The REST of the Wedding Story

After seeing the last post, you might have thought that I spent my entire day photographing my little flower girl. You would be almost right. But I did manage to move the camera away from the little princess a few times to take some other shots, as well. Many of them included Macie (obviously!), but no one was entirely safe from my wandering lens...

Olivia, Ivie's Partner-in-Crime


Me and My Girls, Wedding-Style


Macie, Post-Wedding


Time to Eat!!!


And More Favorites...

The Flower Girl

The big day finally arrived for Ivie to wear her "beautiful white princess dress" and make her flower girl debut! We've been talking this up for months, particularly since Ivie has a tendency to turn shy in front of crowds. So we've been telling her what an important job she had to make sure to drop enough rose petals on the ground for Carla to walk on when she came down the aisle...

Since the rehearsal didn't go so well Friday night, we ended up having to bribe Ivie into an appropriate performance. If she did great, smiled, and made it all the way down the aisle with Olivia and Brayden, she would be rewarded with a trip to Target for a toy when we returned home. Probably won't find that method in any of the 16 parenting magazines that I'm behind on reading right now. But it was the best we could come up with in a pinch... (And it worked great - she gave a pretty stellar performance, though she did display a nervous giggle the entire time she was coming down the aisle. I think she was laughing to keep from crying.)

Anyway, it won't surprise you all that I took several pictures to document Ivie's first flower girl experience. Or that I've already used said pictures to create a Shutterfly book to take advantage of a free book offer I had! Instead of just posting the book here for you to see, though, I thought it would be easier (and with bigger pictures!) for me to just post them here. So that's what I'll do!

At the Beauty Salon ("getting curls like Macie's")

Pre-Wedding in the Girls' Hospitality Room


A Few Post-Wedding Shots


Snack Time (and some climbing)

Dancing!!!


And a few of my favorites from the day...

3-Word Wednesday: This is No Exaggeration...

BEST. PARENTS. EVER.

(I love you more than words can describe. Thank you.)

Cleveland, Day 2

On Friday, while the guys golfed (trend continues), the kids and gals went to Lake Metroparks Farmpark (does anyone else find that to be kind of an odd name?!?).

I didn't take very many pictures while there (too busy pushing the stroller or chasing the girls), but I did get a few cute shots of Macie while we were on the wagon ride around the park.

Messin' with Brayden

Kissin' Her Cousins

Chillin' with Nina

That evening was the wedding rehearsal. Yet another opportunity for pictures!

Matt with Family and Friends


Me and My Girls


Sarah's Clan


And the Rest of the Story...

Cleveland, Night 1

Thursday night, we headed to Noce Gourmet Pizzeria in Chardon, OH for dinner. Who knew that it would be so difficult to find a pizza place that actually had dine-in and would seat 15 people (the whole crew except for Matt and Carla, as they were off running pre-wedding errands)? (Schaeperkoetter crew - watch the video that I link above to Noce! Great memories of the staff we met and scenery in Chardon - it's great!)

But the search was WELL WORTH IT. Noce's was just great. A quaint little place on Main Street in a cute little town of about 5,000 people. Olivia, Gavin, and Ivie were able to enjoy some running-around time on the city square (home to the Geauga County Courthouse) while the rest of us finished our dinner. Then, just up the street, we snapped a couple of grandkid pictures on the steps of a beautiful church. This was our last "free" evening, since we had the rehearsal and dinner the next night (Friday) and the wedding Saturday. Noce's didn't disappoint. It couldn't have been a more perfect choice.

Cleveland, Day 1

Last week, our family headed to Cleveland for Matt's wedding. My Mom and Dad's "baby", and the last one of us to get married. So it was a special weekend!

We all arrived in town on Wednesday afternoon and spent the afternoon/evening just hanging out, ending the day at Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. A wonderfully LOUD place for our group of 19 (our 17 plus Carla's mom and sister).

So the real "Day 1" was Thursday. While the guys of the group golfed (you'll see this as a trend for the weekend, and I can't really say much, since it was Matt's wedding weekend, and that's what he wanted to do!), the gals took the 6 younger kiddos (minus Sam, who was golfing with Tony and Papa) to Preston's H.O.P.E Playground.

Can I just briefly say what an AMAZING place this is? I randomly found it on a Google search for "things to do with kids in Cleveland". The best way to summarize is to say that they must have done many things right in the construction of a playground that will entertain 6 kids, spanning in age from 21 months to 8 years, for 4 SOLID HOURS!

Here are some pictures from our day:

Josie, Brayden, and Olivia

Ivie and Gavin on the Roller-Slide

Macie and Olivia - Same Slide!


Swinging and Riding



My Favorites...