Laura Marries Ryan: Wedding Week Fun

      Last Friday night, while most people I know were watching the Cotton Bowl, we were celebrating my baby sister's wedding.  It was such a fun week, chock full of activity and togetherness.  We drove in late Tuesday night, which left us to recover and get things going on Wednesday.  That night was Laura's bachelorette party.  It was pretty low-key, but tons of fun.  We did dinner at PF Chang's - tastiness.  Laura has some of the best, sweetest friends, so it was a fun night.  We went back to the house for Laura to open her presents, and then, I had a craft all ready to go for the group.  We had thought about going to a paint your own pottery place, but based on price and not loving the final results, we opted for something else.  I will share this in another post, because it is that cool.  Worthy of its own post.




The "McCulley" girls!  My amazing sisters and sister in law.  (She came straight from work as a Labor and Delivery nurse, hence the scrubs.  Also, her stories are undeniably some of the wildest I have ever heard.)

That last picture pretty much sums up our sisterhood.  A little spastic, but so fun.  Thursday morning we had Christmas with my family.  The girls have such a blast with their uncles, and we scored some really sweet gifts.  Thanks, fam!






That night was rehearsal fun.  We had the two flower girls who were supposed to ride in a wagon pulled by another 3 year old.  Based on the steep pitch of the aisle and the number of children under 3 years of age involved, John and I were dubious, but willing to give it a go.  In the end, we figured out that the ring-bearer, Noah, should pull the girls with John's help.  Having children in weddings is just stressful.  You want so badly for them to perform well, and that is just really unpredictable.  The girls did great at the rehearsal, but at the rehearsal dinner, Bella made the rice mess of the century, which we let her make, because it kept her so stinking happy.




Lastly, we had the actual day of the wedding.  Laura really did an excellent job of planning and being on top of things, which I am so thankful for.  We did hair and make-up, then headed to the church.  Laura got a little keyed up before her big reveal to Ryan, but after that, she was ready to have a great time.  We did outdoor pictures.  In short strapless dresses.  In January.  We were blessed with the best weather we could have hoped for on January 6th, but it was still not exactly balmy.  When John and I were driving home, my jaws hurt from all the smiling I did all week, but also from the shivering.  I think the pictures will be awesome, since they are by Luke, but it was a bit chilly.  We bridesmaids kept looking for spots of sun and huddling in our red pashminas.  This next picture is us girls waiting in the car while the guys finish up some pics in the windiest place.  Laura truly looked gorgeous.



The girls arrived at the church in time to get all dolled up for pictures, and Lily even let us curl her hair.  They also enjoyed playing the piano.




Getting the kiddos all looking was certainly a trick.  I could not believe how sweet Lily was - amazing.  We had to bribe her with stickers, but it was totally worth it.



The wedding was beautiful.  Seeing two people commit themselves to one another before God and man always touches me, especially when it is baby sister.  I was only slightly distracted by the sounds of John wrangling Bella, which I couldn't see.  Other wedding attenders say they didn't notice her at all, but when it is your child, you hear their every coo.  She was happy, but a little loudly so.  John should get a medal of honor for all of the baby wrangling that he did, especially since it was mostly solo, since everyone in the family was integral to the wedding.



      At the reception, we ate dinner, danced the night away and kept track of the Cotton Bowl score, especially since we were in Wichita where everyone was cheering for K-State.  John changed out his usher tie for a subtle Razorback one for the reception.  Good times.  Here is the Bride with Crazy Eyes and Bella with John, enjoying all the lights and movement.



And, then, it was over.  Just like that.  (I wish it felt "just like that" instead of feeling like we had all been run over.)



That last statement might be a little dramatic, but family weddings are truly exhausting, especially once you add small children to the mix.  My mom always says that the family deserves a trip as well, after all of the hype and then the clean-up.  The girls did so well - beyond our highest hopes or expectations.  We are so thankful to have married off the last of my immediate family.  God-willing that will be our last wedding on my side, and we are so blessed to have all found godly spouses who are tons of fun to hang out with.  It was a whirlwind, but one I am glad to have been in.  Congrats, Laura and Ryan - we love you guys!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Lily!

      The past couple of weeks have been nuts, hence the blogging hiatus.  We were at my sister's wedding last week, which was beautiful and wonderful and exhausting.  More about that to come.  First things first - our oldest, our Lily, turns 3 today!
      After being about a week overdue with her, I was induced on a Wednesday night.  Very early Friday morning, after all of those long hours, Lily made her way into the world on January 9th!  She made us parents, and after a long first week with her when we figured out the hard way that she was not getting enough to eat (we still call that week, "the dark days"), we have had to earn our parent stripes in many hard and wonderful ways with her.


Moments after she was born.




      The ways that Lily is amazing never cease to amaze me.  She is so loving to us (last night in the car she kept saying, "I love you SOOO much!" using different intonations), and she is becoming a bit of a cuddle bug in her ripe old age.  She is creative and so entertaining - I am currently listening to her sing "Happy Birthday to me!" repeatedly during her rest time.  She is a loyal little soul, who already loves her family and friends so well.  Though she is usually a bit stand-offish upon meeting people, once she warms up, she is very kind.  Lily is the best big sister in the whole world and is almost always on the look-out for ways to take care of Bella.
      Parenting her has been more rewarding and challenging than anyone could have really prepared us for, and I feel that God is shaping us all through the constant rub of being a family together.  We are so thankful for the great blessing of health and joy in this stage of life.
      Because of the craziness of the last couple of weeks, I opted to do her party a couple of weeks from now to give me a little time.  But, we wanted to make today seem fun - so, we filled the hallway outside her door with balloons.  This process went mostly well, until some of the balloons started popping as we were moving them late last night, because a few were filled a little too full.  John said, "I guess we decided to give the gift of psychological warfare to our child" since the popping certainly echoed in the hallway.  Fortunately for us, it was only a few pops and only Bella stirred a bit.  This morning, when we were waiting in the hallway to greet her as she came out, she opened the door, spotted the balloons, ran back into the room and started crying.  We may be learning that she might not like to be surprised.  After a few minutes and getting Bella as well (who was thrilled about the balloons), Lily warmed up to it all, and they had a grand time playing.

I guess balloons are fun, after all.  We are in the thick of planning her Panda Bear Party.  I was thinking of doing a Penguin theme, since that is wintery and cute, and when I pitched it to Lily, she said, "No.  I want a Panda Bear Party."  So, that is what we are doing.  She is excited about it, though there is confusion about when it is, and she was asking for all of her friends to be here after her nap today.
      Happy Birthday, Lily.  You are one of the Lord's most precious gifts to us, ever, and we are so thankful and blessed to be chosen to be your parents!

On Being a "Runner"

      You may or may not have noticed my allusions to running.  I have been doing more of it recently, and I am actually signed up to run the Little Rock Half Marathon in early March.  It will be my second half marathon.  I did one in November 2007 in Dallas.  When I signed up to do that one, it was because we had just moved to Little Rock and my only real friend was running it and asked me to do it with her.  (What I didn't realize at the time is that this actually meant that we would be running it at the same time, not that we would be actually running together.  She is a stud runner, and I am a slow runner.)  Most of the girls in our community group are doing the half marathon or some other race that day, so I decided to jump on the running bus again and hope for the best.



      I thought I would give anyone reading this my quick running history and hope that it might encourage others out there who think that they can't run.  I distinctly remember being in 7th grade, a new girl at the school, and being asked to run a mile.  I hated every step of pounding around that track (as well as the horrible outfits we were wearing that included bright purple shorts), and I became nauseous.  I tossed my breakfast on the side of the track.  At that moment, I knew that I hated running and was not cut out to be a "runner."
      I honestly thought and felt that my body was not made for running.  I would, and sometimes still do, get extremely red-faced when I run.  To the point that people ask what is wrong with me.  It made me feel queasy, and it just felt so hard.  Plus, I am not someone who does "acquired" tastes, so why would I take the time to learn to like something that was clearly hard and unlikable?
      I am not sure exactly what changed or why.  I think I probably grew up.  John has always really enjoyed running, and though I can't really run with him, it made me realize that there might be something to it.  I ran some at the beginning of our marriage, and began to see that most of it was a mental hurdle that I was dealing with, not a physical one.
      So, when we moved to Little Rock and needed to have friends, I decided to give it a wild shot and train for a half marathon.  My goal was to get through it, and I regularly said that I would feel that I accomplished a lot if I crossed the finish line and had managed to move my body for 13 miles in a row.

Here is what I learned while training last time.
1)  Most of running is a mental battle.  (at least for me it is)  I have to constantly tell myself that I can and should do it - to just keep running.
2)  It gets easier the more you do it.  Sort of like anything else in life.  Before long, running 3 miles felt like no big deal.
3)  Having something to train for really helps me, because I have a goal.  It also means that we have put money down, and so I don't want to waste whatever cash outlay there is by being lazy.
4)  Having friends to train with (or at the same time as) makes a huge difference.  We would meet up and do our long runs together, and it was fabulous accountability.
5)  My body may not really be cut out for long distance running.  Any time I ran any distance over 7 miles, I would throw up about 20 minutes after running.  Without fail.
6)  I am a slow runner, but at least I am doing it.  I usually run between 11 and 12 minute miles.  Slowly.  Some people probably walk faster than that.  But I am doing it, and that is what counts.

I had a good half marathon experience last time and ran the whole time.  It was slow, but I kept running, which felt good.  I remember having people cheer for us all along the way - they called us "runners."  That was a strange, but sort of glorious, moment.  I may or may not have sworn half marathons off for life, due to the throwing up factor.  But, here I am again, training again.

Here is what I have learned so far this time around.
1)  Finding time to run when you have children is infinitely more difficult than it was before I had kids.  It requires much more discipline and planning, both of which will serve me well, but are hard to enforce. I have actually spent less time pinning random stuff of Pinterest before bed, because I know I will have to get up and run in the morning.  Probably a good thing.
2)  Doing it with friends is really the best way to go.  We all talk about it, and as it approaches, we will train together even more.  Having that encouragement is great.
3)  Sadly, running does not tone up my stomach.  My stomach has never been my favorite part of my body, and post two babies, that is more true than ever.  Running alone does not give me flat abs, which I find to be a major bummer.
4)  Having a husband that is super supportive and helpful is a must.  He helps me each week figure out when I will run so that he can take care of the girls.  This takes a lot of coordination, but I am so thankful for his willingness and overwhelming encouragement.  He is also running the half, but since he could practically go out and run 13 miles with no training (so annoying), I don't think it means quite the same.
5)  Listening to audiobooks on my phone keeps my mind occupied and less likely to think thoughts like, "I still hate running.  Why am I doing this again?  I don't need to run that extra half mile."
6)  I don't know yet if I will throw up during this training.  The most I have run so far is 6 miles, and I was fine.  Rest assured, I will keep you posted.

Well, if you made it through this long-winded post, congrats.  I say all of this, because I was one of those people who was NOT a "runner."  But, I gave it a real try and found out that it can be a really great release and workout.  The accomplishment feels fantastic, and it is really wonderful to have a goal and work towards it with measurable results.  So, you should try it.  You really should.  I believe with my whole heart that if I can do it, so can you.

"Settling" into the New Year

      We had ourselves a little New Year's Shindig that involved a nerdy game that we love called Settlers of Catan.  Most of the people that came to this party were siblings and spouses from one very large family.  We had had two tournaments previously, but it had been three years and about two kids for most couples since the last time we had gathered to play.  And, children change everything.  I hired a sitter to keep the kiddos downstairs, and I told her she might want to bring a friend - there would be about 8 kids.  She then asked the general ages, and when I told her that Lily (almost 3) was the oldest, she did show up with a friend in tow.  All in all, it went pretty well, and we had a great time.


(The only non-Dennis or McCulley (my maiden name) family members in attendance.)
I grew up with the Dennis family and have distinct memories of going over to their house and all of us kiddos running loose while our parents played cards together.  I never would have imagined that our children would be doing the same thing 20 years later, but there we were, and I am so glad.  This family has blessed our lives immensely.


(And - Ellen and Luke drove down to join the fun!)

(You can see in that picture how funny John is.  What he is doing, I will probably never know.)


And, here is a final party picture with the winners (I got second!) and the scoreboard.  There was a little cash money on the line, so that made it a bit more fun.  Also funny, is it really just looks like I am a spaz crashing their cute family picture.  (These people amaze me - recently they adopted a teenage girl.  If you want to watch the video and marvel at the Lord at work in all of their lives, click on here to watch it, but only if you feel like crying.)



So, with all the kids involved, the party was over at 9:30, though we did stay up later with Ellen and Luke.  When we brought Lily upstairs, she was crushed that the party was ending.  We rang in the new year playing another German Game of the Year called Bohnanza.  In it, you have several bean fields that you get to harvest.  We clearly like our nerd games, but it was fun to be game playing again, since we haven't done it much since the advent of children.
      On New Year's Day, we went to church and took down Christmas, to Lily's great dismay, horror and tears.  I am always ready to get things back to normal and have a fresh start.  After nap time today, Lily and Bella were playing together, and this is how I found them.  They are resolving to have better dental hygiene this year.




This month, I am hoping to better organize our home, spend time re-prioritizing our time and energy as a family and celebrating Lily's birthday.  After a family wedding this week, of course.  I think life is funny, because I sometimes feel as if I am always looking for when it will slow down.  And, it doesn't, which is often our own fault, but still.  The wheels keep spinning.  I pray that we will learn how to be more wise with our time and energy - our greatest resources, and I feel like, the hardest ones to really control.
      What are you resolving this year?