Let The Others Eat Cake

     Last week's birthday bash for our first grandson was purposefully low-key. With his parents currently undergoing a house renovation that has seen them moving out of their house and decamping to not one, not two, but three different locations, they opted for a "just family" outdoor party in a neighborhood park. The Daughter kept things really simple, and it was a good call. She served mini cupcakes from The Cupcake Collection, mini ice cream sandwiches and little bottles of ice water. There were picnic tables, a few helium balloons for decoration, a frisbee, some nerf rockets, lots of shade trees, and a good old fashioned playground nearby.
    The weather was amazing. When the daughter sent out her Paperless Paperless Post invites, and I realized the party was going to be outside, I worked up a sweat just thinking about it. Four o'clock in the afternoon in August in Nashville can be absolutely brutal. Last year the heat index for the very same day was 106. Yikes. The boy may have a few "hot" birthday parties in his future, but this first one was not one of them. The temperature was only 84 degrees, the humidity was low, and I never even broke a sweat!
    The Birthday Boy was a champ! He loved the attention, loved his toys, and had a great time. But he did not like his cupcake much. It was pretty funny!

Uh oh. Something's up.

Everybody has gathered around me, and they are singing some silly song.

 Oh wow. Take a look at that thing. Is that candle for me?

 I'm thinking about it...

 Not so sure about that blue stuff...

 I think it's growing on me...

 Good one of the family, except that I forgot to look at the camera!

 Let's skip the cake part...I'm just gonna concentrate on the icing...

 GiGi comes over to help me along....

 Now it's time to open presents. Yippee!

I love Thomas the Train!

 My cousins and sister are only too happy to help me out with the presents

Aunt Kelly and my cousin Mia are a big help!

Sister is trying to explain the instructions to me. I'm not too interested.

Momma decides that I need to try on my new shoes...

What are shoes anyway? I like my bare feet just fine.

Momma, I'm telling you it's not gonna happen!
Take these things off NOW!

 This is my Pappy, my cousin and my sister. We are adding another cousin
in a week or two. There's already room in Pappy's lap for him!

 That's my Uncle Bear and my Aunt Betta

 That's my Momma with my great-granddaddy, Pa Poag

 Here's Uncky, Nannie, and my cousin (Little Two). 

 That's my Uncle Jacob and my Aunt Kelly

 This is my cousin Tatum, my grandmother Gigi, and Ken.

 This is another shot of Uncle Bear and my cousin (Little Two)

Tatum and I are chillin' out with Pa Poag, our great-grandfather

My party sure was a lot of fun. I want to do it again next year.

And can you guess why Nonna told me that this is her very favorite picture from that day???

The New Mr. and Mrs.

     This is the year of the nephew. Not one, not two, but three of my nephews are marrying this year. I shared with you the first of the family weddings here and now it's time to share yet another nephew's beautiful wedding. As an aside, here are some random facts for you: all three of my nephews graduated from Auburn; none are brothers; two are from my side of the family; one is from The Husband's side of the family. We've also covered some territory in the South with the wedding locales: one was in Florida, one will be in Georgia and one was here in Nashville. You know what they say about Southern women!!

      This precious couple met in the fall of their freshman year at Auburn and supposedly felt an immediate attraction to one another. She went home the next weekend and told her mother she might have met the man of her dreams. He, that very first night they met, kept dropping to his knee pantomiming a proposal whenever she walked out of the room. The only problem is that each was dating someone else. As you might well imagine things soon changed. Then at the beginning of her sophomore year, the Bride transferred from Auburn to Georgia, and it became a long distance dating relationship. The couple was reunited after college when she moved to Nashville to attend graduate school, and a few years later everything culminated in a lovely, joy-filled celebration this past weekend.

 The wedding took place at West End United Methodist Church, a beautiful historic Gothic church reminiscent of a cathedral. Five generations of The Husband's family have attended this church and two of our own children were married there. It's a glorious place for a wedding.

Here's another view of the sanctuary (from the Church's website)

These photos are taken immediately after the wedding in the side yard of the church.

The Bride wore an exquisite Monique Lhuillier lace gown with a family veil edged in Alencon lace.

She chose periwinkle blue gowns by LulaKate for her maids,

 and the flower girls were dressed in white organza with baby's breath crowns.

The reception which was held at The Loveless Barn, a perfect venue for a fabulous party!

Here they are!

 One more hug from the nieces before they are introduced as the new Mr. and Mrs.!

 First Dance!

The Bride and her Daddy

The Groom dancing with his Momma (my dear sister-in-law)

I am in love with her dress!

Colored glass vases of varying heights filled with delphinium, 

stock, roses, and hydrangeas were centered on each table

 In lieu of a traditional Bride's Book at the church, guests wrote notes on recipes in

the Newlywed Cookbook at the reception...a great idea!

The best wedding cake in Nashville is made by Leland Riggin at Dessert Designs.

It's always beautiful and delicious!

The Groom was totally surprised with his Auburn stadium cake, complete with LED lighting,

 designed especially for him by Billie Mochow Cakes.

 With so many alumni in the house, it was a huge hit!

Here you can get a better feeling for the venue. This is the side veranda, an open tented space.

As far as the food goes let's just say it was a sumptuous Southern feast!

Before the meal they passed fried green tomatoes, pimento cheese on toast, and bruschetta.

Dinner included a shrimp and grits bar, a hashbrown casserole and mashed potato bar, a bar featuring the famous Loveless biscuits accompanied by country ham, bacon, and assorted preserves,

 a glorified version of the green bean casserole, salad, sliced tomatoes, corn pudding,fried chicken, and beef tenderloin with rolls. For the first time in his life, The Husband did not make it through the entire buffet. 

You know the party is going well when the groomsmen decide to join the band!

   Thanks to the Atlanta Groove Factory for keeping the dance floor full all night long!

Here's to a wonderful evening with family and friends celebrating two very special people!

Much love to my nephew and my new niece!

A One-der-ful Year in the Life of A Boy

   He is officially "one" tomorrow, this first grandson of ours. He is a charmer from his head to his toes. I wondered when he made his debut if I would love him as much as I had my first two grandchildren. But of course, God does that marvelous thing in our hearts when the love is shared...it divides and multiplies and runs over until the cup of love is filled to the brim!
 

Welcome to the world, little boy! 

Here I am chilling out under the warming lights, and I am not even one hour old!

That's my Dad there with a good grip on me. I already love that man.

Here is my Momma getting me ready for my first bath!

Ahh...I love it when she talks to me like that

Worn out and ready for my nap!

My Daddy rocks my world! 

Here I am meeting all of my Nonna's friends and being introduced to some

very important people at my Sip-n-See

Too bad I slept through the entire thing...

Now that I am waking up to life, I can tell you that I have fallen in love with my Big Sister. 

 Mom thinks it's possible that I might have a future as a comedian.

Check out my facial expressions

Here I am all decked out for Christmas! I love playing with Dad. 

He does fun stuff like throwing me up in the air.

Nonna has to look the other way.

Did I mention that I love my Momma?! 

Mom and Dad left me with Nonna and Pappy when they went out of town for a little vacation.

Don't tell anybody, but things happen at Nonna's house.

 Like getting licked all over by Wilson, the dog.

And now for a random fact:

Did you know that the paper at the pediatrician's office tastes good?

Sissy and I like to ham it up for the camera and for our amazing photographer, Katherine Holly.

Here I am getting worried that they might leave me up here all alone...

with that ratty ole bear

 It's amazing all of the changes a year can bring.

I can already crawl like greased lightning and stand on my own.

 I am starting to talk and can call a few folks by name.

I finally got some teeth (I am up to four).

I love to laugh, am ticklish, and like to make funny faces.

 Oh, and occasionally I like to rock a natural mohawk!

See what I mean?

My special day is off to a great start. Hope yours is too!