Boy Marries Girl - Part Two

I promised some time ago to do a couple of posts about our son's wedding this past summer.  If I didn't mention it before I loved it!  Not just the getting married part but I loved the details.  It was a summer backyard wedding and in my mind simple is superb. Here are some pics of my favorite details:
The pictures were taken by Anne's Sister Emma you can find her website here


This was the sign at the end of our driveway. Anne's brother bought a house and tore down some out buildings that Anne made into signs. Loved them and kept them to repurpose!

 

Anne's Grammie drew this fingerprint tree for the happy couple. As you arrived for the wedding you left a fingerprint which they then had framed and kept as a keepsake of their special day.

Can I say that the whole place was decked out in bunting that Anne and her sister and mother made and hung. The cool thing about this is that Anne's cousin took all of the bunting and actually made it into a quilt and gave it to her at Thanksgiving....so special.

This was Emily's tree house that was all decked out
for the special day complete with flower boxes and
bunting.  It was also the entrance to the photo booth.

To honor the kids and give them a reminder of the special day Anne put together these special coloring books and a fresh brand new package of crayons for them.







There was also a photo booth for people to have pictures taken so that the Matt and Anne could have a pictures of their guests as keepsakes. This was one of my favorite photo booth pictures of Anne's Grandparents. One of the blessings for me in this union is the rich Christian heritage that Anne has and an answer to a prayer that I have prayed over all of my children.

These were bookmarks that the happy couple had made to give everyone as a keepsake. I loved them and a lovely touch.

All of the plates were biodegradable and very eco friendly.

Even the canned pop which was put into an old trunk and a huge wicker hamper was unique and added a nice touch.














Feel the LOVE!

The cake was to die for cake with blueberry filling and a scoop of lemon sorbet from Maine that Anne's Mom managed to get here without melting! Yuppers a full slice and I was soooo glad.

The Food well was awesome cause my awesome DH made it cause that is his thing. There was pulled pork sandwiches, chicken, burgers, salmon, salads...I think everyone left full! Here are some pics:

Matt and Anne wanted a day where family and friends could come together and celebrate their love. They wanted it to be like a big backyard barbecue that their family and friends could enjoy and they totally nailed it. It was very special day that celebrated the happy couple and honored their relationship in Christ. It was perfect. Mama-in-law out!

5 Year's Since Gotcha Day

REPOSTED FROM CHINA JANUARY 15TH, 2007

Today was the day that we met our daughter Emily for the first time.  We were up at 4:30 so we could meet at 6:00, check out of our hotel, be checked in for our flight at 8:40 a.m. Guangzhou is about a 3 hour flight from Beijing and we were to pick up our babies at 2:30.  The anticipation was unbelievable.  We were an hour delayed out of Beijing so we knew it would be tight getting to the hotel once we arrived.  When we finally landed there was much clapping, many tears and much fast walking to get our bags and get on the road.  It was kind of like the amazing race.  if you have ever seen that show and the fruitcakes that lose it when under stress - well yeah that was me.  My poor family.  I think it was nerves, I'm not sure but that drive from the airport to the hotel and then rushing like crazy to put a bag together to get back to the bus in a 5 minute turnaround (which was about a 30 minute turnaround for the Chaisson's) hence my meltdown.  We were the last on the bus -but oh well we did our best given the circumstances.  It's a good thing my family loves me.  We were so emotional driving to the Government Affairs office.  When we arrived it was incredible.  I get goosebumps even typing this.  Families filled several buses with brand new babies and other families walking out with babies.  As we walked in many of us were overwhelmed with emotions.  Mike taped it all so I'm anxious to see it again.  We went into a little room and waited about 10 minutes.  The suspense was awful. Then they started bringing our children in one by one.  What a sight too see these dear people who either are unable to have biological children or chose not to...see their wee ones for the first time was unbelievable in it's own right.  The group we are travelling with has great people it was a pleasure to share in their joy.  Emily was the last baby to be brought in so by the time she came there were some screaming babies but your prayers worked and God is Wonderful! She just looked at us ...look around and didn't say boo. She was nervous and her heart pounded like crazy, I could feel it through her chest.  We just took it easy and didn't overwhelm her.  She was so curious.  What a sweetie.  She fell asleep and when she woke up she allowed the boys to hold her and Matt got her to smile. What was crazy in the panic to get there the diaper bag we brought had everything but a change of clothes and oh yeah bottles! It was a good thing that others shared. Mike spent an hour with the orphanage director asking questions and we got our cameras back that we sent.  Emily was really sick for the past couple of weeks and lost weight so she is pale and smaller which is funny because she is easily the biggest baby in the group.  She is determined from what we can see and smart very quick to copy what you do.  I would say though from a motor skill perspective she is at about 10 months.  She is just crawling a little but can pick things up and loves to bang them together ( a budding drummer).  She played all night I bathed her fed her and she went to sleep.  I'm typing this in the wee hours of the morning on the 16th and she is still sleeping soundly.  She smiled at us last night  and she loves the boys.  When she sits with them she throws things on the floor then looks at them as if to say "dah....I've dropped something and you're not picking it up for me?" My pleasure has been in watching them.  They both fell in love instantly and Mike just kept saying "you're my baby".  I am overwhelmed really by it all.  What an incredible gift she is from the Lord.  After we lost our baby a few years ago and I thought he didn't answer my prayer.  I would have never imagined he would do so in this manner and I would have never imagined he would care for us in this way.  Today is a new day with our family and we are now a family of five and we can't imagine it any other way.

I Saved Over $300 Doing Laundry

All of you women out there reading this will relate to the idea of laundry is a fact of our lives. Not that men don't do laundry however I am convinced that they figured out long ago that if they ruined a couple of batches of clothes on purpose they wouldn't be allowed within ten feet of the washer again! "Oh Babe...how was I supposed to know my red long johns would turn all your white blouses pink"! Laundry is an expensive affair. The bottles are getting smaller and more "concentrated" but surprise surprise the cost has gone up and up. Big box chains understand the draw of cheap laundry detergent and it is why they use it as their biggest loss leader to get us laundry dazed women in there. Well thanks to the Duggars (the family with the 20 kids) I am no longer singing the laundry detergent blues. In 2011 I decided enough was enough. Michelle Duggar makes her own for 19 kids so why not me for my two that are home now. I found their recipe online and started making my own and as far as I can tell it has saved us over $300 this year and the year isn't even over yet.

You will need:

1 bar of Fels Naptha Laundry So

( you can use any laundry bar soap-I got this in Houlton however you can also order it online for just over a buck a bar)

1 cup of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda

(not baking soda. I found it at a Co-op)

1/2 cup Borax

Essential Oil ( I use Orange)

4 Cups of hot tap water

STEP ONE: Grate one bar of laundry soap

STEP TWO: Add 4cups hot water put on stove on medium heat until the soap melts.

STEP THREE: Fill a 5 litre pail half full of hot tap water. Add the Borax, Washing soda and soap mixture stirring thoroughly until it all dissolves. Then fill up to the top. Let sit covered overnight. This mixture will gel not quite as hard as jello but you will need to stir it the next day.

STEP FOUR: Pour 1/2 of this mixture in an empty laundry container mixing 1/2 soap mixture with half water and shake well. It is always a 50/50 mix no matter what container you use. I had a Pampered Chef large juice container that works lovely but that's a bit expensive I just happened to have it. Add 10-15 drops of essential oils (Bulk Barn sells them) per two litres. I have a front loading machine and fill the drawer to maximum.

Viola - Ten litres of laundry soap for just over $3. I bought $15 worth of supplies and I have enough to last me until the end of 2012! Ridiculous the money made on soap.

Suds alert - there aren't any. I was a bit stressed at first wanting a washer bin full of suds but this soap doesn't suds up. No worries though it does clean your clothes really well. Also for all of you sensitive skin types this hasn't bothered any of us.

So that's my money saving tip - a bit of work involved but well worth the effort and savings. Next week I'll tell you how I saved a goob on dryer sheets....Mama out.

Brilliant Cookie Idea

Those of you that know me personally know that a domestic goddess I am not. As a matter of fact I am not a domestic anything. I do try however. While searching the Oprah site (yes I wrote Oprah) I stumbled across a video for a cookie dough recipe and at the end of the video there
was this handy little trick. It was brilliant so I thought I would pass it along. I apologize to Oprah because for the life of me I can't find it again so I can't give the credit where it is due but somewhere deep in the Oprah site is the author of this so I lay no claim to it at all.

Like I said I am not domestic at all however I do LOVE to bake. I'm not very good at it but no matter what I make my family gobbles it up in one night. I'm not kidding. If I make one dozen cookies gone. Two dozen cookies gone...you get my drift. This is my solution to that problem. I made chocolate chip cookies and doubled the recipe. I baked two dozen and then did this....I bought eggs for the cookies in a see through container. I think the camping egg containers would also work but for these I used the container that the eggs came in. I simply scooped each egg

holder full (did I mention I did wash this container with soap and water). I then folded one side of the container over.Then closed the whole thing and viola a neatly packed stackable for the freezer cookie dough container. How awesome is that!

Now if I want one cookie I can bake just one cookie. If I want a dozen I bake a dozen. It got me thinking that with Christmas just around the corner how awesome would it be to yes bake some cookies but what about if you froze a bunch of your dough instead of the cookies themselves. You would always have fresh cookies for your guests as well as having that yummy smell in the

house when they arrive. I love it. I think you could probably freeze the dough on cookie sheets too and put them in plastic containers like you freeze strawberries....oh my goodness I am out of control. Options lots of options for lots of cookies freshly baked whenever you want them. Sorry for the poor quality of the photos stupid iphone not really sure how to focus it yet!

Did I mention I've been on a diet so anyone want an egg carton full of cookie balls...hee hee. Mama out.

When Boy Meets Girl

When Matt was a teenager at Camp he met Anne. I liked her from the first time I met her. A very very nice girl. They spent years at the same camp

serving Jesus together. They had a great friendship first. Anne lived in Halifax going to university and Matt lived in Fredericton going to university. One in NS and one in NB. They'd hang out with each other off and on and friendship eventually led to a decision to start dating. That was one of the smartest decisions that my boy has ever made. As a mother I have prayed for over ten years for my son's spouse. Although I had never met her God did. I prayed that she would love him "huge" and that he would love her "huge". I prayed that God would select exactly the right girl that loved Christ like he did;that he would pick a girl that was strong (because he is) and could stand on her own; I prayed that her family would love and embrace him and that he would love and embrace them in return. I prayed that they would respect each other and encourage each other. I prayed that he would protect and cherish her.I prayed that they would be able to smile and enjoy each other no matter what. God is so faithful in his answer to this mother's prayer.

While I was Christmas shopping last year Matt and Anne surprised me at Toys R Us after he popped the question. He went with Anne to the top of Citadel Hill and after a totally sappy and romantic speech he asked her to marry and him and the rest is history. I left out the part about me howling and crying at the Toys R Us. I might have jumped up and down and I'm pretty sure that one of the gals from church who happened to walk by thought I had lost my mind. I did -with HAPPINESS!!! What an awesome couple they matured into!

On August 20th, 2011 they said "I do" and have begun the rest of their lives together. I didn't speak at the wedding because I left it up to my DH but if I had said something it would have been this: I have been blessed with a wonderful son (two actually) who loves me and I love him. He is kind, compassionate, smart, determined, confident, loving, Godly, a leader and serves his country gladly. He has brought into our family a beautiful daughter that is smart (did I mention she is going to be a doctor) loving, sweet, kind, Godly, strong, devoted and compassionate just to name a few of her amazing qualities. We are thankful for them both.

The day they were married it was no wonder I felt like my heart was going

to explode with happiness. The Lord says: Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Psalm 127:3.

"Our cup runneth over"! Mama out.

Photo's by Emma Poliquin

Please Please Please I Need SLEEP

I have had insomnia before, therefore, it is not a shocker that I now have it again. However, this time it is different. Those of you who have suffered sleepless nights you can sympathize with me and you know the drill. Dead tired, crawl in bed, try try try to sleep. No sleep. ZZZZZZZZ sound of significant other sleeping beside you. Tick tock, tick tock (not really who doesn't have a digital clock in this day and age but work with me).

Where was I- tick tock, tick tock. As each hour passes you become more and more frustrated, more and more anxious. Until finally at about 3:00 or 4:00am you finally sleep.

Not this time. As soon as night falls I am waking up. I'm as wide awake at this moment 12:36am as I am in the middle of the day. Not a bit of sleepiness, drowsiness, absolutely nothing. I have moments during the day when it hits me that I might like a nap but then that passes...who has time to nap! I have lost my ability to sleep - is that possible? I am on day 3 of about 2 hours of sleep a night. Day one I just wasn't sleepy. Day two...before I realized it the time was 3 am and nothing.

Last night out of desperation as I lay in my bed (looking similar to the cartoon above) I remembered the happy pills I took years ago to fly - did I still have them? I was sure I did - if I could only find them. So there I was at 3:30am up to my elbows in drawers and medicine cabinets. I emptied old make up bags and finally at the back of the bathroom cabinet (the one you need to be on your hands and knees to reach) I found an old travel bag and viola happy pills. The last time I went on a hunt like this was for Zantac on a night of particularly bad heartburn or when I was a smoker and crazed for a cigarette. The dilemma was this- should I take one - half of one or none at all. One for sure would knock me out but I needed to get up early. None I ran the risk of not sleeping at all and I needed to get up early. A half a pill seemed just right so a half a pill it would be. I swallowed the pill and waited for the magic to happen and happen it did. Sort of. (Probably had something to do with them being 3-4 years old) There I laid becoming more and more like rubber - wide awake but unable to move or have much control over my legs or arms. I staggered back and forth to the bathroom - I was unable to read - I was unable to think - and ironically I was also unable to sleep. I finally crashed at 5:00am. Did I mention I had to get up at 7:30 which on it's own wouldn't have been so bad but now I had a happy pill hang over. It's been a very long day.

Tonight, I've opted for writing instead of taking drugs. It hasn't worked either just like the happy pill didn't work last night but at least I feel better and I can move my fingers and toes - and yes I am also very very much awake! Sigh did I mention Son#1 is getting married next week I suppose I could go as a Goth yes I might have to rethink my outfit!
Mama out (I wish).

Say Yes to the Dress

I have been watching Say Yes to the Dress long before Son#1 got engaged. However, it took on a special meaning after our families engagement announcement. I had the pleasure this past weekend to go wedding dress shopping with Son#1's lovely fiancée, her sister and Mom. Now I've seen the show and I've seen the mother in laws who say "No" to the dress. I wanted that our lovely daughter in law#1 got exactly what she had always hoped and dreamed for. I wanted to be positive and to edify and to not pressure at all in any direction but to be there for support and love. That was the plan anyway. Can I just say that in the show when the bride comes out and it's exactly the right dress..you know the part when everyone blubbers and breaks into the ugly cry. Yuppers that was me. It totally isn't fake on the show it is totally for real. I felt so bad for dear Anne when my waterworks set off some in her Mom and sister and all I could think of was "oh dear heavens what if she hates this dress and now I'm putting pressure when I was trying so hard not to.....stop crying JULIE..". You know you are in trouble when the bridal consultant is quickly leaving to bring you the big box of Kleenex. Sigh I am a huge sap. It didn't help when I tried to say grace the next morning morning at breakfast and express how thankful I was for this girl and her family and descended into the ugly cry again. What is my problem..I'll blame it on peri-menopause because surely I'm too young for menopause and too old to be pregnant. Happiness is a funny thing. Happiness is when your Son finds a girl and falls in love and she is just right for him. That is happiness and apparently my happiness manifests itself in non-stop snotty crying. Should be a great wedding...can I just say that there will definitely be a box of Kleenex somewhere near me...with me...on me....well you get my drift. And if all else fails I do have my beloved "happy pills" that make everything right. One happy sniffling Mama out.