I've finally convinced myself to take a couple of minutes to sit down and post since it's been so long. It's not often that I can't find the time to get some of my thoughts and of course a couple of pictures on-line. I have good excuses though...and good pictures.

This past weekend was my cousin Nicole's wedding. McKenna and I were both in the wedding party, along with my cousin Julie and her daughter, Hayden. Needless to say, we all had a great time. I won't lie, it was an extremely busy two days with trips to Lewistown each day. We had originally thought of staying overnight on Friday night but later decided against it. Cooper is a great sleeper...but only when he's in his crib. Packing for Cooper to spend the day in Lewistown and packing for McKenna and I to be in the wedding proved time consuming also. But again, it was well worth it.

McKenna was so excited to finally be a flower girl. What little girl doesn't dream of being one? She looked adorable and took her job very seriously. She was so well behaved the entire weekend with the exception of a few tears at the reception until we quickly pointed out that her make-up would smudge if she cried. That solved that! She was thrilled to get her hair and make-up done with the adults. She must have asked the make up artist to reapply her lip gloss fifty times before we left the salon.

Before we knew it, the ceremony was over, Nicole and Jon were man and wife, and we were off to the reception. After everyone had some food in their bellies we danced and had fun for hours. It was great to be able to dance and have fun with my grandparents, parents, cousins, brothers and my kids too! At one point I thought about the fact that this was the first time all year that we were ALL together for something fun. We definitely had enough gloom this summer that needed "danced out" as they would say on Grey's Anatomy.

Saturday night our entire household slept like rocks. Earl was nice enough to let me sleep until 9am on Sunday morning, a near record for me since having Cooper. But I definitely needed it. I was the last person to come down with the dreaded sinus infection that has plagued our house. I really should have seen a doctor much sooner, but honestly I didn't have time to be sick. Once I got up Sunday morning I made plans to be the first one in the parking lot when the walk in clinic opened at 1pm. I was second so that wasn't too bad and in a half hour I was leaving, antibiotics in hand. I'm feeling much better today even though my co-workers threatened to put me in isolation and make me wear a mask in the office.

I'm looking forward to the final preparations for McKenna's birthday party on Friday evening. I know she's definitely looking forward to turning five. You all know how I feel about that already, so I'll spare you my thoughts on that tonight. After spending the weekend with her doing 'girl stuff' for the wedding I realized that her growing older might not be so bad. We really did have a good time together. And I realize that I'm so blessed to have a happy, healthy daughter who grows bigger and stronger every single day.

I can't believe that there are only 18 odd days left until Christmas. That's unbelievable. I'm so excited though. I have a feeling Cooper is going to be super fun this year tearing into presents. So far, the Christmas tree still stands, but more than a few ornaments have ended up on the floor under the tree. We're planning on having breakfast with Santa on Saturday so we'll see how that goes. Even McKenna is not sure she wants to sit on the Big Guy's lap this year.

I hope that you all are doing well and enjoying the holiday season.