The wedding

The big day is finally here, and we have to get started early. Setting jet lag and a sleepless night with a confused baby aside, we had to get up before the crack of dawn. Had to get myself dressed and hair done before getting Emma ready

 The set up in the living room

 Wendy was in charge of Emma's hair. Luckily I had brought my super powerful awesome curling iron. As Wendy was styling the hair, I curled it

 Getting her make-up professionally done

 The dress is on, and Emma is soooo excited!

 Miles slept through all of it, and got up just in time for Daan to come pick up Emma

 I spent the morning with Emma during their photoshoot. I wish I could have gotten some shots myself, but I was busy making sure her dress and hair looked perfect for the photos. The photographer had a ton of professional equipment that made me drool with envy. At noon she married at the city hall of Leiden.

 Miles got bored with sitting on my lap, and was crawling around and making way too much noise. But he looked cute doing it in his little suit. I wish I had gotten some pictures of him in his suit and me in my outfit. I think the photographer did, but who knows if I'll ever see those...

 The day was jammed packed with one event to the next, all seemingly in different cities. After the civil marriage, her temple marriage was in Zoetermeer. Then we were off to a family dinner at a cute Italian restaurant. They showed the perfect example of bad customer service that Dutch companies never fail to provide. I asked for a high chair for Miles. They only had 2 in the whole place, and another customer had apparently reserved them both. Instead of apologizing and trying to help, all they could say was that if we would have just reserved one, they could have had everything ready for me.  No compassion at all.

After dinner we hurried over to the reception in Den Haag. Tons of family and friends were there, and it was the best way to catch up with everyone all at once. I was so happy to see my family that I rarely get to see, especially my cousins from Switzerland. At the end of the night the happy couple ran off through the rain to their honeymoon. And man, was I happy to get out of my shoes!

Reunited

My 11-year younger sister Emma is getting married! With half of my family living in Europe and the other half in the US, we don't get together as a family often, so this was a great opportunity. It's been almost 3 years since all the siblings have been together

It always amazes me that although we don't see each other frequently, when we do see each other, it's back to old times. We have fun, laugh, and are silly together. My brother Carlo and I have always been very close. Although we have the least amount of contact, I think we have a bond that just always will stay strong. 

Dorothee is integrating so well into our family. She is a wonderful woman who is a wonderful wife to my dad, and grandma to Miles.

 I used my embroidery machine to monogram some resort towels for the happy couple. Daan is such a great guy, and I'm so happy for Emma to have found him.

Celebrate

Christmas this year was shorter than normal, with my departure for Emma's wedding on Christmas day. So we had our fancy dinner on Christmas Eve. We had an easy turkey dinner, without the production of 100 different dishes. Just the basics: Turkey, potatoes, corn, asparagus, and bread. And the turkey was delicious! 

 The turkey's carcass was even bigger than Coco!

 Of course Christmas isn't complete without some Pogacha! I also wanted to bake some to bring to my little sister Emma

 Santa came and filled our stockings

 Presents were in abundance. This year I did a new thing for the kids: Something they want, need, wear, and read. This made shopping so much easier, and also easier to keep somewhat to a budget.

 Of course we also got spoiled by Joe's parents, who gave us some great homemade gifts. Earl made us homemade pens made from the same wood that Miles' cradle is made from. Liz hand embroidered a sweet picture for Miles with all of his birth details. The girls got bracelets with little pieces from wedding dresses and jewelry.

We took the traditional picture of us on the stairs, but I have to say that it doesn't look quite right without the garland that usually adorns the railings (at the in-laws house)

 I just love this picture of Miles. He's just sitting in the middle of the floor. Not sure what he's doing, but it portrays him perfectly.

Cellist

When Winter started Timpanogos Intermediate school for 5th grade, she had to pick an instrument for music. Her school has a wonderful music program. Winter picked cello, which is extra fun for me, since my brother Carlo used to play the cello too. Twice a week before school starts, Winter's music teacher Ms Coleman teaches an extra cello class. Winter is really picking it up fast, and is very talented. 

The morning of the Christmas concert, as Winter was carrying her cello out the front door, the case wasn't closed and the cello fell out of the front door onto the concrete steps. The neck broke right off. I almost had a heart attack when seeing it. We were able to borrow another cello from the middle school, but are still waiting on the verdict of cost to repair it. 

 Winter's friend Bryson always helps her carry her cello out to the car when I pick her up after school

Winter with her cello teacher Ms Coleman

So you had a bad day

Today is one of those days. A day where seemingly everything that can go wrong, does go wrong.
It all started this morning as I was getting ready to take Winter to cello lessons. She has her school's Christmas concert tonight.I was waiting in the car and didn't see it happening, but as soon as Winter came to get me, I realized something must be very wrong. I couldn't even believe my eyes.  In her haste to get out the door, she forgot (or was too lazy) to check her cello case, so as she went out the door, the cello his the concrete and broke in half!  The long stem piece had snapped right off the sound board. I was in such shock that I didn't even know what to say. The tongue lashing didn't come until we were on the way to school. And taking a photo wasn't even on my mind until we no longer had the cello. After taking Winter to school, I took the broken cello to the Rocky mountain middle school, where we rent it from. The teacher was as much in shock as me, but fortunately he had an extra one that Winter can use until hers gets repaired. I don't even want to think about how much that is going to cost!

If that wasn't enough for one day, I got an email from my realtor informing me that the short sale that we've been working 6 months on closing on will take even longer. The bank's appraisal has expired, and a new one will be done. I feel like the market is going up, and worry that the appraisal will come in higher than before. Also, interest rates have been at a record low (3.5%) which is partly why this house will work for us. I'm also worried that by the time we close, the interest rates will have gone up. So not only will our payment go up because of appraisal, but also interest.

Now any time anything goes wrong I just shrug my shoulders. Like when Winter poured a whole cup of milk all over the counter. And I almost expect more to go wrong. Are we sure it's not Friday the 13th?

Outfit

December madness

I can't believe it's already December! Time has flown by. The school year is half way over, we've lived in this house for over 3 months, and Miles is almost a year old. Okay, not quite, but looking at some videos we took of him as a newborn makes me sad to how fast he's growing up.

With Christmas and Emma's wedding less than 3 weeks away, I'm scrambling to get everything done. One project I started 3 years ago, are the Christmas stockings. I started sewing them shortly after receiving my embroidery machine, but with our year in Holland and time spent with the in-laws, it was on the back burner.  Today I put the finishing touches on the last stocking. And I even had enough extra fabric to make Miles' stocking.

Emma's wedding colors are navy and champagne. I found an inspiring outfit on Pinterest,and have been on the hunt for the different opponents to make the outfit complete. The shoes were easy to find, and I sewed my own lace skirt. Today I went to a jewelry party where I found some pretty Blue and Champagne pearls. The biggest and hardest thing to find so far is a blouse. Turns out most stores don't sell champagne (or nude, or taupe, or beige) colored flowy blouses. I'll probably have to branch out from internet shopping, and actually go to some brick and mortar stores.

 The Christmas tree is up, and the stockings hang over the fireplace. Of course there are a thousand and one other little projects that come up every day. But this is the season that I love. Now if only it would snow some more!