We have had a busy couple of days.  I think my last blog post was on Thursday night after the rehearsal dinner.  Let me apologize up front, this may be a long post.

Friday night we had a barbecue at Mimi’s house.  I had to meet up with the girls for a nail appointment, so I dropped Daddy and the kids off at Mimi’s house early.  Like I said, we were getting our nails done, so I didn’t have my phone out.  I enjoyed the night relaxing with the rest of the bridesmaids and the bride (of course).  As I was paying, I looked at my phone and there was a text from Daddy.  “Can Gill have grab cakes?”  From that one text, I knew the kids were having a good time and Gillian was being adventurous.  I found out later that she did try the crab cake, but didn’t like it.  When I arrived to the BBQ, John was playing with his cousin Mckenna and Alexis (the junior bridesmaid).  The kids were great at the BBQ and after dinner everyone enjoyed watching John and McKenna dance. 

Saturday was the wedding, and Gillian and I had hair appointment early in the morning.  Daddy and I gave the kids baths and then we separated for majority of the day.  When Gillian and I arrived at the hair salon, it was raining.  We quickly ran inside and waited for our turn.  I was the first one to get makeup done and while I was sitting in the chair, Gillian played with Mrs. Aker.  Well I say she played, but for a good portion of the time, Gillian ate Mrs. Aker’s bagel.  She was very good.  Cristin’s hair was finished and it was my turn for hair.  So Cristin played with Gillian.  By this point, Alexis was there too.  She was really good with Gillian.  From my spot in the chair, I could hear Gillian and Alexis giggle.    Every once in awhile, Gillian would run across the salon to find me.  After my hair was done, it was time for Gillian to get her hair done.  This was the part I was dreading.  I wasn’t sure how she was going to react.  I brush her hair every morning and put it up in pig tails, but some morning she can get very squirmy and won’t sit still.  We put her in the chair and I had my cell phone ready.  She was good for a few minutes and then I started to play YouTube videos for her.  They were taking too long to load, so I simply started to show her videos of herself or John playing.  This worked for awhile while her hair got curled, but as soon as the hair dresser tried to put more bobbie pins in her hair, she squirmed.  I picked Gillian up and was able to hold her while the hairdresser pinned the rest of her hair up
After the hair salon, we went to the Aker’s to get ready.  The weather was starting to clear.  It hadn’t rained in hours, and the sun was starting to come out.  We had a little bit of time to kill when we got to the house, and Gillian helped herself to a yogurt.  In typical Gillian fashion, she had a quarter of the yogurt all over herself.  Then it was time to get changed.  I figured I would do a quick diaper change for Gillian before we got into our dresses.  Well unfortunately, she had a dirty diaper, which she proceeded to get all over herself.  We needed a wet washcloth to ensure that she was clean.  We got changed and met the rest of the girls outside.  Aunt Missy looked beautiful and we all posed for pictures with her at the house and then piled into the party bus. 

Gillian loved the party bus.  She kept saying, “big bus!”  She got to sit next to Aunt Missy for most of the trip and of course her new friend, Lexi.  We arrived at Clark’s Landing and Gillian immediately took off her shoes.  When it was time for us to take some more pictures, I tried to get Gillian’s shoes back on, but she gave me a hard time.  Aunt Missy said it was ok.  So Gillian took pictures without her shoes on.  Aunt Missy and Uncle Travis decided that they wanted to attend the cocktail hour, so they opted for a “first look” picture.  Basically, they would get to see each other before the ceremony.  It was just the two of them (and the photographers of course).  The boys arrived and Uncle T took his position outside on the dock.  Our little family got to see each other for the first time when the boys arrived too.  John and Daddy looked so handsome in their tuxes. 

Anyway, we got to watch Uncle T and Aunt Missy have their first look.  It was beautiful, and I’m so glad that they got their special moment together. 

Gilly and Lexi looking outside

After Uncle T & Aunt Missy had their first look, it was time for the entire bridal party pictures.  Again, we tried to get Gillian to put her shoes on.  We failed.  But again, the bride was ok with no shoes, so there was no reason for us to put pressure on her.  The pictures of the bridal party went on without a hitch and before we knew it, it was time to line up for the ceremony.  Daddy had to go in with the boys, and the kids were going right before the bride  I decided it was best for me to not meddle with them.  I let the maid of honor, Cristin, talk with them.  Thank God for Cristin.  She talked to them and had them all ready to walk down the aisle.  I walked down the aisle and then next was Nicole.  I was relieved to see Cristin walking by herself.  Our backup plan was to have Gillian walk with Cristin.  So Cristin walked down and next I see John and Gillian.  Gillian started to walk the wrong way, but between John and Don (the maitre’d) they got her turned around.  They did great.  Gillian didn’t end up carrying her basket of flowers.  All she carried was one yellow flower.  She walked right to me and I picked her up.  While the ceremony was going on, Gillian started to pull the petals off the flower.  I tried as hard as I could not to laugh, but she was being so cute.  In the process of pullin the petals off, she broke the flower off the stem and says “Broken!”  She pulled all the petals off and looks at the head of the flower and says, “I eat it?”  I told her no.  So she threw it.  She squirmed a little bit and end up walking over to Mimi.  Luckily for us, the ceremony was very short.  On our way down the aisle, Daddy and I stopped and picked up Gillian.  So the four of us walked down the aisle together. 

After the ceremony, we all got to go to the cocktail hour.  John did not like the cocktail hour.  He said “It’s too loud out here.”  So we got him some snacks and put him in the bridal suite.  Daddy also gave him his phone so that John could watch some shows and relax.  Daddy and I went back out to the cocktail hour with Gillian.  After a little while, Uncle Jay came over with John.  John was crying.  Jay told us that he saw John walking around lost.  Johnny said “I was all alone, and I didn’t want to be alone.”  Poor baby.  While Daddy calmed John down, I rocked Gillian.  Sleepy baby fell asleep in my arms. 

Shortly after Gillian fell asleep, it was time for the bridal party to do our big entrance to the wedding.  The DJ did a quick shuffle of the bridal party, so that Daddy and I could walk out with sleeping Gillian and John.  John was awesome.  He walked out to one of his favorite songs “I’m sexy and I know it.”  He danced the whole time.  I’m so proud of him.  I thought he would have been scared to dance with all of those people watching him.  Gillian woke up during Aunt Missy and Uncle T’s first dance.  She woke up and said “Poppy.”  She squirmed out of my arms and ran across the dance floor to Poppy.  Meanwhile, the maitre’d came over and asked me “Is someone coming for the children?”  Even now it seems so funny to me.  I told him yes, my parents were on their way.  He replied “They are waiting by the elevator.”  After the first dances, we brought Gillian and John over to Grandma and Grandpa.  Gillian jumped into my mom’s arms.  And we sent them on their way. 

According to Grandma, on the way to their house John asked “Is it still summertime?”  That was John’s way of finding out if Justin would be at Grandma’s house when he arrived.  They were pretty good for Grandma.  Gillian did shed a few tears when it was time to go to sleep, but Grandma let her cry it out and she slept.  Aunt Betty found Gillian in the middle of her bed spread eagle when she got home.  The next morning, they both had two pieces of french toast and a bath.     

I picked them up the next morning and we moved onto our next event, brunch at Mimi’s house.  John was super excited for brunch.  That meant he got another opportunity to play with his new friends, Mckenna, Gregory and Alexis.  They played while the rest of us ate and laughed while we told stories of the wedding.

After brunch, we returned tuxes and headed to the Aker’s for a pool party.  John didn’t waste any time jumping into the pool.  Gillian had to go in too.  Which meant that Mommy did too.  The pool was chilly, so as soon as I got in the pool I tried to convince her to get out of the pool.  We weren’t in the pool long (lucky for Mommy).  Gillian walked around and talked to her new friends (the bridesmaids).  After John had enough in the pool, we dressed the kids in their PJs and we headed home.  It was a long, fun, exciting weekend.