Next Event? Taking my youngest son to college!

This is the summer to beat all mothering summers for me.

First, Liz, my youngest, graduated from the grade school where I've spent half my time for the last 13 years or so.

Then Jim graduated from high school. And how exactly did that happen while I was looking the other way?

Then my oldest daughter was married to a wonderful young man.

Now my new son-in-law and she will be moving to the Atlanta area for the next few years!

And tomorrow I must start the drive across the country to take Jim to college.

Within a a ten day period two of my children who have never lived in another town will be living more than ten hours away. One of them will be more like 20 hours away.

September may be my month of emotional meltdown. Prayers appreciated.

Wedding Planning Advice :-)

First of all, let me just say that it's a lot of fun wearing a hat like the one below (bought it at Michael's). You don't get to be in that role for very long. I got a kick out of it. LOL

But what you see below is the assigning of tables for the reception. Just in front of my hat is a map of the Union Ballroom with tables in place and numbered.

We numbered each paper plate too and placed it on the table according to the map. Then we placed a post it note with each guest's name on it and fixed it on the plate. You have to rearrange these things a LOT of times. Every change brings about maybe 7 or 8 other changes. Anne read this suggestion somewhere. Moving the post-its is a lot easier than crossing out names on lists!! And if you can't leave them out you can always stack the plates up and spread them out again the next day. Oh, and don't try to stick them around the edge like I first started to do. They stay put much better if you just stick them on the center of the plate.
And leave a lot of time to do this. It takes hours and hours! These are your guests. You want them seated with people they like. Everyone should be with at least some people they know, if at all possible. Proximity to the head table needs to be considered and relatives placed as close to you as you can. You might want dancers near the dance floor. Coffee drinkers near the coffee bar. Relatives you rarely see get placed at or near your table! And don't put together people who don't get along! I left these plates like this for days and each day I usually made a few changes.

Hopefully, the final assignments were the best we could do. I hope so. But you never know how things may change. Four people, for various reasons, could not come even though they had RSVP'd. Would you believe all four were at the same table?? That left one table with only five or six people. Oh well. I hope they enjoyed the company they had. :-)

This was actually a fun part of the planning process that I thought was really important. And with this technique (paper plates and post-its) that Anne had read about, I thought it went quite well.

Now for my brother, or "Rich and the Haunted Lighthouse"

During our vacations in northern Michigan each summer we often visit the Old Presque Isle Lighthouse.

It's an interesting old lighthouse, built in 1840.

There are fun things to do on the grounds like pumping water from a still functioning hand pump. (Liz in the picture)
Or ringing this bell on the back patio... (Monique and Mary here)

Here is my brother Rich with his two children Mitch and Monique...

As it turns our, the Old Presque Isle Lighthouse is believed by many to be haunted. Well, that's all my brother needed to hear. I don't like heights so I didn't climb up to the top. I stood at the bottom ready to take pictures as my family arrived at the top.

Soon I could see Rich in the window.

He was right next to the light here. Suddenly he jerks himself backward as though he was being pulled from behind. His own hand is pulling his face back as he opens in mouth in a feigned scream. His frame slowly starts to disappear from view as he pretends he is being pulled downward. (I am already dying from laughter.) As his face is almost gone from view he silently and desperately mouths "help!" (Now I'm looking around hoping no one is calling the police.)

His hand slowly slides down the glass, palm flattened tight against it. The hand goes up, then down, as though he is struggling. His face appears one more time, wide eyed and terrified, and then slowly and jerkily disappears from view. (I can hardly breathe I am laughing so hard.)
When he finally exits the lighthouse at the bottom he comes out staggering as though completely exhausted from this struggle. Moaning, he falls to the ground, face first and then turns over.
I don't know if you can see it in this picture but he even managed to get grass in his mouth as he lay there as though unconscious.
I was completely in tears and looking for the restroom. No one. NO ONE can make me laugh like my brother can.

If you read among the ghost stories of the Old Presque Isle Lighthouse a story about a man mysteriously attacked and dragged down the stairs.......well....you know what really happened. LOL You gotta love brothers.

Sisters-- You gotta love 'em

You know what I love about my sister? I love many things about my sister. But one thing I love about her is that she can make me laugh until I cry.

Someone took the picture below of the two of us. I posted it two days ago here. I thought it was a pretty good picture and said so as I looked at the screen right after it was taken.

My sister looked at it and said, "I look like I'm pregnant and you look like you're nursing,"

At which point we both dissolved into uncontrollable laughter that ended in tears....also caught on camera.
She had a point there. She can make me laugh till I cry. I love it.

It all started in Northern Michigan over a decade ago...

Two weeks before the wedding date, Zach's family and our family went up north to a favorite set of cabins in Alpena, Michigan. There was one other time when both of our extended families had been there at the same time. It was about 13 or 14 years ago. It was then that Zach and Anne met for the first time. AND they each developed a crush on the other. It was 8 or 9 years after that that they started dating.



While there they practiced their dance for the wedding on the tennis court. They danced to the tune of "Lucky," a popular song that has in the refrain the delightful line, "Lucky I'm in love with my best friend..."

And here they are at the wedding dancing to their song...

OK. Suzanne has asked for a picture of me so here it is. On the left is my sister.

There's nothing like a party celebrated for a joyous occasion at which all of your favorite people are present. We had such a good time.

wedding dancing

We have a lot of people among our family and friends who enjoy dancing, especially my children (with the exception of one). So it was very important to us that the reception site have a large dance floor. This is the Union Ballroom at the University of Michigan. The entire floor was built to be a dance floor. The only limitation is how many tables you also want to have. We had a lot of dancers....Great fun. My oldest son is the one who starts on the stage leading the group.

I'm back!!

The wedding!!!!

Oh my goodness, the wedding date was coming at us like a freight train. We worked all day on it, nearly every day for weeks!!! And what fun it was! I am so grateful to be a stay-at-home mom. I don't know how working mothers can plan a wedding. I guess they just can't be as involved in the details. Above: My oldest daughter Anne exchanging rings with my now son-in-law Zach!

Tomorrow I will post more pictures. The wedding was just beautiful. I didn't get everything done but all the important items were accomplished.

A veil missing in the mail until a few days before the wedding took a lot of time.... We shopped for a different veil, I tried to stay calm and reassure my daughter that it was OK, that I didn't care how much we might have to spend on a veil. There was no time to look for a good buy, etc. All I wanted was for her to have a veil she loved. It was her wedding day, for heaven's sakes. It there ever was a day to indulge your daughter this was it. We went shopping for two days. THEN... the original veil arrived and she loved it. Phew. We added a blusher that worked with it and she was all set.

More pix tomorrow. I will be catching up with all my blogging friends now. I hope you are all well. You have been in my prayers.