Famous Flower Girls - Part One

There has been a lot talk about weddings these last six months because of two much anticipated events this Spring/Summer.  Michelle and Scott were married March 26th and Matt's cousin Meredith married her nine year beau and highschool sweatheart on July 2nd.  And, to be honest, if we are talking about much anticipated weddings, then I have to include the Royal Wedding in April because Dreama and I were completely transfixed to the television for the fluffly media coverage of the hats, dresses and guests of honor.  And all three weddings have one thing in common (besides stunning brides, of course!) - they all had a little flower girl who stole the show!  Everyone in the world who has a TV or a newspaper has probably seen the image of Kate and William's flower girl grimacing at their first kiss on the balcony.

But what most of the world doesn't realize is that there was an even CUTER and FUNNIER flower girl causing quite a stir in weddings this year.  Here are some (well, make that a ton) of images from Michelle and Scott's beautiful wedding in March.  I will post pictures of Meredith's wedding later, so stay tuned for Famous Flower Girls - Part Two!

 This was a Spiers family event but it wouldn't have gone as well without Nana and Papa who helped me with Callie.  Matt and I were both in the wedding so it was difficult to do all the wedding party duties and make sure that Callie was dressed, behaving and where she needed to be.  Papa has cookies in this picture because his job was to lure the flower girl down the aisle and then stealthily exit with her before the ceremony began.  Thanks Mom and Dad for all your help!

Practice makes perfect!...and it did!

Callie and her handler.

Grampie Yoo-Hoo was very nervous about his father of the bride duties!

 Handsome Handsome - this matron of honor got to go home with this groomsmen!

Scott's parents did a terrific job transforming the church gym into an elegant rehearsal dinner site.

The perfect couple!

Maw-Maw and Pa looking their best!

Daddy working hard to keep Callie occupied the morning of the wedding.

Callie had her own personal hairdresser (Nana)

Callie admiring herself in the mirror.  This is my favorite picture!

And this might be my second favorite picture.

Nana worked hard to distract Callie during pre-wedding pictures.

Here we go...

Waiting our turn...I was reminding Callie of what she was going to do.

I didn't need to remind her because she did so well on her own!  A petal flew out of her basket and she stopped to pick it up.  I leaned over and told her she could leave it and that she was supposed to be dropping the petals out anyway.  So she turned the whole basket over to make one pile of petals and then pranced down the aisle the rest of the way like she owned the place.  Once at the bottom she greeted her Daddy and then Papa took her out to play for the rest of the ceremony.

 Now it's time to party!!!

Callie enjoyed clapping for the wedding party introductions but she hated waiting for the first dances to end.  She was anxious for her turn on the floor!

Daddy trying hard to entertain her.

You can see us in the background trying to keep her from wiggling down and running out to join Aunt Missy and Uncle Scott.

 Still trying to make her escape back there!

She really got anxious when she saw Yoo-Hoo out there dancing without her!

 FINALLY!  Callie got her turn with Grampie and she didn't stop dancing the rest of the night!  She was still out on the dance floor at 11pm.

Aunt "Janny" and Andrew

 Nana found a dance partner in Hunter

 She did stop dancing long enough to run laps in the balcony.

Hugs from Maid of Honor, Shelley

 Callie was the center of all the dancing.

 Quick break for some Aunt Missy kisses.

 She loves her new Uncle Scott!

 Back at it!

 There might be just as many photographs of Callie as there are of Michelle and Scott!

 Callie wasn't the only one out there cutting a rug!

 Another quick break for some juice and Nana time.

 Matt's Uncle Donnie and Aunt Peggy from Missouri

 and their daughters Julia and Meredith.

 Cousin Katie with her purple wine teeth and Pa.

                   

Plaques I painted for the happy couple.

Time to say goodbye...

And after such a wonderful night, we were all looking forward to Callie's next appearance as the flower girl for Meredith and Ben!

Hey! The Rest of May..and Some Hay!

Saying I am behind on blogging is an understatement.  The last two months have been a whirlwind and now I am behind the entire month of June and on posting picture of TWO weddings.  The picture below best illustrates the blog burden that I am now carrying.  If the clothes were actually photos that are piling up just begging to be posted, then I am the person being smothered by them.  It is actually a picture of Matt attempting to watch TV underneath Callie's attempt at folding laundry.  She pulled everything out of the basket, one at a time, scrunched each thing around in her hands (her version of folding) and "neatly" put it all away...on Daddy.

 Anyway, I hope to be caught up on summer before it is over which is more than I can say about spring.  I am now going to attempt to forget that the heat index outside today was 110 F and try to think back to the events of the third week of May.  That was the week that Callie and I made the trip to the lake and the mountain to visit family.  We had a bridal shower to attend in Giles for Meredith (Matt's cousin) and so we added in a trip to the lake to visit Nana and Papa and some short visits in to Roanoke with my friends Allison and Catherine.  I will also need to include Callie's latest stats from her 2 year appointment.  She didn't get to the doctor until late May because her personal assistant was delinquent in making the appointment!  Our not-so-babyish baby girl is now 35 inches tall (65%) and weighs 26 1/2 pounds.  She wowed the doctor, as usual, and really seemed to enjoy the appointment, especially since she didn't have to get any shots!  She is now big enough to play doctor and really got into whacking Daddy on the knee with the hammer thing.  Dr. Springer suggested she get a doctor's kit for Christmas so I figure her doctor uncle should be able to hook her up!  (Hint, Hint).  And, finally, at the end of May, we had a very nice Memorial weekend with Matt's parents and Meredith and Ben, at our place.  Whew!  That seems so long ago that it literally took me 5 minutes of mulling it over to even remember that Meredith and Ben were here!  Sheesh...better just stop writing and post the pictures.



Callie is really into hats now.  This May Sunday, she made her name sake, Beulah Mae, very proud by sporting this bright red hat and lady bug outfit.  Grandma LOVED red!  Callie kept the hat on all through church.  She was still wearing it when we picked her up from nursery and they said she put it back on any time it dropped off.

The next set of pictures I can't take ANY credit for.  They are pictures that my dear friend Catherine took of her son Micah and Callie when we visited her house.

 And now back to my mediocre photography!  Here are some pics I took during our visit with Allison, Abigail and Chloe.

 Chloe and Abigail cheering.

 Callie was spellbound by Abigail's collection of princess attire!

 A backwards ride on the biggest caterpillar ever!

Lake fun with Nana and Papa:

She got her first tick from this pile of hay.  But she loved running and jumping in it.

 And finally, some Grampy YooHoo and MiMi pictures:

 This my look like a headlock but it is actually a hug!  Callie loves to be hugged while she is watching TV and eating in her highchair.

 Dancing with YooHoo.  Matt plays the opening scene of "Working Girl" and Callie loves to dance to the "Jericho" song and watch the images of the Statue of Liberty and the Twin Towers.  ("achew" and "owers" in Callie language)

And now this picture reminds me of all the ironing I need to do...

Callie's May Flowers

Well, I am breaking out of the blog fog and finally updating after a very busy May month.  We have been so busy and Callie is keeping me so constantly occupied with other things that I haven't been able to blog all month. We also had some computer problems and we were also out of town for Matt's cousin Meredith's wedding shower and a week long trip to the lake to visit Nana and Papa and some of my Roanoke friends.  Finding computer time is very difficult now that Callie wants to be outside much more and also because she has some vendetta against the computer.  The second my fingers hit the keyboard, she is all over me, demanding that I do something else with her.  The same thing happens when I get a phone call.  It is "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" all the time until close to 4pm and that is when it switches to "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"  Once Matt gets home, she doesn't let him have a second to himself and they spend the evenings playing "Uh Oh" (a game where he pretends to let her fling him into Mommy and furniture) and "Fly!  Fly!" (pretending the laundry basket is an old WWII  fighter plane, gunning down Mommy, the cats and then finally crash landing on the bed.)  Callie is talking so much now.  She rarely says a complete sentence, but she mimics phrases she hears us say and tries to say about anything you ask her to repeat.  She is really entertaining us with her new language abilities too.  Yesterday she was repeating, "Buy fruit.  Buy fruit" because I told her we were going to the Farmer's Market to do that.  Matt walked in and said he was leaving for work and said, "Bye, bye Callie".  She replied with, "Bye, bye fruit!" leaving us both doubled over in hysterics.  She loved that we were both laughing at her so she repeated it and then changed it to "Daddy fruit" once Matt tried to protest and say he was NOT a fruit.  We are also realizing that she is listening to us and really understanding now.  On the drive home from dinner last night, she interjected the word "baff" (bath) into our conversation about what we were going to do when we got home.  I had no intention of giving her a bath last night but once we got home and she finished her snack she looked at me very sternly and said, "Mommy, baff", hit herself on the chest to indicate that she wanted her clothes taken off and then literally marched to the bathroom.  We are so fortunate that, so far, she is not shouting bratty phrases or screaming "mine" or "no" over everything.  She still is a very even tempered toddler.  She even says, "yiis, momma" when she has been asked if she understands a request to clean or something I have said to scold her.  One day she said "yiss, momma" with every block she put into the box.  I felt a little like Hitler hearing this robotic mantra, but she is really listening and does things with a kind heart, not begrudgingly.  One day, all it took was the mere mention that she should clean up her puzzle before I vacuumed.  Two minutes later I returned and it was done.  I stood there shocked and then praised her profusely and rewarded her with candy!  I guess I shouldn't make a habit of that, but I was just so thrilled that she listened the first time and did it so effortlessly.  This may seem like a long list of mommy bragging, but I wanted to write about these things so that I could read back on them one day in case she is a rebellious teenager!

Anyway, all our outside time and an unusually rainless May has meant that a lot of time has been spent outside working in the yard while she plays.  Callie has also helped in the yard by picking up sweet gum balls, sticks and with the planting.  Back in April, she helped Grampy plant his summer annual seeds.  Weeks later, Grampy brought all the plants that Callie planted and they worked together to plant them in our yard.  She loved everything about this process and showed her amazement at every step with her typical open mouth awe.  Her flowers are coming up nicely and she loves to help me water, especially if it means that she gets very wet in the process!  Here are some pictures from the seed planting in April and then the transplanting of the flowers in May.