Jay and Molly's wedding recap

Jay got married on Saturday!! My little brother got married. I'm so happy for him! I think the highlight of the weekend for me was seeing the expression on Jay's face as he watched Molly come down the aisle, seeing her all dressed up in her wedding gown for the first time. She looked beautiful! Grandma and Grandpa Hardinger came to stay with us on Thursday evening. They arrived in time for dinner. I had lasagna ready with spinach salads and garlic bread, and I baked an upside down pecan cake with butter pecan ice cream for dessert. I haven't cooked a meal like that in a looong time, so it was nice to finally do it and have guests over! Everyone went to bed pretty early - G and G were tired from a long day at the doctor (treating Grandpa's eye) and traveling in the car. The next morning I made blueberry muffins, scrambled eggs with cheese, cut up oranges, and toast. G & G left around noon to head down to the airport to pick up Lucy who flew in from Arkansas. I spent all morning packing up and getting ready for Jay's wedding. I know I packed too much stuff, but its hard to know what extra stuff you'll need, anticipating needs here and there, and of course, wet clothes. We drove to Cedar Rapids on Friday afternoon right around the kid's nap time. They both slept in the car almost the whole drive. We had to stop at Prince Albert's Tux Shop to get Dave's tux and shoes before heading to the hotel. We got to the Marriott and found my parents in the lobby. The hotel was nice, and had recently been remodeled. The whole hotel has exterior hotel rooms - with a big restaurant/atrium thing in the middle. V and C got to run around for about an hour as friends and family trickled in to the hotel that afternoon. Rachel had been delayed overnight in Denver, so she took a shuttle to the hotel from the airport. Joe and Dee came, then Lucy Abraham came (Row and Loren picked her up from the airport). The rehearsal started at 5 pm - but we were 20 minutes late by our mistake of not anticipating the roads being really bad from the fresh 2 inches of snow that fell quickly and rush hour. The rehearsal was interesting and challenging, trying to keep track of our 2 kids running around. Dave was tied up doing the part of the groom's best man. Violet did a good job with the rehearsal. The more challenging part of the evening was at the rehearsal dinner. Neither kid had a great nap, so both were extra tired from lack of sleep and expending lots of energy. The rehearsal dinner was at Biaggi's - a reeeally good italian restaurant with great food. It was really enjoyable to be around lots of family and friends that I hadn't seen in a long time. G & G Pavicic from Fargo, Ruth and Michael, Lucy, G & G Hardinger from Arizona, Charlotte Narjes, Rachel from OK, just to name a few. I had a hard time engaging in any long conversations because my attention was always needed somewhere between V and C. Calvin got really whiney and tired at the dinner. I couldn't find his paci or his blanket, and I knew his teeth were hurting him - he's got 3 coming in still. I ran out with the van to Walmart to get some motrin and a paci but they didn't carry any more of the pacis that he likes. I resorted to a different kind but in the end, he didn't like it. Everybody was waiting for me to come pick them up afterwards at the restaurant. Once we got our two screaming kids back to the hotel, we got them to bed as soon as we could, and then tried our best to relax and hang out with family. Calvin went down to bed EASY - he always looks forward to laying down with his paci and special blanket (I found one of his pacis in his bag at the hotel) and Violet was a little apprehensive of about sleeping in "a huge bed". After getting her settled down, she slept for a little bit, but once we got back in the room and went to sleep, she whined, cried in her sleep, was too hot, it was always something. It seemed like every 15 minutes during the night she was awake whining about something. Then Calvin started to cough incessantly and she woke up and screamed at him to stop. He stopped coughing, she fell asleep, then woke up an hour later and wet the bed. She whined that she was cold, I changed her into different clothes (i only packed 1 pair of pajamas, what was i thinking??), got her back to sleep, then Calvin started coughing again. It was just one kid making noise allll night...we barely slept and felt foggy and woozy by morning. Ugh. We got out of bed at 6:30 to shower and get dressed. Rachel drove with us in the morning. We dropped off Calvin with Aunt Mary Kay at her house. She was happy to take care of him while I took care of Violet during the schedule picture-taking time at the church. She did pretty good for those three hours of waiting time and getting pictures taken. She loved all the attention - saying "cheese!" for almost every picture shot. She was crazy about her "clippy shoes." Her friend Katie let her borrow a pair of white dressy shoes and they were comfy and fit perfect! She wanted to walk in the hallway where it was hard flooring so she could hear her shoes clip-clop. The time rolled around quickly and guests started arriving, so I got Violet in place with the rest of the wedding party in the back of the church and took my place. As I walked down the side aisle, I caught a glimpse of Mary Kay holding a happy Calvin. He did great through the whole wedding! Violet walked down the aisle and dropped her flower petals, one by one, most of them got caught on her puffy dress fabric because of the strong static cling. The photographer brushed them off her dress at the end of the aisle. I called her name and she lit up and came running to me. She did great! I had two packages of fruit snacks ready for her to eat during he wedding ceremony. It worked like a charm! She did great and sat still for most of it. The ceremony was really nice. Jay and Molly looked SO happy!!! The wedding reception was also fun. It was at A Touch of Class. J & M sat at the head table with each of their parents. I liked that idea instead of the whole wedding party. Calvin stuffed his face with bread, bread and more bread. He eventually fell asleep on Uncle Michael's shoulder for about 45 minutes. We laid him to sleep on the floor and later I found him walking around. Violet ran around with Devin for a lot of the reception. The music was really great, too. They hired a guitarist who had a really nice voice. We sat at a table with Gary and Sami Pace and Rachel. Violet really started to get tired and whiny during the reception. At one point she came up to me and said "Mom! I'm too hot!" I picked her up and she was sweating. I changed her into a different outfit, and she seemed happier. Dave gave a really great speech at the party as the best man, said some really great things about Jay. His punch line was "Molly, you look stunning! And Jay, you just look stunned!" Next step was to get the kids some rest. We went over to Dave and Mary Kay's house and let Violet take a nap in Calvin's pack and play (I guess she felt safer in there being in a strange house) and he stayed awake. They hosted the family at their house for an evening of games, fun and appetizers. Calvin played most of the night ON the pool table, putting balls in pockets and pushing them around. He ate a ton of crackers, too. It was the day of carbs, apparently. We left around 8 pm and by the time we got home, Calvin was out like a light. I could have tossed him around and I think he would have kept sleeping. I stuck him in his crib with his clothes on and he slept until morning just like that. V was more of a challenge. She was soo overtired, she was a screaming mess. We got her ready for bed downstairs so she wouldn't wake up C. Sunday morning I stayed home. Dave took both kids with him to Bethany. I just needed alone time to recuperate and get the house back in shape. I'm more of an introvert who gets a little weary and tired from socializing for 2 days straight. I've had a nice day to relax, so I'm recharged and much better now. eta: public link to the pictures on facebook http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=219777&id=517210532&l=b5338