Jessie and Bryan | Wedding Day

It's official: Jessica is now a Huffman!

It was a fairly long, but good and happy, day. Hair appointments began around 7AM {give or take... not exactly sure of Mom's time!} - mine was at 9:30, though I got there at 9 and waited literally 2 minutes before Krisha {elementary school friend of mine!} was ready for me. Jessie was last and since I had to get home to get the kids ready and relieve Grami so she could go get ready, well, I didn't get to be there while she was getting her hair all dolled up.

Stacy, Jessie, and Lisa at the salon.

Chayse, one of the three flowergirls {Bryan's niece} and Noah in their "cool wedding clothes"





getting ready

Nerves of steel?

The kids held up as good as could be expected considering the long day yesterday and no naps today. Two moments that I could do nothing but laugh and grab/hand over my camera? Noah laying down during the pre-ceremony photos using the ring pillow for his head and Ellie just crying because all she wanted was to get "ooout" of her dress and take a nap.

A downfall to getting married at FBC Moore is the large windows that surround the sanctuary, allowing everyone, including the groom, to see you as you walk around the side to the entrance. I've seen a few brides overcome this challenge by coming down the stairs by the choir loft instead, but most just deal with it and walk through. Personally, I didn't want Ben to see me until I was walking down the aisle to him. So for mine and Ben's wedding, Daddy-Man built a screen out of PVC pipe and white sheets for the bridesmaids to carry to block me from view.

For Jessie, he built a Tardis.

I'm sure most of the people present had no clue what it was, but to those of us in the loop... it was perfectly fitting.

The kids were crazy just before we walked down the aisle. As in, I didn't even think they'd make it down. But somehow, we did.

Green sippy cup and all.

{Thanks for taking photos, Michelley!}

The rest of the ceremony went off without a hitch.

And we even managed to get Daddy-Ben in a photo! ♥

After a few more photos, we headed over to the reception hall. BB made the {amazing!} wedding cake:

And, thankfully, our last "official" duty of the wedding went off better than expected:

BB and I cried and sang along with Jessie and Daddy-Man while they danced to Father & Daughter.

And then laughed as Noah and Addie pretended to be airplanes....

and again when BB caught the bouquet and she and Jessie busted out some Beyonce moves to "All the Single Ladies".

Didn't she just look beautiful?!?

Congratulations Jessie and Bryan!

We couldn't be happier for you and are so excited to see how God is going to use and bless your lives for and with each other. And Bryan, welcome to our crazy family - you are stuck with us now! ♥

Jessie and Bryan | Rehearsal Dinner

I didn't really get as many photos as I normally would try to tonight. Partially because of these Little Ones, who loved the pulpit and stairs and everything else except standing or sitting still.

Partially because I was just plain tired, and the rest because I was making sure one of my projects was getting done {without getting messed up}:

Jessie and Bryan's wedding video for tomorrow starts off with a scene from "UP" so I had our cousin Michael draw the "UP" house for me and I etched the frame with an "Ellie Badge", a fence and mailbox {after the wedding, we'll add Jessie and Bryan's thumbprints onto the mat behind the glass mailbox}. I had seen this on Pinterest, but couldn't stand to fork over the money to order the print when my cousin is a talented artist. I like that it was less expensive and more meaningful that way too!

Once they get back from the honeymoon and we do their fingerprints, I'll post a pick of the finished product {along with the Tetris bookshelf}.

The soon-to-be bride and groom talking with Pastor Kevin.

My over-tired and enjoying her second helping of dessert Littlest One.

My over-tired and begging someone to play Legos with him Little One.

Praying for well-behaved children for at least the ceremony tomorrow! ♥

Little Fishes and Family Birthdays

We've still got spots around here. No fevers, but lots of spots. And I woke up with a sore throat Thursday morning which hasn't left... so I'm anticipating finding a few spots of my own.

Nevertheless, we needed to have some fun.

And Aunt BB's recently-opened-pool was just the place to find it.

The kids were beyond excited to get in!


"Waah-dee! Waah-dee!" {Water... according to Ellie!}

Noah was like a little fish from the get-go. He wanted to splash and play!

Ellie treated it just like she treats the bathtub... and wanted to lay back and relax!

For being the first time they've been in a pool since last summer, they did great. We've definitely got to invest in some life-jackets and swim lessons though - for everyone's sanity and safety! Thanks BB!!

After a {very} short nap, we headed over to Uncle Bud's and Aunt Sally's house for the May/June Birthdays.

We have two birthdays in May: Daddy-Man and Morgan, and six in June: Bettina, me, Papa Snow, Sally, Erin, and BB. That's a lot of celebrating to do!

At one point, Megan decided that it would be fun to just run laps around me... I tried to get BB to capture it, but realized afterwards that it wasn't working because my ISO was too low {making my ss wonky... blah, blah, blah}, but I managed to capture one of Megan and Noah running around Aunt BB that made me laugh:

Those two are a mess together!

And speaking of a mess together...

My Mom and her siblings

{minus Uncle T who flew back home to Germany just a few weeks before we moved up here}.

Babies, Babies, and T-shirts

I've been wanting to meet this little on for a while now:

Little Miss River Mount, my sister's best friend/since-birth-family-friend. She's just darling and is exactly a month younger than Ellie. Marissa and her family lived right across the street from us, and since they were born, Jess and 'Riss have been nearly inseparable. I've no doubt that Ellie and River will be good friends too.

Noah, on the other hand, will likely not want to impose in their friendship... or their pictures.

The besties with the little ones.

Thanks for bringing River over to meet us 'Riss!!

And, preparations are underway for Black Friday.

I. Cannot. Wait.

{And neither can my bargain-hunting Husband and family.}

Happy Easter!

**** I apologize now for the number of pictures... we took over 100 today and it was so hard to choose just a few!! ****

Happy Easter!!

Sorry it's so dark... it's the best one of the bunch.... I didn't check them before we changed. :(

The Easter Bunny visited Noah this morning... he got lots of books and a couple of toys, and was so kind to give Mommy and Daddy all the candy in his basket! :) My favorite part of his baskets (one from the Mommy Easter Bunny and one from the Nana Easter Bunny!haha) was his first Bibles - he received two! Ben and I are starting a new tradition that on the baby's first Easter is when they will receive their first Bible (and possibly the next ones too - it'll just depend on when we think the kiddo needs the "next step up" Bible). We got him a picture Bible and truly, that's exactly what it is - no words, just pictures. As any teacher (or Reading Specialist ;) ) will tell you, wordless picture books are great for non- and beginning readers. I can't wait until our usual book reading time tomorrow so we can tell him some of our favorite Bible stories in our own words!

After church and Easter lunch (Texas Roadhouse, YUMMY!), we headed over to Grami and Papa's house for an Easter visit. Here's just a few of the pictures we took while we were there:

The oldest child, the youngest child, the oldest grandbaby, the youngest grandbaby and the oldest great-grandbaby all in one picture! :)

Nana, Papa, and Noah - he's wearing his Easter hat from Nana! :)

Is that the Easter Bunny?

Silly boy...

After we came back home, we headed over to Aunt Marsha's and Uncle Mike's for a visit - Noah had such a good time that he practically fell asleep in Marsha's arms.

Happy Easter! He is Risen Indeed!