In which Ben and Jen get married at Como Park.

Well, that's not exactly where they got married. Nor when. But let's face it, for this little blog, time means about as much as it does to my 4-year-old. (I've been having a lot of trouble trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong with getting photos uploaded. No matter what I do, they look like crap. Some of them are just not great pictures, but others are OK, but when I upload them, they look all grainy and fuzzy. I give up trying to figure it out.)

Ever since learning she would be Ben and Jen's flower girl, Lily has been a little obsessed with weddings. She loves the flowers, the dresses, the dancing. So when we visited the conservatory at Como Park, while most of us saw a greenhouse filled with beautiful flowers...

Lily saw a wedding. And Ben and Jen were to be the bride and groom. Or the prince and princess. The terms are interchangeable for her.

Honestly, I'm not sure if her wedding morphed into a dance lesson.

She was probably counseling them on how to stay happily married. Forever. Or as she calls any time in the future,  "tomorrow."

Back at home and just a few weeks later, I had to pull out my old crinoline. I want to get rid of the stupid thing, but when Lily discovered it, I realized it was going to have to hang around for a little while longer. So I pulled out my veil, too.

Naturally, she needed a prince. Guess who's always happy to fill that role.

And guess who's not happy to think of his little girl actually getting married one day.

I'm hoping I'll have a few more posts soon. I want to get caught up and finish up our trip home, our trip out west, and of course, the real wedding. Working on it!

A blogger award.

Thanks, Nicole!

Nicole recently chose me and my little blog to win the "Liebster Award." Pretty cool, huh?

Nicole is one of my paper-crafting friends (and beyond). She is one of the most talented people I've ever met. Seriously. Check out her stuff on her blog. It's amazing -- and she makes it. By hand. I've told her she needs to start submitting her work for publication because it's better than anything I've seen in magazines. Besides her artistic talent, she's a really great listener and friend, and I'm happy that scrapbooking brought her into my life.

ABOUT THE AWARD

Liebster is a German word meaning "Beloved," "Favorite," or "Dearest." This award is a peer to peer award in which fellow bloggers present the award to their favorite bloggers with less than 200 followers. The origins of this award is unclear, but is believed to have originated by a German blogger. This award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion to share your dearest and most beloved blogs that have less than 200 followers.

RULES FOR ACCEPTANCE
Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog. Post the award onto your blog. Give the award to five bloggers who you appreciate that have less than 200 followers. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you have given them this awesome award!

PAY IT FORWARD
Now comes the hard part… choosing 5 bloggers to share this award with! Wow not an easy task. I follow many great blogs and it was hard to choose just five.

Life’s Crazy Pace – This is where Kendra blogs about her family’s life working for the Department of State. She started her blog when they moved the whole family to Riyadh, and we got to see what regular life is like over there, including following their family vacations to all kinds of amazing locations like Egypt, Budapest, and Orlando. (Yes, they even come home again.) Her road eventually brought her back to Washington D.C. while her family finishes out her husband’s stay in Riyadh. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for her to be separated from her family, and as hard as I think it would be on the marriage, after reading this post, I’m pretty sure they’re going to make it just fine.

My Life as a Cradle Rocker – Kim’s blog is a little bit of everything I love to read about – make-up, books, Disney, and life with a 4-year-old, among other topics on her mind. It’s fair to say we have a lot in common, so her blog is always interesting to me.

Life After 11 Thoreau Court – Heather is a somewhat newbie to Florida. She moved a couple of years ago and is now settling into a neighborhood really close to mine. She is expecting her first baby – a boy! – about three weeks after my baby boy is due. (I see play dates in our future…) Heather blogs about her life here, including a lot about the progress of their new house. I’m hoping that she posts some pictures of the nursery when it’s ready because it sounds beautiful.

My Life as a Lawyer’s Wife – This is a really fun blog to follow. Meghan writes about her life in NYC and now she writes a lot about her baby girl. Whatever the topic, it’s entertaining because she is a fabulous storyteller. Her “Things to Do in NYC” and “Celebrity Sightings” are especially fun to read.

Connor and Pearl-Jolie – This is my sister-in-law’s blog about Lily’s cousins, Connor and Pearl. Even though we see them fairly often, it’s still fun to read about some of the stuff that happens between our visits. Joy’s been keeping a better pace at blogging lately – so here’s to more of that. (And maybe I should try the same.)

Enjoy!

A tea party birthday party.

For my daughter's fourth birthday, she had a real tea party. At a real tea shop with little old ladies in one corner, lots of doilies, real tea, silly hats, and tiny food. And a whole lotta family. (Note to said family: if you see a picture you would rather not be posted for four whole people to see, let me know.)

Ahh, the birthday girl. It was not hard for her to pick her favorite hat. Hello, flowers that look like a crown.
And the rest of us searched for a perfect hat.

Do you see, little Lily, what these people do for you? You are loved, child.

Some of us had a little more enthusiasm.
And some of us had plenty of enthusiasm.
Happy top hat.

Sad top hat.
Everybody in hats. I wonder what I was scolding Lily for. She probably deserved it.

So we had our tiny tea.

In tiny tea cups.

With tiny, delicious food.

And, of course, a tiny cake just for the birthday girl.

Happy birthday, little girl. Wish big.

The cabin revisited.

Now that I'm almost two months behind, how about I'll share some pictures of our great midwestern vacation of 2012.  We started in Wisconsin, and our first stop was the cabin. Last year, I spent much of my time there moping and pissing about forgetting the battery for my camera. A mistake I did not repeat.

It was a beautiful Wisconsin summer day, I had my camera, and life was good.


Greta went swimming for sticks.

I took pictures of stuff I don't see in Florida.
Husband took video and Lily did...something with sticks.
Ben was silly and all was well.

We had a picnic on the deck, and Lily got the first of her birthday presents -- a fishing pole. A princess fishing pole. For the official record, I got no such fishing pole. I got my brother's old one or somesuch thing.
In the weeks leading up to our trip, Lily chattered regularly about going fishing. I wondered how my girly girl would react when the first worm got pulled out of a foam box of dirt. All she knew of fishing she learned from watching Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck catch red gooey fish in Star Lake.

Here we go.
Bacca hooked the first worm for her and showed her what to do. She watched intently.

In less than 60 seconds, they had their first catch. I didn't even have time to adjust the settings on my camera - obviously.

She was proud.

Then it was time to touch the fish and take him off the hook. The look on her face was priceless, but she was still in the game.

She not only touched it (with princess pole in hand), she actually held the fish. For at least a second before he flopped out.
By the time we were done, she caught and released four little fish, and I realized that I had once again underestimated my little girl.

Then it was time to leave dry land, and we all piled into the pontoon for a ride around the lake. (Technically, it's not a lake, but you really don't care about the difference. Trust me.)

It was a bit of tight fit, but we were all aboard.

And everyone was so happy that I had my camera this time.


See how happy? 
YAY CAMERA!


And so I got to take more pictures of things I don't see in Florida.
Meanwhile, poor Ben is not acclimated for 75-degree weather, so he stuck his head in the lake. I was a little relieved when he resurfaced without a fish in his mouth.
The last stop on our tour was our old swimming beach. When we were kids, Bacca and Grandma Louise used to take us out here. It wasn't much, but it has a nice sandy bottom and we loved it.
We didn't have enough time for swimming this time, but there was enough time for Lily to need the bathroom. So Khan took her to the only one available.

Which was perfect for her. She surprises me yet again.