#stichapartyof3

This Saturday my brother got married.  It was such a special day (entire weekend actually!).  I never really thought about it ahead of time that I might get emotional about it all.  Then rehearsal started, and I saw Brooke's dad, Bill, tear up as he was handing Brooke to Ryan, and I lost it.  And I continued to loose it multiple times the entire weekend!  I guess to me it was a sign of how significant and special the day was, and how happy I was for their new little family.

I was juggling multiple roles, as always, but this time to the extreme even for me. All four of us were in the wedding, which I absolutely loved! I loved getting all of us dressed up fancy, and part of all the wedding party specialness.  Of course I can't step away from the mom role.  Making sure we had packed all we needed (outfits, snacks, toys, napping supplies, etc.), getting the kids rested and fed, and of course ready and where we needed to be on time.  I was on my own for the most part since Pat worked Friday, had festival stuff to do Saturday morning, and had guns to shoot with the guys.  Finally, I was videographer.  My brother was taking the lead, but I was helping with getting footage of the ladies getting ready. Thankfully, I was also there to grab the speeches, since he was giving one and a tad nervous about it.

It was a busy day to say the least. But I loved it all! At the end of the night, as Pat and I were walking to our cabin, I told him my only regret was that I couldn't clone myself to do each of the jobs even better.

Starting at the beginning...

Friday morning my dad watched the kids while us ladies got mani/pedis. It was such a nice treat! I got my first jell nails, and they still look great. After, we picked up the kids, and had a quick lunch at Brooke and Ryan's. Then it was off to load up stuff and bring it to the Horse and Hunt Club where the weekend events would take place. I put Henry down for a nap, and helped out with what I could.

The rehearsal went great, complete with tears and belly laughs. The personal attendants helped direct the kids, and they did great. I laughed as the girls plucked huge hydrangea blossoms off of the plants so they had flowers to drop down the aisle.

After practice, we had an awesome hog roast. Of course in Sticha family fashion, they had to roast it themselves instead of lining up a caterer.  That's the way my family rolls though, and Ryan really wanted to roast it themselves.  It was super yummy, and the bonus is we had plenty of leftovers for the rest of the weekend.

Brooke and Ryan gave out gifts... Marshmallow roasters and s'mores fixings for the kids, beer and captains chairs for the guys, earrings and a homemade rustic scrapbook with personalized pictures and messages for the girls, and embroidered handkerchiefs for the parents.  All very thoughtful!

We went home for the night while most everyone else spent the night there.  I wanted everyone in our family to get a good night's sleep.  Everyone did except me! My mind was racing all night and I hardly slept a wink! It's happened to me before though and luckily I dip into my energy reserves and always manage just fine.  I got the kids up, fed, bathed, dressed and to the H&H by 9.  Some of the ladies were already getting ready.

The morning was spent juggling my three roles, getting myself and the kids ready (or recruiting help like Grandma painting Olivia's nails, a bridesmaid curling her hair, and Katelyn pinning it up), taking video of the ladies getting ready, and keeping Henry entertained.  My master of all multi-tasking moments was when I was in the chair getting my hair done, I was feeding Henry lunch while he was watching Dora on the iPad, and I was giving direction to the bridesmaids of video I wanted them to take.

Just in time, Pat's mom, Mary came to whisk Henry away to a different cabin to sneak in a quick nap.  It was a fun morning that went by all too fast! 2:00 came around quickly and we were all off to take pictures!  We woke Henry up with just enough time to get him dressed, and hopefully get him out of his sleepy state.  The kids did pretty well with pictures, aside from a mini meltdown from Olivia at one point, and Henry giving shy smiles.

When guests started arriving we hid in the restaurant till it was ceremony time. The ceremony was beautiful, and went perfectly! I only wish I could have cloned myself then to take pictures of all of it!

The grand march was fun to partake in, especially since I took everyone off guard by my "ice auger" dance move... we were told all night Pat and I had the best entrance. :) The reception after was equally wonderful. Sitting at the head table, I could enjoy a meal with minimal interruptions, and the kids ate so well at the table in front of me with their grandparents. A smattering of pictures later, and we were off to enjoy the rest of the evening dancing to the music of the Rum Runners. It was fun dancing to a live band, especially since they were friends of Ryan and Brooke. 

I was really looking forward to the dance because it had been such a busy day, I felt like I finally had time to enjoy the kids. We danced the night away! Henry asked to "go inside" a few times, indicating he was tired, but we were enjoying him so much we kept him up longer than he probably wanted to.  He didn't get crabby at all, just tired looking. Olivia could have stayed on the dance floor all night.  She was soaking up all the attention of dancing with people, and was mesmerized watching the band.  We called it a night for them around 10, and put them to bed with Mary in the cabin to care for them.  Pat and I hit up the dance floor again.

I remember looking around at one moment to see all of my siblings and I dancing on the dance floor together. It was a beautiful summer night, filled with a starry sky, and I started to tear up for the millionth time, because it was such a perfect night I didn't want to see it end. The band played their last song, and while their iPod continued to play music as they packed up, the dance continued. It probably lasted at least an hour longer than it was supposed to, but people kept staying... and dancing... because it was too much fun and we didn't want to see it end.

It was really a perfect day. And we gained two beautiful (inside and out) family members because of it.  Blessed.