A Wedding!

Well, it's about time I posted... And, I'm backing up to before we went to the US to post about a wedding we were a part of. It was a small one, but meaningful nonetheless.  

A friend of the bride is a professional accordian player of all things - she really was amazing!

Micah and the Groom

Bride and Groom

Peyton was very popular that night

Girls picture

Another girls picture

Flower girl and Ring Bearer (we didn't know about this till we arrived)

Bride sharing

Groom sharing

Happy Married couple with our family (less the ring bearer)

More of Peyton's admirers

It was a fun night - very local in flavor, but yet the ceremony itself had western aspects as well. For example, it was not planned out very far in advance, just kind "fly by the seat of your pants" type of thing. But it ended up fine.  And, the bride wanted to "walk in with her father". So in the middle of the wedding, she goes to her father and pulls him to the back of the room so he can "walk her down the aisle". Ha ha! At first I was like, what's going on? Is her father upset about something?  They also did the traditional local part of the couple going to each set of parents and showing their respect to them.  Normally I think they serve them tea, but I think they just went up to them and hugged them or something. (Hey, this was almost 5 months ago, and I've got mommy brain, and I was trying to keep 3 kids quiet, so I don't remember details) Oh, and Micah officiated by sharing a little, having them say their (personally written) vows, and proclaiming them husband and wife.  This couple is now living in a nearby city and is expecting their first child. Micah was able to visit them recently and help them work through some of the first year of marriage bumps in the road ;)

Mason's Birthday Take 1

On June 30, 2012 Mason turned 4!  We were able to celebrate twice, though - once in Austin and once in Sulphur Springs.  Here are some pictures from the first party in Austin.  My family and bff Kim and her 5 kids made the party complete!  We went to an indoor play area (interesting to compare with the indoor play areas we go to in our country) and then to a burger restaurant for dinner and cake.

Mason and Jaden - Jaden is 8 and took Mason  kind of under his wing for the day since it was his birthday. This MADE Mason's day.

Isaac and Reister - buddies (Isaac is 3 months older than Reister)

Reister, Peyton and TJ in the baby area

Me and Kim

Burger Time

the 4 year olds, Liam and Mason

Daddy and Mason

Mason chose Transformers for his cake - but this time I didn't make it, just paid $20 at HEB!

Forgot to buy or bring candles so Micah quickly downloaded a virtual candle app on his phone - ha ha!

I guess the kids all thought that was cool but a little odd in terms of blowing it out

Mommy and the birthday boy

Peyton with Poppo and LiLi (my parents)

the Imaginext Joker castle from Poppo and LiLi

batman car from Uncle Sean and Aunt Jenna

Reister was getting into the present opening too

The sun was shining a little bright so you can't see it that well, but the  restaurant had a great outdoor playground by the outdoor seating - great for the kids!

Attempt at a family picture

The beautiful Texas sunset after the party - we'll miss that!

Time with cousin Tyler Jude

Our time in the states is coming close to and end and I am just now realizing I should get busy blogging before I go back to the land of slower and limited internet access!

Here are some pictures with the boys' youngest cousin, Tyler Jude, the son of my brother and sister-in-law.  Our boys all LOVED him and knew exactly how to play with him because of having a baby brother just about his age.  Tyler Jude was born November 2 (Peyton was born September 28)
These pictures were all taken back in June - TJ and Peyton have both changed a lot since then!

TJ and Aunt Michelle

Sean, Jenna and TJ (Tyler Jude)

Crawling races - this is before Peyton learned to crawl up on his hands and knees - he was doing the "army crawl" forever!

Studio Pictures

Before we left to come back to America for the summer I finally, for the first time, got the boys pictures made in a studio. I have been wanting to do this for a LONG time and finally took action. Actually, I went and had them done one week while Micah was traveling but we went back to look at them after he was back and we didn't like them at all. So, we went back and had them done again and they turned out much better.  Here are some of the best ones: