Bragging

I will probably end up writing several posts about the wedding weekend as the pictures come in and my memory (which has been dulled by one-too-many drinks) is jogged.  I'll try to keep them thematic, so that it's not just one long post about the whole thing that people will get bored with and quit reading after three paragraphs.

Before I get to the beautiful bride, the handsome groom, the wonderful families that became one wonderful family, the breathtaking decorations, the amazing food, the thoughtful gifts...  I have to do something that I kind of hate to do.  I have to brag about my kids.

I try not to be one of those mommybloggers who is constantly droning on and on about her precious snowflakes who are more beautiful and more intelligent than every other baby on the block because YAWN.  Everyone thinks that about their own child, right?  (I know the name of this blog is "pretty babies," it was tongue-in-cheek back when I started and figured that my only readers would be the kids' grandparents.)  I work very hard at not being one of those moms, both here and IRL.

But you guys... our kids...  They were magnificent.

Oh, Jack!  I can't wait another minute to post this picture.

OMG his little pockets!!

And maybe it's just my prideful mother's heart, but I couldn't help but see this:

Seriously, 20 years from now?
You heard it here first, Matthew McConaughey. Your competition has arrived.

Dad took that picture (of Jack, not Matthew McConaughey).  I took very few pictures because my hands were full all weekend.  If I didn't have Jack, I had niece Kate, or one of the girls, or flowers, or a drink.  So as people send me pictures I'll post more.

Anyway, back to the babies...  On the way to the rehearsal I told them, "Look, I know how hard it is to be good all the time, so I'll give you a chance to be bad when we're there.  Just hang in there and I'll let you get it all out when there's time."  So, about halfway through dinner, I took them to the bathroom and said, "Ok, do you need to be bad?  Let's DO IT!" and we made tooting noises and said "bad words" like poop nuggets and stinky head (their choices) and laughed really hard.  Then we wiggled and giggled and jumped up and down for a few minutes.  After they settled down I said, "All right, we've been bad.  Can we go out there and be good for a little longer?" and they said, "OK!"

That was when the first person told me how amazing they were being (at a formal grown-up dinner in a formal grown-up restaurant).  I told BJ that I was going to get them a present for being so great, and the next time they came to talk to us (they weren't even sitting with us, you all) I said, "When we're done, if you can keep this up, we will take you straight to Target to pick out a Merida doll!"  They've wanted the Merida doll since before the movie came out.

That got them pumped, and they kept it up.  Customers who weren't with our party were literally stopping us on the way out of the restaurant to tell us how amazing they had been.  I was SO proud of them.  I think we got them home at 11 pm our time (Grammaland is an hour behind us).  And you can bet that they both slept with their Merida dolls that night.

Saturday was a long day.  It started for us at 7 am and didn't really end until 2 am Sunday.  A lot of crazy stuff happened.  Long story short, my mother in law was watching the kids for us when her generator came on for its weekly cycle and started a small fire.  The fire department came (Jack liked that part - nah nahs!).  The kids listened to their grandmother through the whole crisis and she told me more than once that she was impressed with how well they'd done.

Then they had to get all fancy and listen to me tell them 100 times not to eat or drink anything that would stain their dresses before the wedding.  They had to listen and follow directions.  They had to help little Norah, who is only 2-1/2, get herself down the aisle and drop her petals, they had to sit still during the ceremony in the front row without toys, they had to remember to leave on cue right behind the rest of the bridal party, and they did it all flawlessly.

They were rewarded with unlimited cherry cokes from Carol the bartender, and free reign over the party (my mom owns the ballroom so they basically think that it's Gramma's house - they're very comfortable there and know where everything is, and I know that they've been there enough times since birth that I don't have to worry about them sneaking into the kitchen, running, etc.).  They sat patiently at the head table through dinner and were awesome.  No whining, bickering, or fussing.  Then when the dancing started they PARTIED.  We all had a blast.

Seriously!

Jack went home with Grandmother Diana before dinner (it was already past his bedtime by then, because of the time change), and it makes me sad that he wasn't in the pictures, but that's why we have Photoshop, right?

Ok, I will stop gushing about our beautiful, well-behaved, charming, intelligent, adorable children.  I promise I've paid the penalty for all of this awesomeness today - they have been exhausted and fussy.  We had to skip the brunch at Sara's parents' house at noon because by then we were all done being good.  But first, I need to address the girls directly, for a minute...

Dear Claire and Mary Grace,

You may read this at some point in the future.  When you do I hope you know that while we are always proud of you, you made your dad and I exceptionally proud this weekend.  Thank you for being so good, and for being so much fun.  

Love,
Mom