Saturday & Sunday

After book club on Friday I had to rest up for the rest of the weekend festivities.

Saturday, we had Porter's 5th birthday party.  How is this baby boy 5 years old.

He is the sweetest child.  He wanted a monster truck cake (much like the 3 previous years) and Mom got a truck that worked with a track that he also got.  He told Nana thank you with out having to he prompted.  (much like he did on Christmas when I got him the chainsaw).

He wanted to ride big wheels and have a bounce house so that's what we did.

Unfortunately, he crashed on his first run.  He scraped his arm pretty good but was still a pretty happy camper.

Even Grandmother bounced with the birthday boy.  I love celebrating with my family.  These kids bring us all so much joy and I really can't imagine life without them.

After the party Patrick took a quick nap and  then we headed to some friends house to hang out.  A fun night for sure!

I missed this girl!  I haven't seen her since we dropped out of boot camp.  We're starting back though. Sunday I headed to church, then hung around to snap some pictures for a friend's baby's baptism. Here are a few shots...

Gigi's cupcakes made an appearance at the after party, I got to try the lemon poppy seed and champagne.  Both were delicious.  Actually they were two of the best ones I've had. It was a busy but beautiful weekend!  Now on to one of the busiest weeks at work. 

Book Club

Last night was the fourth Friday which means...BOOK CLUB!  I was so excited because our first book was The Hunger Games.  Which you know I loved!  I enjoyed getting to discuss the book and characters.  Although we're kinda new to this whole thing so was mostly discussed other books.  We were going to read 50 Shades of Gray next but decided we would be to embarassed to discuss it.  However we discussed a lot about it so we probably should have just gone ahead and read it. 

Kristen was the host this month and she chose to have it our local O'Charleys.  It was a lot of fun, they have a new drink a Cherry Limeade Margarita that is to die for!
This was our group last night. I guess I need to take my real camera next time!
Kristen brought Cheescake Factory cheescake for dessert! It was a fun night with fun girls.  I'm already looking forward to next month.  

Wedding Fun

We had a wonderfully busy weekend!  Mine started Friday afternoon at the Bridesmaids Brunch at the botanical gardens. 

I have been looking forward to my cousins wedding for months.  Ryan and I have been closefor years and it was so special to get to be a part of their special day.  Natalie's aunts threw a lovely lunch and it was a beautiful day to spend at the gardens!

Me and my Aunt Pam (mother of the groom)
Me, Aunt Pam, Pam's mom and The bride

The beautiful bride Natalie.

After the brunch I ran to do some shopping.  I had ordered a dress to wear the the rehearsal/dinner but it didn't arrive in time (actually when I got home they had tried to deliver it at 5:30 on Friday but I'd already gone by then!).  I really like the dress I ended up getting.  It's a great little black dress!

John and Hope.  John looks scared everytime I take his picture using the flash.

Me, Ryan and John

Mark, Elizabeth, Ryan, me and John.  The five of us have had a ball growing up together.

Natalie, I wish I'd gotten a full length shot, her dress was beautiful!

Sister and I got to sit at the same table.

They had a cute slide show and then after dinner they showed a video that was so cute.  The videographer had interviewed Ryan & Natalie and then each of their parents about their love story, how they met & fell in love.  It was so so so good.

I ended up spending the night with Ryan and his parents cause they live so close and I could sleep later!  The wedding day started early with hair and makeup around 10:00am.

I didn't take many pictures on Saturday...but I had to capture this cutie.  How precious is he in that tux?  He was upset when he found out he had to give it back.  He wore it all day long and we could barley get him to take it off to eat.  He was so good all day and loved hanging out with Uncle John and the boys.

Natalie looked beyond beautiful.  She wore her mom's dress and it was amazing.  She looked so classic and timeless!

By far Porter's favorite thing was riding the bus.  They rented a charter bus to haul the wedding party around all day.

Eating lunch.

Uncle John's shadow.  He even followed John as he was seating people before the wedding.  He would rather be with the big boys than the kids.

My handsome husband.  It was good to finally see him. By this time I was looking a hot mess.

My brother's and their girls.

Kissing the night goodbye.

It was a long day but so much fun.  I'm so happy for Ryan and Natalie and was so honored to be a part of their day!

Easter Festivities

We had a wonderful Easter weekend.  We always go to my grandmother's house for lunch on Saturday so we can spend the whole day with her.  We hid the eggs for the kiddos.  We usually have a full contact egg hunt but this year we opted for kickball instead, Mom and Dad even got in on the action.  We laughed till we cried!  It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Harper was exhausted after finding 41 eggs at the church egg hunt.

Porter loved being on the lawn mower.  He would have driven that thing all afternoon if we'd let him.

Crazy hair.

Harper found some glasses.  She loves sunglasses.

The whole Maxwell Family before church.

The Horton Family in what could possibly be the worst ever.  I blame the photographer for not checking the photo before the shoot ended.

Our baskets.  We have the best Easter bunny ever.  We got scratch off lottery tickets, how fun is that?

The kiddos with their baskets.

Mom and the kids dyed eggs. 

Ally was pooped but she looked adorable in her dress.

We had a wonderful evening at the Horton's house too.  I never get any pictures there.  There was an amazing spread of food and desserts.  I love Easter, it's so refreshing.  Everything is made new and I love the crisp feeling when we're sprinkled with Holy Water to be reminded of our baptism.  I love leaving Mass with a renewed spirit and hope.

Books, Art and Golf...Oh My!

I've had a busy week and weekend.  Mostly fun stuff!  I tend to plan a bunch of stuff all at one time, it never fails.  This past week was one of our busier weeks at work.  I worked late everyday, very not like me.  Some friends and I have been throwing around the idea of a book club so Friday I decided to have everyone over to discuss the topic further.  I wish I had taken more pictures everything looked so cute.  I think we're going to have a great group. We chose our first title and set the date so I'm really excited.

This was the centerpiece.  I love tulips!

Saturday, I planned a little adventure for Kristen's birthday.  We were headed to Atlanta to the High Museum of Art for the Picasso to Warhol exhibit.  Followed by a little trip to IKEA.

This sweet face greeted me when I got in the car Saturday morning.

The guest list for this adventure included me, Kristen, Lorie, Ellie, my mom and our fearless leaders Mr. & Mrs. Kreider.  We all piled in the Kreider's car and headed toward Atlanta.  I'm not going to go into details but it was a car ride I won't soon forget. 

We finally made it and it was worth the trip.  It was amazing to see these famous works of art that I've seen and read about in textbooks.  We decided to take Ellie's picture with some of the pieces.  She's thrilled, can't you tell. 

All the world famous art and she's still our favorite photo subject.

I can't remember this guys name but it was neat.

This was one of our favorite pieces by James Pollack.

I also loved this one by Jasper Johns.

Then we got to the Warhol.  I was so excited because there are few pieces of art I can identify.  (I know that's sad but it's true.) 

This was probably my favorite piece in the whole museum.  My mom crochets so we thought this was so neat.

We had to get a picture of the four of us.  Ellie was pooped. 

Today, I only worked half a day because I volunteered to snap some pictures at the Katie Burkett Memorial Golf Tournament.  It is such a fun event.  As far as the game of golf goes...I don't know how they see where the balls land.  Plus, how do you know for sure which ball is yours when you get down there?  Anyway, I can get behind drinking beer and enjoying gorgeous weather but the actual game, not so much.

This was my post for the afternoon.
The highlight of the afternoon for me would be meeting Cory Reamer.  He played on the 2009 National Championship team.  He let us try on his ring.  Just a super, super nice guy. Needless to say, after a fairly busy few days I'm pooped!