We shopped!

We hit the road and met up with Matt's sister "Aunt Pooh" to try on flower girl dresses last weekend. Alyssa learned in her American Girl Guide to Manners book on the way there that she technically is considered a junior bridesmaid because of her age. So, with that in mind, we headed into the mall to see what kind of dresses we could find. We did stop for a nice lunch before we went in. CPK was yummy. The girls had dessert and Aunt Pooh and I watched.

They look a little happy about the dessert huh?

Aunt Pooh is so sad now, but will be happy when she is hanging out on her honeymoon in her bikini not thinking about that silly dessert.

Food, done. Now for shopping.

Megan in the first dress she tried on. It happens to be the dress we chose for her.

We thought about getting matching dresses for them. We didn't, but this is the dress that Alyssa will be wearing on the big day. Wow, don't they look all grown up?

Oh yeah, love this dress try on thing.

Peek a boo. Hiding in the dressing room waiting for us to bring more dresses!

Trying to decide if what she wants and what looks the best is the same thing.

Discussing the choices with Aunt Pooh. These dresses hanging are the final choices. The dress Meg is wearing in this picture is the dress she really wanted.

Look at me!

Here's the shop where we bought the girls' dresses, baskets, and Evan's suit.

Now for shoes...

......and jewelry.

Here are the final "looks". We had a quick try on session when we got home. Evan's suit fit and the girls look great. What a great and productive day. Hmmmm, what's next?

We are excited about our trip up to Napa for the wedding. We are taking a HUGE motor home and calling it a trip. We will stop in our favorite camp spot in Pismo on the way up. we even get to show the kids San Fransisco a little. The most exciting part is after all this time, Aunt Pooh and Uncle Ed will be married. Yeah!!!

Lauren :O)))

I have no excuse!

So my friends, I was told that not everyone is not on Facebook. In fact I hear some people are even trying to wean themselves. I promised and I did not keep it. So, as I hate to be a promise breaker...here I go again. A NEW vow to my blog. No blah blah excuses. Just posts.

Softball is a new twist in the family dynamic. We have fought team sports for a while. Not because we don't value their importance. It's just the time commitment. We finally bit the bullet and jumped in. Alyssa is playing softball and Megan will be playing soccer soon. This is a new adventure for all of us.

Alyssa got her first hit today. The pride. The accomplishment. The sheer joy. We both felt it. Isn't it just sweet seeing your kiddo feel all of that? I even got a picture of it. Not this picture>>>

This one>>>

Oh wait, here's the cropped version....

Here's Alyssa and her friends.

Opening day was fun. It kinda reminded me of when I was a kid. We always were anxious to be a part of opening day ceremonies. It was a great feeling to see her running with her team on the field. Brought me back a few nearly 30 years. Wow, am I old or what???

OK, don't want to prevent myself from hitting the old publish button so I'll sign off for now. We're headed off to hang out with Matt's sister tomorrow to try on flower girl dresses for the girls.

Goodnight, and thanks for not giving up on me.

Lauren :O)))

A Sweetheart Dinner

So at the beginning of the girl scout year I came up with a really sweet idea to have my girl scouts put on a Sweethearts dinner for their parents. Well, it seemed far enough away., being in Feb and all. Well, as time has a way of flying, Feb is here. With a ton of hard work my co-leader Kristin and I, along with three very helpful moms, and four girl scout Cadette volunteers, put on a dinner to remember. The girls were with us all day long making crafts, decorating, and prepping and cooking the meal. For the meal we served a wedge salad with fresh bacon bits, tomatoes, and either ranch or blue cheese dressing. The main course was a chicken dish, with Parmesan and mushroom, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, and rolls. Dessert was the fondue fountain and coffee with foo foo creamer.

The girls made the place card holders, the place mats, the napkin rings, and painted the flower pots that held the flowers for their parents that doubled as a center piece. The girls had to leave a spot open on the place mats for the plates. Pictures below show the table set.

Who doesn't love a chocolate fountain for dessert? The girls chopped and cleaned and sliced all of the dippers. Mmmmm, strawberries, bananas, apples, pineapple (all were pleasantly surprised at that one), rice krispie treats, pound cake, and, marshmallows.

Here's the table all set and ready for the girls to serve their parents.

My place setting.

The girls read a custom poem for the parents that was written by my mom, the fabulous poet.

They even threw in s few brownie songs to delight the crowd.

See the cute apron she's wearing....a sewing project one of our super great moms helped the girls with. Tiffany, the mom, is so awesome. She is embroidering all of the girls names on the ties. The apron says "Brownies troop 896" on the front.

"Dad, I'm going to give you this plate of goodies, but can I eat some first?"

Every good party has a big mess afterwards. Kristin and I did a ton of cleanup but at the end of the night, you couldn't even tell we had a big sweethearts bash in the same place!

Somehow the chocolate fountain doesn't look as appealing after 40 people have had their way with it! The kids thought it was so fun and the parents were surprised with how elegant it was.

The day was a ton of work. At times there were more balls in the air then there should be. The girls all did a great job. The night was great. A ton of work but as time goes by, the memories of the effort will disappear as compared to the memories of the fantastic evening that we put on for the parents. All of the girls and their parents should be so proud. As for me, I am taking a break from "big" events for a tiny bit. Looks like I should huh?