the next one, I don't know of too many authentic African restaurants around. :-)

Pumpkin Patch

The pumpkin patch is back at Rosemary's school. This week we stayed for a picnic and some bounce house jumping.

This and That

No big events lately, just settling into the new school year routine. Here's a glimpse into some of what' we've been up to.

We had family photos taken a couple weeks ago by Jaime Swanson of Sweet Serendipity Photography (she also did Ben's newborn photos) and I curled Rosemary's hair for the first time. The curls didn't last long, but they did last longer than curling it with a curling iron.

Ben kicked back while I worked a bit at the church.

Ben has started using the potty. I was convinced that he'd be more difficult to train than Rosemary since he's a boy. I was wrong. He's basically taught himself and it's been much easier this time around so hopefully by the time baby girl arrives he'll be a pro! I am SO proud of him.

And last weekend we headed down to Clermont and had dinner at Sonny's with family. Rosemary thoroughly enjoyed her cousin time.