Living Life In Overdrive

Our long and special weekend began with the Fourth of July.

My dear friend, Shelley, was here from State College.

Allan and Bev were also with us for the weekend.

It was great!!

Surprisingly the weather was cooler and windy on the fourth

so we ate on Georgia's porch.  

Warren grilled for us and we had Mom's traditional and delicious

potato salad.

It was delightful!

I don't even know if I have photos from those days.

They are a blur.

But on Sunday we were guests at a wedding shower 

for Michael and Emily.

It was so strange...and kind of cool....

to be "invited" to this event.

Usually if my kids are involved in something 

I am, as well, up to my elbows.

But in this case I knew nothing about it other than 

that Warren would be grilling and I was bringing water.

The wedding party took care of all of it with Emily's sister

Liza doing all of the organizing, planning and most of the 

work of it.

The Best Man, Chris, did assist her I am quite sure.

These were the table decorations

which perfectly reflected the artwork on the invitations.

So cool.

Michael and Emily found these country style drink dispensers 

a few weeks ago and were quite pleased.

They were perfect.

Front and center in the photo below is Emily's brother Caleb.

He is such a wonderful young man who now works with Chelsea.

We enjoyed Caleb and the rest of this family all of the way 

through our home educating years. 

They were a very important part of our co-op.

 Behind Caleb is Jonathan (in plaid) and my brother Allan (in blue).

I don't get to see Allan often enough.

 Mikey was pretty pleased that he was able to pull of the surprise

matching t-shirts.

I think he tries to not tell me things...and this was one of them.

 A party game that thankfully only involved the guys.

Normally this is done at Bridal Showers but in this case....

 I thought these guys made really horrific brides.

Thank goodness they are not meant to wear these anywhere.

I think Johnny could see this was not working out so well.

 The seriousness on both of these guys faces just cracks me up.

Love it!

 Jonathan enjoys a bit of the girls silliness.

Later he would join the guys in a very hot and active 

game of ultimate frisbee.

 Johnny wanted to take a walk down by the river and so I suggested he take my camera 

and get some photos.

He did a great job.

 Apparently Chelsea and Grandma Georgia joined him because they showed up in 

the photos. 

Chelsea doesn't love wearing yellow but it is the bridesmaid color 

and so she was asked to wear it that day.

I happen to like it on her.

What a delightful event this was.

And I am so thankful for all of the work that went into 

making it so special for the bride and groom to be.

The wedding day will be here before we know it!

Also ongoing all weekend long was planning for Chelsea's 19th

birthday party.

She is a great party planner and so had every detail in place.

Each day had its assigned duties up until shopping on Monday morning

for the food that we weren't making.

Monday afternoon we cooked and baked.

BBQ, Pasta Salad, she iced the cupcakes, Grandma Georgia made 

the cake, Grandma Ruth made two huge bowls of her amazing 

potato salad.

So, if you are counting that makes THREE bowls of potato 

salad from Mom this weekend. 

Its that good!

Mikey helped her get tables and Emily came early to 

help her set up.

I had to take a little rest while they put the final details together.

I'm not the energizer bunny I once was.

But they are young and strong with lots of great ideas 

and the ability to pull it all off.

And then the guests began to arrive.

 One large group of co-workers had car trouble and then got lost 

and so they arrived quite late....

but we were SO happy they kept trying and finally found us.

They livened things up a lot.

I don't have any photos of them, though, because by then 

I was in full mama/hostess mode.

Activities included eating...of course...

volleyball, tree climbing, Dutch Blitz, 

Singing around the fire and a lot of visiting.

Johnny was so happy to find a co-worker of Chelsea's who grew 

up in Germany.

They chatted a while.

He loved it and felt so much at home with someone who

understands his culture.

Chelsea had made labels for just about everything.

They were so cute!

Chips and pretzels got their own table

but the real food was behind this fence.

 I love seeing friends enjoying time together.

These two have been buds since Kindergarten.

 Newlyweds, Joseph and Lindsay enjoying our Chloe.

I suspect that Lindsay was plotting a diet for our sadly obese pooch.

Last night didn't help that situation at all.

She found much on the ground and reminded me of 

Templeton the Rat in Charlotte's Web.

By the end of the evening she looked uncomfortable.

 Two special guests.

Melissa and Grandma Georgia.

Melissa has been friends with my kids and myself for a good long while.

I'm glad she could make it after a migraine that morning.

Grandma Georgia made Chelsea's birthday cake.  

It is tradition!

 These three have such busy lives that they struggle to find times when all three

can be together.

However, when they do it is a natural and very fun time.

It makes the effort worthwhile.

 And then it was time for Cake and Ice Cream.

Emily lit the candles!

 19 candles lit it UP!

 Michael "helped".

And then supervised.

What a blessed evening.

Thanks to all who helped to make it so special.

You are so important to us.

Happy Birthday, Chelsea!!