Family and pictures!

The bride and groom!I love being their mom!MikeSome of my sisters and two of my cousins!Patiently waiting for the party! :)

This week has been truly a blessing in so many ways! My brother, Mike, was able to stay and extra week which we ate up! We had so many wonderful talks and just watching him hang out with our boys melted my heart. You see when my brother left Wisconsin 20 months ago he was just recovering from his drug addiction and for close to two years before he left he was a different person than the Mike I had known. At one point he didn't communicate with any of us for 9 months and my mom and I would often see him around town looking hollow and his clothes falling off of him. That's the short version but I think you can understand from this small tidbit how different the Michael I spent time with today is different from the Michael who lived here before. God has truly used Florida as an opportunity for him to get clean, move away from his "friends" and figure out what he wants to do with life. God has also used it as a place to bring him back to Him...and I can't tell you the joy our family feels that Mike has given his life back to Christ. Anyhow this week we were able to talk through many things that have happened in our lives and it was great! I love his laugh, his bear hugs and his heart. Yesterday we had to say goodbye and that was so hard!!! I took the boys over to my mom's in the morning and Mike and I sat our on the porch for an hour and just talked about his next steps. He really wants to come back home and finish school after he is finished with basic, but right now he has to talk to his recruiting officer because he is part of the National Guard in Florida and has to see if he can transfer. After lunch we got him all packed and took him to the airport...I'm not sure who it was harder for, but we are hoping he can home next month for a week before going to basic so we were trying to stay positive. Today, the boys and I had a play date with my dear friend MJ and her son C-man... I love them both! C-man is 11 months and is so precious to me. We took all of our boys to our favorite coffee shop this morning for a latte and scone and then headed to my house and the boys played in the pool and slip and slide. And the hose was a huge attraction...lol...forget all of the summer toys we buy for them...the green hose was great! MJ and I cracked up and caught up on life and compared stories of our past weeks and motherhood. It's so nice to have a friend to share play dates with. After they left we headed over to Ash's house to drop off all of the tables cloths I washed for her while she was on her honeymoon. If I don't see another table cloth for the next 7 years I'll be great:) We got to catch up with her and Kris for a minute but we didn't want to stay long as they still have to unpack and get ready to jump back into life tomorrow. Plus I have a lot of work to do and wanted to have some down town with the fam... Oh and I forgot to share one of my favorite moments of our whole weekend!!! Last night I decided to have a slumber party with the boys. We brought blankets and "a few stuffed animals"...While I was setting the fort up I asked them to pick out a few animals and their pillow and bring them downstairs. Five minutes later I go upstairs to see their whole bedroom in the hall way...books and all. And of course I wanted to be the cool mom and helped them bring it all downstairs..and they spent a good thirty minutes trying to figure out each animal's sleeping arrangements. We then played memory, read books, and watched episodes of Max and Ruby, Diego, and Backyardagains. I think we finally fell asleep at 11 which never happens but was so worth it. This morning Ky woke me up at 7:30 and was upset because we forgot to play Sequence....so at 8:00 this morning we were up playing Sequence... Tonight we are relaxing and getting ready for the week. I'm so thankful it's a short one. I have two big presentations tomorrow and true Mimi style am waiting until the last minute to put my finishing touches on it. I figure I'll do them while watching The Bathlorette. Before I forget here are a few pictures from a wonderful wedding! I hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th!