wedding bells!

Getting ready...(photo credits strykingphotography)

That's Joe and Beth in the background, and Elise...and Paul giving away one his beautiful Sonja...

With fifteen of our kids...Mariel, Abigail, Molly Rose, Emily, Joseph, (Oscar), Sonja, me, Benjamin behind me, Paul, Sam and Jon behind, Evelyn, Margaret, Kathryn in the back, Charlotte Claire, Suzanne in the back, and Camille...

Ten of our daughters...(without Mariel)...Kathryn, Abigail, Molly, Em, Sonja, Evelyn, Margaret, Char, Cam, Suzanne...

With four of our sons, Jon, Samuel, Oscar, Sonja, Paul, Benjamin, Joseph 

The sweetest little flower girls, Rhys and Ruth, cousins..

Paul and I with the new couple...

Cam, Char, friend Erika...The cake, the cupcakes, the macarons...mmmm.

 Aww....lovely.

I didn't get a better pic of the cake to upload, and I'm tired of trying...I'm actually really tired ha.  It was such a good day, but as we all know, these good days fly by so fast, you don't know how it is actually over and done with.  

Friday, oh dear, I had to frost the cake, the cupcakes, make the pulled pork for the rehearsal dinner, which was supposed to go in the crockpot first thing...well, I was dawdling around the kitchen at 9:30, pulling things out for the frosting, when I happened to see minced onions and thought those would be good on the pulled pork...OH NO, THE PULLED PORK!  I had forgotten to start it...oops.  I had almost 14 pounds, so I cut it into fourths and put it in two crockpots with a sprinkle of vinegar, some maple bacon salt, brown sugar, freshly ground pepper...and phew, by ten it was in there and my fingers were crossed.  The dinner was at six, and we decided that if it wasn't looking mighty done by four, we would take it out and oven bake or something...maybe instant pot....but it was absolutely fine.

We made the macaroni and cheese on Thursday, Margaret and I...14 blocks of cheese through the food processor, two blocks sliced up because it was soft cheese...Margaret made a topping of butter, panko bread crumbs, garlic, grated parmesan and Romano, oh it was good.  

Back to Friday morning:  I was having a new issue, which had lasted all week and was getting worse:  symptoms of carpal tunnel.  My hands have been fall-y asleep-y for years, like when I'm driving, I'll shake them out to wake them up...and when I'm sleeping, one arm falls so asleep I have to dangle it over the bed for a while to wake it back up, ect.  But this, this was something else.  I couldn't even make a fist with my left hand, much less pick up a drink or open a door handle....I had ordered a wrist splint to sleep in, which seemed to help the first night then not after that.  It gets so bad at night that I cannot sleep, the pain runs up and down my arm, my wrist aches, oh dear.  Friday, it was very bad...the middle three fingers going numb, all the carpal tunnel symptoms.  

Camille was SUCH a help.  She knows how to make buttercream, so between the two of us, we made three double batches.  She figured out how to pipe rosettes on the cupcakes, and did most of them for me.  I worked on the cake, she helped me turn the table as I did the finishing touches.  

We managed to get the cake to the wedding venue without wrecking it, which was a miracle...we got halfway there and started to list off all the things we forgot, and had to turn around (mint for the lemonade (Evelyn did a fantastic lemonade bar, blueberry basil?  Strawberry mint?  I can't even remember the flavors...)

Anyway.  The wedding was lovely.  The rain held off, but it was a bit windy...but perfect for an outdoor ceremony.  There was charcuterie, and coffee, along with the lemonades, then later the dinner:  a pesto grilled chicken, baked potato bar (chopped green onion, bacon bits and butter for me!), a salad bar, watermelon with mint, soft warm dinner rolls with butter...all so good.

The very best of all was the goodness that came forth in the words spoken in that wedding feast.  Marriage is a gift from God, and to esteem each other, respect each other, lay down our lives for each other (our strong opinions, needing to be right, having the last word).   It's a good work, and it's a glorious blessing for two wholehearted young people to marry and build a good home together.

There are more pictures, but they aren't loading well, so that's it for today.  Today, which as been busy enough....but don't forget about yesterday, that was busy too!  Lots of the kids and grandkids came over...we grilled burgers, had corn on the cob, and some baked potatoes...love having them over.  

This fine morning, after being awakened by a meowing kitty at 3:30, then the dog wanted out an hour later, then getting up at seven to be ready to go to the airport, oh dear am I tired!  My arm doesn't want me to fall to sleep, then it wakes me up hurting...I do have an appointment for next week...

Anyway, Miss Charlotte Claire got to the airport on time.  Camille and I dropped her off and headed to a nice local coffee shop, and Char texted that the line to check her bag was really long...then that her bag was ten pounds over but they didn't care...then that there was a beautiful Golden Retriever walking around for everyone to pet....now she's probably in Chicago, heading to Amsterdam, then Frankfort...all by herself.  She is hoping to come home for Christmas, then she'll be home again next summer.

I won't even say how hard this is for me.  I'm super glad for her and think it's good for her, but ouch.  Same with Sonja, love that she got married but waking up yesterday morning and that empty room, oh my heart.  shh, I cried.  The room isn't empty anymore, Paul finally has an office!  Yay, his desk and treadmill and guitars and amplifiers and bows and arrows all moved into that office with him.  Our room seems so big and roomy!  So today when we went to Costco, I splurged on some nice new cotton sheets, came home, washed them, vacuumed and cleaned our room, and ahh, nice clean brand new sheets on the bed.

Tonight is a celebration for Evelyn's birthday, to which I asked if I was invited, and was told sure, you can come...hey, I'll take it:). Out to dinner for sweet Evvy's birthday?  Why not?  :)

So it's been a fantastic rainy day here in central New York, all chilly and fall-like.  Camille has been cleaning her room, I've been cleaning mine and puttering around...the wedding prep was fabulous, but it's nice to have it behind us!  

Have a really nice day!!!!