Katie's bachelorette party

Katie's wedding was quickly coming up, and, like a bad bridesmaid missed both of her showers.  The first one the family was so sick and I didn't want to bring that there in fear of passing it on... and the second one it was more for friends but I was out of town running a marathon :)  So, when her bachelorette party was happening I was so going!

If all bachelorette party's were like this I would think they're great!  Most of the time I don't really get into them, but this was great.  It was small so we could actually hang out, which was nice.  I did get my first pedicure too which was kinda nice because my pinky toenail definitely turned black and was looking a bit unruly.  I have to say,  I don't know if I love pedicures... everybody raves about them, but I don't know if I thought it was that great enough to pay that much for toe nail polish.  I am very ticklish and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be but there was definitely a time when I started giggling uncontrollably. Bless the ladies heart but she couldn't believe that I was married with three kids... she thought I was in college :)



After the pedicure we went back to the maid of honors house and we played a few games, Cards against Matrimony and put ideas into a date jar for Katie and Bram.  Some more cute and some a bit inappropriate :)  After we hung out a bit we decided to get food!  We went to San Chez for some yummy tapas and desert before we headed home.  It was a perfect bachelorette party in my opinion.  It was a small group of friends that got to hang out, like actually hang out, and have great food.  The maid of honor has a small one so we got back so she could get back to him, and it was perfect.

It's always nice to be able to celebrate couples, and it's always such a great reminder of how wonderful my man is

JVG

Katie's wedding!

The physics department, the honors ceremony and my friends' wedding all happened in the same week. It was crazy busy! Since I was a bridesmaid in her wedding that meant that we were there for the rehearsal dinner and I was there at the butt crack of dawn on the actual day. For the rehearsal my parents watched the kiddos so that we could go (that's right, two nights that week we went out kidless!) and it was really good to catch up with friends. The rest of the girls from the quintet I played in, KABAJ, were in the wedding as well, so we got to hang with them! I don't know what it was but I couldn't keep my crap together during the rehearsal. I was a hot mess. I was honestly a little worried about it since this was just the rehearsal and not the actual day... but the tears they were a-flowing! I felt a little better because the other girls were a bit weepy too... I'm thinking it was a combination of things for me. That week was a lot of planning and being organized and then, of course, watching a childhood friend marry the love of their life is always a bit of a tear jerker.

The next morning came early! The wedding wasn't until 1 in the afternoon but she wanted us there at 8:30 for hair and make-up. Since I got my hair cut earlier that week mine was going to be simple and it was something that I could do. The make-up was a little nerve wrecking but I had a little bit of practice earlier that week during G's honors ceremony. The only time I had gotten all done up was when Jane did it and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to replicate, but I got my falsies on and everything and I think I did pretty well. I'm not gonna lie I was getting pretty tired by the time the wedding rolled around because we did a few pictures beforehand and as comfy as my shoes were they were getting a little sore already.

The ceremony went wonderfully. Nothing weird happened and I kept everything together! :) This wedding was a little extra special because I grew up with the groom, like I remember playing together in preschool, and the bride has been in my life since middle school! A lot of things coming together in the name of love and it's beautiful. It was also really nice to see the other girls and their significant others as well... just kinda made everything feel right.

The reception was a blast! It wasn't a typical reception but I would take this one over typical any day. It was at the Grand Rapids Brewing Co downtown. We got drink vouchers which was really nice of the bride and groom and their food selection was great! The bride, Katie, is a vegetarian so I was interested to see what food she picked. They had a mac n cheese bar which was amazing and excellent finger foods to go along with the beverages that you could get there. Our bass player showed up and it was a wonderful reunion of everyone.

Since the wedding was so early the reception was actually done by 7/8. I was ready to go home by then because I hadn't seen the kids all day! The crazies woke up in time to ride in the car with us to drop me at the church but I hadn't seen Norah yet. It was also fabulous being able to spend all the time with the husband all by myself. :)

Congrats to you Katie and Bram. May marriage rock as much for you, as it does for us. Blessings my friends!

JVG

WMU Teaching Excellence

On top of receiving the department award for teaching excellence my stud of a husband is now getting recognized by the entire university. A very select amount of candidates are nominated by their department for this prestigious award, and out of those only a few get it. And, not all departments are represented, so even if you are the only candidate from your department that doesn't mean you'll get it. G was the only physics department nominee and representative. It's kinda a big deal so we asked my dad if he could come down and watch the kiddos while we went out and celebrated his teaching excellence! It was fun to get all dressed up and to be able to see that others are seeing what an amazing educator he is. We did get to see our friend Dan there who also won an award for the math department. It was a fun evening of watching the best of the best be recognized for their ingenuity and performance in their area of expertise. Congrats my love you are amazing.

JVG

Astronomy Day

So, last year we nerded it up big time at Astronomy Day with the kiddos and they were extra excited to do it again this year too!  G took the older two and did a to of the stations with them, and I chased Norah around as she flitted from one toy to another.  We did get her to eventually make a few things that the had set out, which she enjoyed.  :)  The kiddos came home with a bunch of free stuff too that they liked to decorate their walls with.  Could be worse!  I'm glad that they like learning so much, and that we have a great place for them to do so.


























JVG

Physics Department Award

Well, our amazing Papa has done it again!  The first semester that he was in grad school he won this award from the department for being an outstanding educator.  Typically once you've won an award you don't get to win it again, but here he is a few years later winning it again.  Just goes to show that when you are that good you have to be recognized!  Congrats Papa!  Way to go!  :)  We are so proud of you!

JVG

Lucy's Dr's Appointment

Its not very often that I have to take all the kiddos to Dr's appointments solo, but I did this time and it went really well.  I knew I just had to pack a bunch of snacks and hope that they were running on time.  The Dr's have been doing really good about getting us out the waiting room fairly quickly, which definitely helps!  Of course, Dude and Norah thought it hilarious to be hanging out and they played hide and seek. Naturally, when they are hiding under the sink is when the Dr comes in, but he's used to their crazy antics by now!  :)  She is doing well and is definitely within all the right margins.  She is falling more into the middle of the weight and height group instead of being off the charts like they were when they were babies.  haha.  Can't believe Goose is getting so big...



JVG

Dude's music visitation

I missed writing about one of Dude's visitations but he just had his final one this year.  And, it for sure is his final one :(  His teacher is retiring after 49 years of teaching music!  She was wonderful and obviously was very good at what she did, as was proven by the kiddos during their visitations!  They even put together a cute presentation for this final one and it was so cute.  I was so excited to sign Lucy up with her for next year, but I guess we will just have to find another thing to plug them into.  :)

It is always interesting to see how Dude interacts with the other kids in his class and how he listens and takes direction from another adult.  He was getting better and better with each visitation about not being so nervous I think.  ;)  We might just be at the stage now where he starts taking piano lessons!  Wouldn't that be fun?

To Mrs. Boal... thank you for the two years that we've had you.  It was amazing and I can't even begin to imagine how many lives you have touched over your many wonderful years of teaching.

JVG