Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Frequent Flier Miles

Last weekend was a monumental occasion for the Dirk's family because our sweet Aunt Melodee (aka Aunt Roomie) became Mrs. Penner and we gained a fantastic Uncle and brother in law. So, we hopped on a plane one more time to spend a celebratory week in Kansas with the Dirks and Penners.


We tried to help out as much as we could leading up to the big day. Even the kids helped. Here Maggie is helping Melodee open an early wedding gift it was an heirloom nativity set, complete with baby "Emmanuel."Henry performed as one of the ring bearers, but played much better in his role as dance scene stealer/John Travolta at the reception.
Maggie was one of three flower girls and did a fabulous job throwing the petals, even though little brother tried to pick them up and put them back in her bucket, this was all before he was ushered out of the sanctuary prior to completing his trek down the aisle (I think we may have dodged a bullet on that one). He started losing it when he saw Daddy and Mommy at the front of the church (I was a bridesmaid and Tyler officiated) he came out of his petal picking stupor and sort of moaned "DahhhDdddeeeee."
Maggie and Henry showed some brotherly/sisterly love during the rehearsal.
Carb loading before the march down the aisle. You got to keep your energy up, or your children happy whichever comes first.
Pinning the grooms boutonnière on his lapel.
And the oh so important ring bearers as well.
The beautiful bride and her proud papa. I must admit I got a little choked up watching these two dance especially when I looked over at Maggie gazing at the two from the sidelines and realized that she would be doing the same thing one day. But, hopefully we can hold her off until she's forty.
My sweet mother in law and me enjoying the reception. This lady worked hard so that this day would be so special for her little girl, and I would say she did a fabulous job and mission accomplished.
Maggie took a few spins on the dance floor with her Dog and Daddy too. She loved spinning around in her long flowing dress.
The couple was married in Dodge City Kansas and so we did a bit of travelling back and forth to Garden City throughout the week. Titus was a faithful pooch as he watched us come and go, so Maggie showed him some love. Henry enjoyed showing Titus the love too, I'm not sure Titus appreciated his "love" nearly as much, especially when he tried to ride him like a horse.
When we left on Monday from the Wichita airport we ran into these two, Mrs. and Mr. Penner, they were on there way to Mexico! We were so glad to see them, but no one was more so than our two little ones that kept asking questions like "where did Aunt Melodee go," and "is Aunt Melodee Mrs. Penner now?" It really was a great week, thanks for everything Dog, Grams, and Mr. and Mrs. Penner.

Back in the Saddle...

So as soon as we got back home a few weeks ago the first thing Maggie did was (of course) dress up in her princess outfits. Whenever I asked her in Germany what she was looking forward to doing back in Charlotte she always replied with, "I am going to dress up and play with my toys." That is exactly what she did and has been doing ever since we arrived back in the good ole USA.

Tyler also took her to her first ever big screen movie. Here they are posing just before they left, note the back pack our innocent three year old is wearing so that she can sneak in some goldfish snacks....certainly this is allowed.
Toy Story 3, I still haven't seen it but I've heard it's pretty awesome.
We also have been doing a lot of visiting and catching up with family and friends. We even had an impromptu visit from my sister and her clan. Henry was super excited to hold "the baby," Evan. And, he just couldn't stop calling his cousin Brody, "Sam." (Which is certainly a compliment for both of his buddies.)
We stopped through Columbia and visited with Grandma Dot, and after she fed us a delicious dinner, the kids helped themselves to a few rides on Grandma D's orthopedic, remote controlled lazy boy.
Grandma Dot and the two crazy great grands.
After our short trip to Columbia/Chapin (and a fabulous reunion with the ever popular Grandma and Poppa and a first birthday party celebration with cousin Trooper) it was back to dress up in Charlotte with our little friend Zion.