about that big girl bed......

So, as the story goes... When all of the wedding planning began Mark and Diana asked Jackson and Jaideyn to be in the wedding. We were very excited about it and started thinking of "a bribe" for the kids to ensure that they did well at the wedding. Jaideyn has been asking for a big girl bed for awhile now and we told her for her 4th birthday she could get a big girl bed! Well, we got the bright idea that we would give her a big girl bed if she did good at the wedding! She was so excited and could not wait for the wedding to get here! This all started about 3 months ago- so the wedding seemed so far away. No worries!
As time went on other things came about- Mark and Diana bought them gifts for being in the wedding, Papa and Mema bought them a gift for being in the wedding, and we were able to spend the day at the water park. So, they did end up getting rather spoiled over the weekend.
We thought all was well and that we were done with the wedding stuff and the big girl bed forgotten about- until this morning our precious little Jaideyn says "Mom, remember when you told me that I could have a big girl bed if I did good at Uncle Mark's wedding?" I said yes, honey I remember- and kinda waited to see what she would say and her response was simply "about that big girl bed....!" I laughed and said what about the big girl bed? and she just stared at me! Well, it seems like a bit of overkill at this point (how many gifts does one need to be in a wedding?) but a promise is a promise! So out came the crib and in went the big girl bed!

Here are the girls enjoying Jaideyn's new big girl bed! A fun part of the story is that as soon as we started working in her room Jaideyn decided that she needed to put her "pretty" skirt and shirt on to get ready for her big girl bed. Then once the bed was finished she had to change into her mona to lay on the bed because apparently that seemed more appropriate. It is amazing how at 3 she is already concerned about wearing the appropriate attire for each event in her life!

Here she is playing her leapster in bed for a few minutes before "lights out!"

My baby girl all snuggled up in her big girl bed. She seems much too little to have such a big bed. I must admit that I am regretting this promise that I made to Jaideyn! I am certainly struggling with letting her grow up! She is my baby and I am not ready for this transition. Her crib is basically all that is left of her baby and toddler years and now that is gone! My baby has grown up!

Well, the big girl bed is a success! Jaideyn is sound asleep as I am writing this. It didn't take long at all! And I must add that "peeply" is not in the big girl bed with her! That was one of the conditions of getting a big girl bed way before the wedding thing came about. She must get rid of peeply because big girls don't need to sleep with peeply! Jaideyn decided last week that she would be giving peeply to Aunt Missy's baby girl because she is new and will need a peeply to keep her safe and happy! She came up with idea all on her own and we are playing along. Jaideyn told me that "tonight you need to wash peeply up real nice so that it will smell good for the baby!" So, Aunt Missy beware- you have a peeply headed your way sometime real soon!!

Our wonderful weekend!

It finally arrived! We have been planning and talking about this weekend for what seems like forever, and we enjoyed every minute of it! Mark and Diana were married on Saturday and we all were invited to participate in the wedding! It started out on Friday night with the rehearsal and then dinner at Ucello's. We met at 6 at Covenant Church to practice for the wedding. Jackson and Jaideyn were the ring bearer and flower girl. They were very excited about the wedding and being a part of it! Tim and I were also in the wedding and were very excited about that also! I must admit that I was very nervous about all 4 of us being in the wedding and I was wondering how I could possibly do it, but by the grace of God- everything went perfectly!!!

Here are the kiddos posing for a pic after the rehearsal. They both took their job very seriously- and did exactly what they were asked to do! It was so awesome to see!

Diana and Jaideyn. Diana made this bouquet of ribbons from all of her showers to use at the rehearsal. After we were done Diana gave the ribbon bouquet to Jaideyn. Jaideyn thought that was the neatest thing in the world. It is still sitting on her night stand and she says that we can't play with it. We can only look at it because she doesn't want to ruin it!!!!

After the rehearsal the kids got a present for doing so well. As you can see Jackson was very happy about his gift. It was a new game for his gameboy!

Jaideyn was very surprised when she opened her gift. It was her very first Barbie! She has been begging for barbie's for at least a year now, but we have always said no. We told her she had to be older to get barbie's. But, we allowed it this time- it was a very special occasion!

Saturday morning at 9 all of the girls in the wedding party, the moms and even Diana's grandma went to Authentics to get our hair done for the wedding. It was so much fun to be able to do it all together. And of course it was extra special for me because Jaideyn was able to get her hair done! It was the most precious thing to watch. She loved every minute of it. It probably took 45 minutes to do her hair and she sat still the entire time. She was having the time of her life. I was a bit nervous that we were creating a diva- but hey- it was all for Uncle Mark and Aunt Diana's wedding!!!

Mema getting her hair done!

The almost finished product! Isn't she cute?!

After our hair was done we headed to the Church to get dressed and ready for pics. It was a lot of work, but everyone in the wedding party was so helpful and they were all very good to the kids. That helped soooo much! We spend several hours getting our pics taken and the kids did great. Avery came to the church and was able to be in some of the pics also. That was neat to have the whole family there. Thank you to Aunt Laura for letting Avery stay with you Fri night and for bringing her to the Church. Thank you Bradi for coming and picking Avery up after pics. I am so thankful that you offered to help out and we appreciate you so much!!

In between pics we had some time to just hang out. This was Jaideyn's attire during that time. We didn't want her to get her dress dirty, so we threw on a sweater and she ran around in her tights. Good thing she is only 3 and had no idea why everyone was laughing at her.

This is how Jackson spent his down time! Laying on the Church pew watching a movie!

Then it was time for the big event! The wedding went perfectly, the kids did awesome and were so cute. There were a few happy tears cried (by me!) as the kids were walking down the aisle. What an awesome experience. I am so thankful for it!!
After the wedding we headed to the reception for dinner.

A pic of the head table.

The happy bride and groom's first dance!

Mark and my Mom dancing!
So, that's about all the pics I have of the night. I am very excited to see what the photographer captured! (oh, she has a blog that she posted some pics on- check it out! http://www.imagesofessence.com) I will defininetly post more pics when I get them!

Anyways, thank you to Mark and Diana for the wonderful evening. We are so excited for you guys and we love you very much! Have a wonderful honeymoon and we look forward to seeing you again soon! May God bless your marriage!

The aftermath of the "wedding hair!!" It was great while it was all put up, not so fabulous when it was all taken out. (Yes we did end up cutting knots out of her hair!!) There were a few tears on Jaideyn's part as I was brushing it out- but she will tell you it was definitely worth having it done!

The kids did such an awesome job at the wedding and reception that we treated them to a day at the water park on Sunday! The out of town wedding guest were all staying at the Holiday Inn Express in Cutlerville and it has a mini water park in it. So, we took advantage of it and took the kids there for the day on Sunday. They were very excited and enjoyed running around and just being crazy kids again. They had to do "adult stuff" all weekend, so it was their time to go crazy!

Jackson racing down the water slide!

Jackson and Jaideyn having fun. I don't have very many pics of Jackson these days because he thinks that it is hilarious to run away as I am taking a pic of him. And I must admit he usually gets away before I snap the pic. This time I caught him though. As you can see he is on his way out- but I was too quick for him this time!!!

Avery jumping off the side of the pool to Tim.

Aw, sister's- aren't they a beautiful thing??!!

Our day with the butterflies

Last Friday we went on a little outing to Fredrick Meijer gardens to see the butterflies. We had never done this before and were very excited. It was very neat to see the butterflies. Jaideyn and Connor enjoyed the butterflies, but Avery did not. She was scared of them. Here are a few pics of our adventure!

Mema and Avery. As you can see Avery was not very happy to come out of the stroller. She preferred to stay in the "safe" stroller!

Avery, Raegan, Connor and Jaideyn putting on a show for the camera!

The little beauties!!!

Still no smile from Avery!

Connor was loving the butterflies, but Avery rode around in the stroller with the concerned look on her face and her legs pulled in- just in case a butterfly might get her!

Jaidey and mema in their matching outfits!

A little update!

So, what have we been doing for the last month? We have been keeping busy with all kinds of different things. I thought that I would do some random pics as an update!

Here is our buddy Connor. We have enjoyed many a days playing with Connor. He discovered play-doh the other day and it has quickly become his favorite thing to do!

The girls hanging out with daddy. Here they had both just woken up from their naps and like to "cozy" for a bit before the get going!

Tim has been very busy putting shelves in the girls' closets. He did an awesome job and I am so excited about all the extra room it created!

Here is Avery working on one of her favorite projects. She is washing bath toys. We have a big bin of toys that sits by the the tub and every so often I have the kids help me clean them. Avery loves getting all wet and "cleaning." I have learned over time to just take all of her clothes off right away so that I don't have to deal with her soaking wet clothes!
Here is Jaideyn doing her favorite thing- any type of craft!

Last week Friday night we went to family fun night at Jackson's school. What a riot! Jaideyn was so excited to be able to go this year! It was very busy, but a ton of fun. Thank you papa and mema for watching our little Aves for the night! At the school both of the kids got their hair colored. You can't see it real great in the pics, but they sure were excited about it. Jackson chose to have black stripes in his hair and Jaideyn chose to have on side painted pink and the other purple!!

Our lazy Aves! This is one of my favorites! Avery was sitting at the table with the kids eating lunch. I was busy with something and when I came back I saw Avery laying down in her chair eating! I laughed so hard. We love you Aves, but you have showed us once again just why you are a little bit chubby!!!

Hanging out with the Dejong's

On Friday night we went over to Ted and Erin's house for the night. We made dinner and chatted while the kids played. It was a great time! It is so awesome to see the kids playing together so well. Ty and Avery had a lot of fun together- and even found some time for some extra curricular activities (as seen above!) Aren't they cute!!!

Our precious babies- or should I say 2 year olds!

When I was doing this post I came across these pics from last year. Here are Ty and Avery (I am going to guess they are about 9 months old) playing together. It's so neat to look back and see how much they change! They have both gotten bigger and the most noticable thing I think is how much their hair has grown! They look like totally different kids.

Here Ty and Avery were having fun bouncing a superball to each other across the table.

Here are the beauties now. They were all tired out and ready for quite time and a movie. I think it is so cute because both the girls have a "blankey" and suck their thumbs!!


Here is a pic of Lindsey and Jaideyn from a few years ago. They have grown up so much! Aren't they cuties!