Today is Vivian's 2nd birthday! I haven't been posting this week because every free moment has been spent putting toys together :) And I have no pictures this morning, but we have a fun day planned and we'll make sure to share with everyone tonight. Thank you to everyone for loving her and being a part of her life!

We are taking the plunge! Vivian is going to be 2 on Friday, so we thought it might be time to let her grow up a little and ditch the crib. Tonight is our first night. So far so good...I left her in there a few minutes before 8:00 and she's been very quiet. Aaron just went in to check on her (around 9) and she was still awake, but just laying there in the same place I left her. I'm sure she's entirely confused about what's going on...but then again, maybe I am underestimating how much she understands? I think it will be a while before we have any discipline issues associated with being in the bed (getting out when she's not supposed to) because I don't think she realizes that it's a possibility :)

Next up...take away that pacifier!!! AHH!! We'll give ourselves a couple months before we try to mess with that.

The next several posts are all about our big wedding weekend (starting on Thursday morning for me!). Our friends Ben and Molly got married on Saturday! Picture all of our dearest friends (our church family) celebrating and partying together with the same thankful hearts, mindful of God's great favor in ordaining this marriage before the creation of the world, and preparing Ben and Molly to use their union as an opportunity to reflect Christ's love for his Bride, the Church. It was an encouraging, fun weekend!
There are lots of pictures, so these posts are mostly for our church family who might want to see them. If you have any pictures that you can share with me, please email me!

Friday night we met everyone at the church for the rehearsal, which was just as worshipful as the wedding ceremony itself! It went smoothly and we were soon over at the Carroll's for the rehearsal dinner.

handsome men, really focused on practicing for the next day ;)

again my husband is distracted. we're seeing a pattern...
all the beautiful ladies

The Carroll's hosted us at their home. Three Little Pigs restaurant catered with BBQ and slaw...yummy.

I loved the setting for the dinner. They set up a huge tent and decorated so classy.

Nick and Gretchen

Gretchen took our picture and made a joke of it the first time around by getting mostly Scott instead of us...

and then she took a real one. We had a great night, celebrating Ben and Molly!

Ben and Molly's wedding...the event of the year! We've been looking forward to this weekend for many months. It was such a beautiful celebration of God's grace in joining these two for marriage. We were able to see God knitting their hearts together from the very beginning when Ben started to pursue Molly at church, so it was a special blessing for us to be a part of their big day.

On Saturday Vivian went to her first real birthday party. It was for her preschool friend, Avery, and it was a Dora theme. We had a great time! It just made her seem so grown up to me...

This is the most fun baby stage for me! Kate is so sweet and happy and easy (of course she has her moments, though). God has given us an immeasurable gift. -Kate is crawling fast, cruising well, and walking while we hold her hands. She is making no progress towards standing well or taking steps because she sits down as soon as she's put in a standing position.
-She eats almost any kind of table food now...we're not holding anything back. It's so much easier now that both girls are eating pretty much the same things. Sometimes I'm afraid she's going to get sick from eating so much. She's feeding herself well but I'm usually embarrassed in restaurants by the mess she leaves under the highchair.

-She is starting to sit still for me to read books. I can usually get through half of a book before she tries to eat it or squirms to get down.

-She kisses us when we ask her to.

-She can sort of wave...she just moves her whole arm up and down in response to someone waving at her.

-She's starting to point at things.

-She definitely recognizes Papa, Gramme, and Tillie.

-She loves to swing doors open and closed.

-Her noises and babbling are more purposeful and strong. "d", "n", "m", "b", "p", "g" are some of the sounds I've heard her make. Vivian loves it when Kate talks to her, which mostly happens when they're eating a meal.

-Besides climbing on mommy, another favorite activity for her is climbing stairs.

-I'm going to start working on weaning her from formula, starting maybe this week. The plan is to try and drop the 3pm feeding first, offering whole milk instead. ?? This is unknown territory for me because Vivian was so different when it came to bottle feedings.

On Thursday Vivian and I had some time alone together (thanks to Gramme for letting K nap at her house...) and so we took a trip to the park. There is an old Norfolk & Western caboose on display at the park. It's not in very good shape on the inside due to vandalism, but it was fun enough for Vivian just to be so close to a real train.

And of course throwing rocks provided most of the entertainment.

Trains are special for us since we have them in our front and backyards :)

Then we walked back to the playground equipment for sliding and running and crawling through tunnels. Fun morning!

We went outside one afternoon this week so that I could water the flowers. It started pouring while we were out there so we got stuck under the shelter for a while!

V played in the rain and mud and K was desperate to do the same.

She got wet and muddy anyway, even though I made her stay under the shelter with me.

I know, I am really late to post about our holiday weekend. But the girls are in bed now, and Aaron is hanging out with the guys for Ben's bachelor party tonight, so I have a few minutes to catch up!

Here's a brief summary of how we spent Memorial Day weekend: We ate bbq ribs and corn on the cob.

Stephen and Michael came in for a big dinner on Sunday evening.

Vivian played peekaboo with Papa and Gramme. Actually, she played with them a lot because we spent a lot of time at their house over the weekend. Vivian even spent the night there two nights in a row! They swam quite a bit.

Aaron relaxed and engaged himself in deep thoughts.

Dad treated us to DQ ice cream on Sunday night (what an extreme background for our photo!).

On Monday morning we ate breakfast at the Omelet Shoppe, a family favorite.

A few other things that aren't pictured:

Aaron was getting over strep throat and I was getting it from him.

Aaron bought a new truck on Saturday.

We went to church and were thankful to have Pastor Nick and the team back from Uganda.

V watched Cinderella again with her Daddy.