Mommin' It Up!

December 31, 2013December 30, 2013

A Wedding in December

Two weeks ago, my family had the privilege of attending and being a part of a December wedding.

The bride: our favorite babysitter, Krisha, whom we’ve known since she was 12.

Krisha Bride sign — I stole this picture from one of Krisha’s bridesmaids. They were just havin’ a little fun the night before the wedding…

The bride’s mother: My very BFF, Luanne.

The flower girls: my Sophie and Krisha’s niece, Marler:

Sophie is three years older than Marler but they get along so well. Marler is very special to our family; I was privileged to be there at her birth with her mom, grandmom, great-grandmom, and auntie. (Today, as I write this, it is Marler’s 4th birthday, as a matter of fact! She is a New Year’s Eve baby.) And holding her on my lap as she watched her precious auntie get married was pretty special too.

It was such fun and such a privilege to be involved behind-the-scenes, as I was the unofficial flower girl wrangler, I kept the girls occupied while Krisha and her maids got ready and got pictures and I got to be there for the fun things like seeing Krisha get her dress on, and praying together for Krisha before the wedding.

SONY DSC — They were pretty pleased with their curly hair (a first for Sophie!) and lovely dresses.

Soon enough it was time for Krisha to make that momentous walk down the aisle to her very eager groom, and since I was back with the flower girls to tell them when to go, I got to blow her one last kiss before she took off to be given away.

And then it was ON: the flower girls did great, the pastor gave a wonderful sermon, the music and the tears flowed freely. And in just a few minutes, our Krisha was not a bride but a wife. Corey’s wife!

Immediately after the ceremony, the bridal party was ushered into a side room to await photographs. I was in there as Flower Girl Wrangler, and snapped this sweet photo of the newlyweds as they found a quiet corner to be together in. I know I’m a total stalker, but I have it on good authority that everyone is glad this photo was taken.

Anyway! After the photos, the real fun started; it was at the Dayton Art Institute, and the wedding was amazingly beautiful and the reception was over-the-top FUN! Sophie danced her booty off and had the time of her life! Here she is LOSING HER MIND on the dance floor:

Of course there were lots of sweet dances, too! Krisha’s mom and dad are our very best friends, so I shed lots of sappy tears during these!

Krisha’s parents EVEN let her dance with her new husband!

And then the bride got down with her BAD self (and her friends):

Joshua was very excited about the wedding, because he LOVES Corey, the groom. He is his 2nd-biggest fan after Krisha, I think. Corey, though a full-fledged grown-up, likes all the things that Joshua likes: Marvel Superheroes, Star Wars, you know…he’s a “cool nerd”. It’s a thing. And I’m so glad Joshua looks up to him and likes hanging out with him! Since Krisha isn’t going to be our babysitter anymore, we’ll still get to hang out with her and Corey as friends…I’m glad he enjoys our kids, too.

One really fun part of the wedding was the awesome photo booth set up by the official photographers, Braun Photography. The Rapsons got an epic pic!

It’s too bad Jonah wasn’t there for the pic, but let’s face it, NO ONE would have enjoyed the wedding if he was there! He’s three, and he’s crazy.

Sophie and I and my friend Becky had some more photo booth fun later!

JennyBeckySophie — Don’t act like you’re not impressed…

And before we saw them off to start their new life together with candle-lit lanterns on a cold December night, Krisha and Corey and her family had some photo booth moments as well:

This was a special wedding for me. I got to see one of the people I love most in the world embark on a marriage to a wonderful man, both fully seeking God with all their hearts. I got to see my dear best friend glow as she was the gracious hostess, mother of the bride, and example of beauty and grace, and I got to see my daughter have one of the most special and memorable nights of her young life. It’s a night I’ll remember forever, this wedding in December.

December 26, 2013

Christmas was Merry. And then the puke started.

Happy Boxing Day! Whatever that means. One of you can educate me in the comments, I’m cleeeaarly not British. But I am hoping that you & yours had a Merry Christmas and made some awesome memories with your families. Ours was good on the whole, but all did not go exactly as planned. Saturday night, the 21st, Jonah started puking his guts out, and had to sit out our family Christmas on Sunday with my side of the family. Bobby stayed home with him while I took the big kids to my parents’ house for presents, grandparents, and cousin time. Unfortunately, this was also going to be Jonah’s family birthday celebration (along with my nephew Alan whose birthday is tomorrow), but Jonah had to miss that too. WAAH! Nevertheless, we had a great time with our family, and when we got home, Jonah was feeling much better and enjoyed opening his presents.

He had fully recovered by Christmas Eve, so we went to our church’s Christmas Eve service, which was awesome, and reminded us all again that the true wonder of Christmas is that God became flesh – can you imagine? To be in HEAVEN, where everything is bliss, and then to all of a sudden be in a dirty world where your bed smells like cow breath and probably worse? It is truly amazing…I enjoyed helping my kids understand this miracle by doing the Truth in the Tinsel advent crafts with them every day in December (ok, we missed a few days of crafting, but we did read ALL the lessons!) The last craft we made on December 24th was the cross ornament above, reminding us that Jesus came not only to be born, but to die as well – for us.

We hustled the kids to bed after Christmas Eve service, and they were SO EXCITED! Here’s Joshua and Sophie on their way up to get in their PJ’s:

and Captain Underpants making sure the stockings were hung with care.

The Bobby and I wrapped presents, and he ran out to the corner store for bread and chocolate chips (natch) and settled into bed as soon as we could, although we had made the big kids promise to stay in bed til 7:30, you never know how much self-control they are going to be able to exhibit.

Christmas morning they did make it until 7:30 and Jonah woke up at 7:45 so we could get started with presents. They loved their something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read, and bonus gift from their siblings.

Joshua's "something to wear" was this Ironman helmet that makes noises, lights up, and shoot projectiles at you! Awesome. — Joshua’s “something to wear” was this Ironman helmet that makes noises, lights up, and shoot projectiles at you! Awesome.

Sophie heartlake high — Sophie’s “something you want” was LEGO Friends Heartlake High School set.

Jonah was pretty much worn out after stockings though. He liked present-opening on his birthday when it was JUST HIM opening presents and not everyone else, too! So, he did what any aggravated 3-year-old would do: took his pants off and curled up in the fetal position using his stocking as a pillow.

Jonah fetal position — This kid’s life is ROUGH.

After taking forever with presents, we had to eat a hurried breakfast and scramble to get ready to go to my Grandma’s for lunch, and then from there to my other Grandma’s for dinner. This is were we got to meet up with Emily and her family as well as her sister Anna & her family. My oldest brother, sister-in-law, and nephews were there too. (Which BTW? I have really started to enjoy harassing my 16-year-old nephew on Twitter. Good times!) It was great fun – more cousins, more presents, more cuteness, Jonah pooped his pants, and then we finally headed home super-weary about 7 pm.

I wasn’t feeling too great at this point, so I went to bed about 8 and my sweet husband put the kids to bed. All was well until 1:15 when Joshua woke me up with “Mom I just had a yucky poop and I feel sick.”

“RUN to the bathroom!” I commanded.

He barely made it in time. And from then on it was up-down, up-down with him until 3-ish when Sophie also came in and reported that she had just puked in the toilet.

Then Joshua was back in, then Sophie again…Bobby bore the brunt of it, and then had to get up for work. I was exhausted, and had to get up and deal with it in the daylight – and hopefully keep Jonah out of it! Today has been pretty rough, I hate seeing my poor babies feeling so miserable.

I’m thankful we got through Christmas and had a great day, but I sure hope my big kids recover QUICK so we can all enjoy their break, and that Jonah doesn’t get it again.

Did YOU have a merry little Christmas? What did your kids get? Besides the stomach flu, mine are both loving their NERF bow & arrows!

December 20, 2013December 20, 2013

Bring the Coffeehouse home with NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto. I received product samples to facilitate my review as well as a thank me for my participation.

Have I mentioned lately that I a~~m addicted to~~ LOVE COFFEE? Oh, I have? Well, just to make sure you know that I am in deep hot-and-heavy love with coffee, I am blogging about it again. I’ve been drinking three cups in the morning and one in the afternoon for quite a while now. Lest the romance become stale, I’ve found a new way to enjoy it – I’ve brought a third party into the relationship. Scandal! Here’s my new paramour, the NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto.

The NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto is a singler-serve coffee maker – the fastest-growing single-serve solution, in fact. It also makes delicious teas and can pump out gourmet beverages either hot OR cold. Hooray for versatility! I really love the convenience of being able to make a fancy, tasty drink in under a minute and having multiple varieties and flavors to choose from – it’s GREAT for entertaining! If you have (shudder!) a friend who doesn’t love coffee, you can offer them a Chai Tea Latte, Chococino, or Nestea Peach Iced Tea. Something for everyone, wheee!

What I most love about the Dolce Gusto is that it’s sooo easy to use. I’m pretty good at messing stuff up and I think the Dolce Gusto is Jenny-proofed (which is the same as idiot-proofed, I suppose!) All you do is put water in, put a coffee capsule in, and press either the hot or cold button. (Oh, and UM…don’t forget to place a mug under the spout first. Not that I’ve ever forgotten…)

Then, watch your tasty drink get dispensed right before your eyes…

…and enjoy!

So, I know many of you may have tried different single-serve beverage makers, and you might be wondering what’s different about the NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto. Why is it so speeeecial? Well, I’ll tell you! NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto is the only machine that truly delivers delicious, coffee house quality creations every time with patented smart capsule technology delivering up to 15 bars of professional pressure and espresso technology. I love the way you can personalize your flavors by choosing how much of each flavor you want in your drink.

And speaking of personalizing…I added a little flavor to my frothy Chococino hot chocolate. Because ’tis the holiday season, and the season for peppermint! So I concocted an absolutely scrumptious treat, the Peppermint Chococino!

Making my Peppermint Chococino was as simple as can be! First, I prepared a NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto Chococino as directed. Then, I added two drops of peppermint extract – you can add more or less to taste. Then, I topped it off with some whipped cream and holiday-themed sprinkles. Ta-da! The perfect, delicious, festive holiday drink ready in a snap!

My hubby and I are really enjoying the Dolce Gusto and so are the friends we’ve entertained this holiday season! Speaking of the holidays, the NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto would make a great gift, and you can get 20% off on one of these fabulous machines with coupon code “GustoGift!” (without quotes, including the exclamation point).

So tell me, have you tried the NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto yet? What’s your favorite flavor? Do you like to use it for hot or cold drinks?