Cookie & Corey's Wedding

Koen would prefer that this post be entitled, "Koen As Ringbearer" certainly. Although we've explained weddings and marriage to him, when he was asked to be the ring bearer he figured that meant the event must be about him. A few quotes from the weeks leading up to his special job for Cookie & Corey's big day... "So, mommy, when I wear that bear costume at Miss Cookie's wedding..." "Now I pass out rings to everyone, right, Mommy?" "I don't carry the real rings? Well, who has them? Don't Miss Cookie and Mr. Corey need rings for this?" When he was pretending to make a phone call to Miss Cookie he said, "Hey, Miss Cookie. So, are you pretty excited about me being the ring bearer?" (Sure, I'm certain that was her most expectant moment of the day).

On Thursday we packed up the boys and all our gear and headed out to York, PA for the rehearsal. Our boys did great traveling as usual. Koen basically got to watch DVD's or play on Daddy's iPad on this relatively short drive (4 and 1/2 hours).Tavin, not yet into DVD's, hung out with his blanket and was silly most of the way.We got to the hotel in time for the boys to take a late nap before the rehearsal and dinner following. Tavin went right to sleep. He was exhausted since it was almost 3pm when they laid down. Unfortunately, Koen was much too energetic after a morning zoning out in the car, poor kid. He did very well being quiet and trying to sleep and finally (after 3 visits to see me in the bathroom - where I was hiding out) gave up. I let him play trains on the bathroom floor. Not many alternatives when you are staying with 2 kids and 2 adults in a small hotel room. I sat in the bathtub on a chair cushion and Koen played on the tiles with his trains. Regular afternoon, right?

The boys were adorable at the rehearsal that night. Koen was so pumped up for his job. He kept telling Doug, "hey Daddy, we are the pastor team of the wedding."

We had some time to kill while things were getting set up, so I took some pictures of the boys and they were really into it. Not necessarily Christmas card quality, but priceless to me still!Doug caught us in our photo shoot and grabbed one of me and my boys...Then we used the self-timer for this one. A little freaky since Tavin and I are in the foreground and our faces are bigger than Doug and Koen's, but not too bad of a family shot, I was at least happy we captured that we were all there together.He did a great job listening to instructions, staying with all the pretty bridesmaids and walking out on cue.
Corey's parents hosted the rehearsal dinner. They are such wonderful people. It was great to get to meet them and spend a little time in their welcoming home. The boys loved being a part of the party. It was such a neat rehearsal dinner. They love Maryland crab and ordered them in and had tables set up with newspaper, mallets and the cracking tools necessary for eating crab fresh out of the shell. Of course there was other food too and the boys did great sitting at the big tables eating their late dinner (it was after bedtime already!). Soon after dinner we left to get them in bed, but first Koen got to open his present from Cookie & Corey...a new train piece!!The boys did well laying down late (so tired!) although Koen had a few extra visits to the bathroom. The novelty of everyone living in the same room is just too much fun for him. At least he's gotten a lot better at whispering since the last time we had a trip where we stayed all in one room.

The boys slept in until their normal time just about and so we all ended up having quite a good night's sleep. Koen immediately dove into making a train track with his new piece. Very exciting! Doug did a great job working with him to include Tavin and teach him how to use it properly.Unfortunately it was another rainy day in York, PA. Ugh. Nothing to do with the kids and we were all bouncing off the walls by 9am. We took off in the car in search of something to do. After visiting the local bent and broken outlet (man, you can get some great deals in there!), we headed to the mall to kill some time. We explored and discovered some of the vehicle rides in the middle walkway area. Of course we didn't want to pay though, so Koen and Tavin just used their imagination. Thatta boys.So, after dragging that out for about a half hour and it was still only 10:15am, we decided to splurge and pay for a half hour of play in this "Tumble Time" place in the mall. They hadn't seen it, but we spotted it. It was reasonably priced for a half hour of play that would tire these guys out and hopefully get out their pent up energy! They both loved it!

Koen spent most of his time on the trampoline or in the ball pit (ugh, the germs!).Tavin went from here to there (played some funny games with Daddy too)...
until he found the roller coaster go-kart thing. He loved it. Probably did it 30 times.So, our morning ended up being successful. We went out to lunch after the germ farm at the mall. Then got home to get them to nap on time. This time they both took great naps. Unfortunately, I was stuck in the bathroom (Doug was out prepping for the wedding). Although it was nice not to have to share the bathroom floor with Koen and his trains, I am definitely not loving naptime holed up in a public restroom.I had to wake Koen up to get to the wedding. Tavin slept all through that (Nana came up from Carlisle to be with him so he didn't have to go to the wedding). Nana also took care of Koen after the wedding so that Doug and I could enjoy the adults only reception. Thanks, Nana. We had a great night and we were happy that we knew the boys were having fun with their Nana!

I got Koen dressed at the wedding location and here's a picture of the full look. I have to give thanks to Kacia for lengthening the pants, to Kyra for the bow tie and to Allison for the shoes. This was a team effort to have a frugal, yet very handsome ring bearer!We caught up with Pastor Daddy before the wedding...and even got to peek in on the bride!!! Koen thought she was so beautiful, it was precious.So, sadly enough I didn't catch a great picture during the wedding, but the photographer did and she's a friend, so we'll be able to see some soon on her website I'm sure. I'll keep you posted on that. Here's Doug and Koen after the beautiful ceremony. Cookie and Corey wrote their own declarations to one another and their own vows, they did a lovely job. Doug also did a great job in his homily and his words to them. A very personal and emotional wedding. Lovely.And a picture of 3/4 of the little fam...Congratulations, Cookie and Corey! Thanks for letting us be a part of your big day. We were happy to attend and blessed by your testimonies. We love you!