The Wedding ~ One Year Later

As we are approaching Kirsten and Tim's first anniversary I decided it would be a great time to tell the story of their wedding, from the perspective of the mother-of-the-bride, of course.  Their love story is so beautiful and their wedding was filled with such special moments that I wanted to be able to document it in a way other than just photographs and video.  I will be doing it in several different posts because there are so many beautiful photos to go with the story! A huge thank you to Leah Rhianne Photography for her beautiful work in capturing such a special day for us. 

 September 15, 2017 was a beautiful day - from beginning to end! We had perfect weather and all the hard work of planning out every detail ahead of time really paid off.  Friends and family gathered from near and far to help us celebrate the big day.  We gathered at our home before heading to the venue to finish getting ready and had a luncheon prepared and organized by my sweetest friends. 

Our littlest nugget wore his tux for the big day!  

 Punkin designed her own invitations and had them printed with the help of her step-grandmother who has owned a printing business for many years. 

 During the years that Punkin and Tim dated they kept this journal between the two of them where they would write back and forth to each other.  They also wrote their vows to each other in the journal so they would always have them in a special place. 

 When Punkin turned 13, I took her on a special Mother-Daughter horseback riding weekend trip. (Horses speak her love language!)  During that weekend we talked all about growing up, boys, dating, purity, what to look for in a husband and her future marriage.  She made some decisions that weekend that set her on a path to her future husband.   Her dad and I presented her with these two special charms that weekend and told her that we would keep the "key" part of this charm and she would keep the "heart" until the right time.  She chose to guard her heart and only ever give her heart to one man.  Entirely through the grace of God, she was able to remain true to that promise.  Her Daddy had the incredible privilege and honor to hand over "the key to her heart" on the night of her wedding. 

Sometimes, it's the tiny every day details in life that come around full circle and end up being the biggest blessings of all. 

Punkin had her hair styled by a dear friend and former teacher of hers.  She did her hair for every prom through high school and was such a sweet part of her wedding day.  Thank you Marni! You were a gift to us in many ways that day!

 Punkin's very best friend since they met when they were four years old was her maid of honor.  They have been through so much together - from soccer games to Sunday School, from horseback riding to school field trips, from sleepovers to trips alone to Germany, from Disney World to Paris, London and Rome, they have done it all together.  Thank you for standing by her side on her special day Madison Webb! 

 Punkin's bridal party consisted of her sisters, a cousin, and two very dear friends. 

This was such a sweet moment. I found myself having flashbacks to wrestling her into a diaper and a sleeper when she was just a toddler, and kissing her wet hair after her bath. In a blink of an eye I was helping her put on a wedding dress. 

 There were so many beautiful sweet little moments of the day that I never want to forget.  Her little sister seeing her in her dress the first time was one of them. 

 ..... and her best friend seeing her the first time also...

 ....my Hannah-Banana helping her put on her necklace, which Punkin had custom designed by a local jeweler.

Kirsten and Tim's love story has so many sweet details - just one of them includes this perfume.  Punkin's senior year of high school provided her the opportunity to travel to Europe to see so many of the places she studied about during her classical education.  After she met Tim, they realized that they were both traveling in Paris at the very SAME time! He was on a school trip to Paris with his french class. They even visited a perfume shop (memorable because it was a tourist hot spot with the tour guides) on the SAME DAY! Punkin bought this perfume there that day, a day that she and her future husband's paths may have crossed on the other side of the world.  How fitting that it was the fragrance she wore on her wedding day.

 Punkin's step-grandmother made this garter for her to wear, and the lace on it was even handmade on a bobbin.

This was such a beautiful part of our getting ready time.  A perfect Cinderella moment - and so fitting because Kirsten takes her oldest sister role quite literally.  Her little sisters are usually (read sometimes) happy to oblige in her requests (demands).  This picture is such a sweet representation of their sister connections. They really do get each other in a way that no one else does. 

 One of the little details that probably went entirely unnoticed was the very special pearl and sequined clip that was attached to Kirsten's bridal bouquet.  That was one of the clips attached to MY white satin bridal shoes as I walked down the aisle to marry my husband on March 7, 1992. (Fun fact, I met my husband on July 14 and Punkin was born on July 14 four years later.)

 When her Daddy saw her for the first time...... my heart melted. 

Kir and Tim had a very sweet stolen moment alone before the wedding when they did a "first peek".  They wanted to be completely alone, but most of the family members were able to sneak a peek from the upstairs windows or from behind a distant tree.  Seeing their deep love for each other was one of the sweetest blessings of the day for me.  As a wedding photographer myself, these first peeks are always such an honor to be able to capture and be a part of. 

Every thing about this moment was so beautiful - my stunning daughter, the perfect breezy late summer weather, the riverside setting, the exquisite lighting, and their love and passion for each other. 

There is so much more of this story to come - I will do several posts over the next few days leading up to their ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY on September 15. 

Read Part Two HERE!!

First Day of 7th Grade

 Here we are again, back to school! As a mom to three girls, this is my 18th "back to school" year. CRAZY!  This has been one crazy year, a year that I took off from blogging but I'M BACK! There is more to come on the reasons behind that and so many other fun things to post about so stay tuned! 

 This is most likely our next to last year homeschooling - potentially even our last year. Who knows? Our plan is for Boo to attend high school somewhere.  We have ALWAYS taken things a year at a time regarding their education.  There have been years we have had one in private, one in public and one homeschooling.  Do what works for your kiddo!   Boo is an absolute delight to homeschool because of the way she is wired.  She is super driven, more responsible than I am, and excels in her academics in a way that makes homeschooling a perfect fit for her.  I am learning right along with her in most of her classes this year.  There has never been a better time to homeschool because of the amazing amount of resources available.  She takes most of her classes on line, some self paced, and some live.  She has a few outside the home classes such as Latin, Art, and P.E. (which equals about 20 hours per week of dance classes!)  Her academic course load this year is INTENSE - but even so, homeschooling lets her still have plenty of time to just be a KID! This is something that is super important to us. 

Hello 7th Grade!! 

One of our homeschool traditions is to wake up to some fun first day treats. 

 What can be more fun in middle school than a "squishy" brain, along with a yummy treat to make you smarter? :)

 The Totally Awesome Book of Useless Information is from Daddy.  We always tell him he is a walking source of useless information.  She has her daddy's brain.  Super fun reading for lunch time!

 If you have followed our blog for any length of time, you know that we educate our girls classically, from a christian worldview, with Charlotte Mason methods thrown in.   This year marks the jump in classical education from the grammar stage to the logic stage, which means the beginning of Omnibus.  Omnibus is a Latin word meaning "all encompassing".  It's basically one course that covers history, literature and theology all in one.  The books covered in this course BOGGLE MY MIND.  We actually started this course a few weeks ago since it was new to us and we thought a soft start would make it a bit less overwhelming.  So far we are both really enjoying the course. In classical education, history is studied chronologically - starting from creation to present.  She completed the entire cycle in the grammar stage, and now we start again in the logic stage at the beginning and work through it again, and it is then repeated again in the rhetoric stage. 

 Omnibus really makes you THINK.  We have both enjoyed the conversations that are stemming from these studies. Right off the bat we are grappling with huge ideas such as predestination vs free will - not a light subject! More than a right or wrong answer to these questions (which I believe that this subject is actually a non-essential to the christian faith), I truly love how it makes us THINK.   Just because our curriculum is grounded in christian faith doesn't mean that this is the only thing that is taught. We learn everything from lots of different angles - we see what the Buddhists will have to say about things, what gnostics might think, evolutionist ideas or even an atheistic approach to hot topics.  

 Our readings this year will not be light! But the course is designed for a 7th grader, and is the same curriculum Boo has used from the beginning - so she is WELL prepared for it!  I will do a separate post detailing out our curriculum for the year with plenty of links.  We are also official Timberdoodle bloggers again this year so there will be lots of FUN homeschool product reviews this year as well.

 This year begins our formal studies of Logic! YAY! My older girls always enjoyed this subject so much and I know Boo will too.  We have DVDs that we will watch for each lesson so I'm looking forward to learning right along with her. 

I-phone picture

If you ask Boo what her favorite subject is, she almost always says LATIN!! She has the best Latin teacher in the world. Mrs Thompson is an absolute GIFT to us. Boo was lucky enough to have her first Latin class also fall on her first day of school this year.  This is her fifth year studying Latin and this year there are a total of 8 kids in her class - a new record.  She is so excited.  Here she is with her original Latin buddies - they have taken class together from the beginning, and have been friends since pre-school.

 This is our third year starting our mornings off with CNN10 - a quick ten minute news segment geared towards middle and high schoolers.  I've been amazed at how much Boo learns about what is happening in the world through these quick news segments.  It's a highlight to our day and we almost never miss it.  It's truly unbiased news if you are looking for that - TRULY (even for CNN!).

Don't you just love fresh new beginnings? I'm so ready for one.  There is just something that speaks to the soul when we have a blank slate in front of us, with fresh new pens and pencils, and a heart full of eager anticipation of what the next chapter will hold. To all of you mommas with littles heading off to kindergarten or to college (thats me!) I hope you soak up every moment of this coming school year with eager anticipation and everything that will fill their little hearts and minds.