The Final Bohlman Wedding--The Rehearsal

My sister Mary Jo's wedding was on November 9th, so the kids and I headed to Madison on Thursday to start all the wonderful wedding festivities. Thursday night was my sister's personal shower/bachelorette party. We had waited to have it until Thursday so that Mary Jo's best friend Nikki as well as our other sister Lindsay could be there. And since they were going to be in town for the wedding, Thursday night was perfect. We had some great apps at Nikki's parent's house and opened gifts, then headed downtown to a piano bar. It was a great night and lots of fun celebrating my sister, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures! I was too busy having fun and forgot my camera. 

The next day was the rehearsal which equals craziness if you are a member of the bride's family. (I'm not sure what it's like for the groom's family since we've never been that family, but I can only assume it's nothing like our house!)

My mom had her nail tech/friend Jennifer come to their house to do all the girls' nails for the wedding. My mom did this for Lindsay's wedding also and all the bridesmaids as well as the groom's mom came over to get their nails all pretty. Even before Jennifer came, Sadie said, "Nani, is your friend Jennifer coming again to do our nails?" Of course Sadie remembered her for two reasons; (a) Sadie loves getting  her nails done or anything that is a form of pampering (b) Jennifer has a daughter named Sadie and was so excited to meet another Sadie

So Jennifer came and set up her station in my parent's dining room and was busy working most of the day. Once again, I didn't get many pictures but this time it was because I was running last-minute errands for my mom. My Dad, Uncle Rob and Wyatt went down to the reception venue and spent the entire afternoon setting up. 

My mom did grab my camera at one point and took this picture…I was getting a pedicure while curling my sister's hair for her rehearsal while also helping Blake find a game on my phone. So thankful that God gave moms the ability to multi-task! 

And this guy was so great---despite not helping the guys and not being involved with the girls and our nails, he just hung around my parents house and played--and charmed a few guests as well! I'm quite sure he had his ideal choice of foods since the supervision on him was quite low, as noted by the remains on the edges of his mouth.

Off to the rehearsal!! My Dad, Rob and Wyatt got back to my parents house with about 10 minutes to spare until we needed to leave for the rehearsal. And somehow we all made it--showered, dressed nice and still smiling!!

The rehearsal--we started the 'practice' (since that's what it is) from the end of the ceremony and worked our way to the beginning. So we began by finding our assigned places at the front of the church.

(L to R Groom's sister Rachel, friend Laura, sister Lindsay, myself and best friend Nikki--Mary Jo and Matt--all the groomsmen)

Bohlman girls having fun

Matt walking in his future mother-in-law (by the way, my mom looked gorgeous in her dress, which she needed a bit of convincing to wear but got many compliments on!)

Linds

Had to shake it up a little... 

And this girl loved every minute of the attention...

But it was this girl's moment!

Matt Metzger was the pastor from my parent's/Matt and Mary Jo's church who performed the ceremony and he was so great! I've always loved his preaching and thought he did a great job as a wedding officiant as well!

Blake was adamant that he have a mohawk--I told him he couldn't do it for the wedding but could rock it for the rehearsal.

Since the kids were going back to my parents house after the rehearsal and my mother-in-law was going to be watching them, they wouldn't be at the rehearsal dinner. So my sister and Matt gave the kids their gifts for being in the wedding while we were still at the church. The boys both got two planes from the PLANES movie...

And Sadie got a Wisconsin Badger cheerleader outfit for her American girl doll and a personalized hanger for her flower girl dress.

Then Blake was off--the kids did a great job but rehearsals aren't exactly designed for kids'!

Our table at the rehearsal (Matt wasn't able to come until the next morning as he had the MN State Podiatry meeting that weekend and he was a co-chair of the entire thing--thankfully he made it in time for the wedding)

And a picture of all the Bohlman ladies after the dinner--thankfully we got this one just before we all went to bed! The night was so busy AND fun that we barely stopped long enough to get some pictures!! Better late than never!

First snowfall

The first snowfall of the year is always so fun and exciting--especially with kids! The kids woke up and looked outside and were giddy with excitement. Getting the kids dressed and fed and ready by 7:30am was no problem! The motivation of getting outside to play in the snow before school was a welcome change for me! Thankfully our new neighbors are also early risers and the kids had some friends to play with. 

Despite only having an inch or two, the kids still wanted to make snow angels, snowmen, have snowball fights---all the usual fun snow activities. I'd say only one of those activities was successful.

Their excitement was contagious but also mildly hilarious to see the green grass just beneath their snow angels.

Running around inside the 'ice rink'---Matt got the brackets hammered into the ground while it was still soft--just in time!

Halloween 2013

The weekend before Halloween we carved pumpkins, but this year Matt and I opted not to carve our own since we usually end up spending much of the time helping the kids and then we are left to finish our own late into the evening. And thank goodness we only did three because it took long enough to get the seeds and guts out of these three!

Blake followed in his dad's footsteps and broke one of the carving tools (Matt broke a knife last year)

Once it started getting messy, Wyatt took off his jersey and Blake opted to go shirtless (nothing new).

At some point during the process, Sadie took over camera duties and the boys started playing hockey....

...because this is usually how it ends.

Sadie took the only 'before' picture....her very own design on her pumpkin. The boys opted to go with the store-bought design that Matt and I basically ended up carving.

And with the way things have been going this fall, I'm just glad I even remembered to take pictures of the kids on Halloween. I never got pictures of the completed pumpkins, but you can see behind the kids that they actually did get finished!

Spiderman, a blue guy and Dorothy

This may have been Sadie's favorite costume, despite the fact that we have never seen the movie "The Wizard of Oz". But it's always fun when people recognize your costume and she was thrilled that she got to wear bright red lipstick!

The loot....Blake actually stuck it out the longest!! The kids were starting to get cold and Wyatt said his bucket was getting heavy, but this little guy never once said he was cold or that his candy was too heavy. He kept up with those big kids the entire time and loved every minute of it--such a trooper!

Each year we take our candy to a local orthodontist that pays $2/lb for the candy and then sends it overseas to military personnel. It's so wonderful because the kids pick out a few pieces they want to keep and then we don't have candy laying around the house for weeks! Wyatt didn't want to keep any of his candy and just wanted to get the most money while Sadie wanted to keep the most pieces (10 is our max). Ironically, Blake got the most money!

And our new next door neighbors handed out little cans of pop, which my kids thought was the absolute best candy ever!!