Wedding blurbs!!

Almost 1 week since my baby girl got married. Can't believe how fast this week has went. They are off on their honeymoon, enjoying wedded bliss (I hope) The wedding was great...my daughter was so beautiful in her wedding gown. I have to say, my husband was very handsome in his tux, topped off with his handsome grey hair. I had tears in my eyes while he walked Ashley up the aisle and when he gave her away. Of course, no wedding gets away without at least one little hitch and we were lucky enough to have two! Sawyer and Kennedy! Sawyer (our younger grandson) would not go up the aisle with his older brother and threw a fit at the back of the church. Grant did a wonderful job as solo ringbearer. Kennedy, the flower girl and daughter of my cousin was doing a good job until she got about half way up the aisle. Then something happened and she had a major meltdown. She went running to her mom and started sobbing so loud that Amy had to take her out of church. Everyone laughed it off. I think anyone that expects a 2 year old and a 4 year old to be model members of the wedding party are in for a rude awakening. You should expect them to misbehave (and I did) After the wedding, we had the reception at the Harvester Room (old Eagle's) It was really nice. I would say there was around 150 people there. Went through a lot of beer and champagne and food. I think a good time was had by all. The greatest thing for me, besides it was my only daughters wedding, was that my nephew Chris was able to be with us to celebrate. He got to come home for 16 days and it was great. Now he's probably back in Iraq by now for 3 more months. At least he can look forward to an end to that madness. He's supposed to get out in September and that will be a relief to us all.
Now, a list of things that don't matter when having a wedding.....
1. It doesn't matter that the word "nephew" was misspelled on the programs. Newphew isn't a persons name, so who cares!

2. It doesn't matter if the frosting on the cake isn't the color it was supposed to be, even though the baker swears we changed the scroll design from pink to green. It all worked out. No one knew that it wasn't supposed to be that way. The cake was yummy, everyone enjoyed it and my former sister-in-law paid for it. (that was really nice of her)

3. Those stupid favor boxes....forget them. I spent several hours filling those little boxes with candies and mints just so people could destroy them, throw them around or just ignore them. If I had it to do over again, I would take those expensive personalized M & M's and put them in a bowl by the cake and let people help themselves (or not) just like the nuts.

4. Speaking of the M & M's.....those things are expensive (very) and I don't think anyone appreciated them. Big waste of money, but the bride wanted them and I was not going to tell her no!

5. The decorations don't really matter either. I had several people tell me that we did a good job with the decorations, but if there had been none, I don't think it would have mattered. People are only there for the food, free beer and the dancing.

The one thing I would do that I didn't get the opportunity to do..... I would take the groom's parents, along with my husband and go around to each table and introduce or be introuduced to each person that was there. I didn't know half the people that were there because they were friend's of the groom or his parents and I don't think the groom's parents got to meet any of my family. Just something to think about.

So anyway....I'm no longer the MOB(mother of the bride) but I'm still a FMIL(future mother-in-law) until September anyway.

Wedding thoughts in Kansas. Colleen

Chris is coming home

My nephew, Chris is coming home from Iraq! Wish it was for good, but he does have to go back for a couple of months. He will be here for my daughters wedding and hopefully, will be out of the army by the time my son gets married in September! Chris is like a son to me. When he and his sister came to live with my parents, he became a big part of our lives. Everywhere we went, Chris and Jackie usually went too. It was kind of like having 5 kids instead of 3. As they have grown up, they have both kind of grown away from us (as most kids do) but I know that they know their roots are here, in Kansas. They will always come back here, to the people who love them. Anyway; can't wait to see his goofy grin and give him a great big hug. I won't want to let him go!
Happy spring!

HAPPY NEW YEAR. HAPPY NEW. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The dark times are over and I can get on with another year......fun, fun.
The daughter is getting married in just a little over 3 months...April 12th. so we are going full speed ahead with getting stuff finalized on that. And, we are going to have another wedding, maybe in September of this year. Middle child and his girlfriend got engaged at Christmas. I was really surprised...I didn't know if he would be willing to get back into the marriage pool again after his first fiasco of a marriage. But, this young lady is so different from the cow he was married to first. Different as night and day. I actually think the first wife did a favor, by leaving him. I can't wait for another wedding, but our checkbook is saying different! Ouch!!! Guess we'll get through it just like other people.
Anyway, hope the new year is a good year for everyone and I hope we are all around for the next one.
2008 in Kansas. Colleen

Goodbye Christmas

Christmas has come and gone for another year. Every year since my mother died I swear I'm not going to celebrate Christmas again. This year was pretty close. I didn't get my tree put up and only set a few Santa's out (in her memory) We celebrated Christmas on the 23rd because that's when two of our kids could come. My husbands family doesn't exchange gifts because they don't have the money. However, his brother & wife decided to give us a gift,which I didn't accept. I don't know if they were trying to appease their guilt for various things or if they were just trying to look better than us. What ever the reason, I don't want any part of it. We went to my brother's for Christmas Eve. Pressed chicken sandwiches on homemade buns, and oyster soup in the white bowls that Grandma Reardon used to use for the very same purpose, and my mother after that. It was a good evening. My gifts to everyone this year was a photo album of pictures I had taken at the folk's house right after we sold it and before any of the furniture was taken out. I felt that we all needed a reminder of where a lot of our good times were spent. Getting pictures re-printed is rather expensive but it was worth it. Christmas day I worked and then our other child and his girlfriend came to celebrate that evening. They surprised us with the fact that they are engaged. I am so happy about that. After his disasterous first marrage I wondered if he would ever venture into the Marriage pool again. They are talking about getting married next September.....two weddings in one year! Wow!!
Guess that will be a different story.
Anyway...more snow it Kansas and pretty chilly.
Merry and Happy. Colleen

Death of a great man.

It seems that the stars are aligned against me lately. Bad luck and disappointment follow me everywhere I go. On November 6th, my dad passed away at the ripe old age of 81. He lived longer than any of his male ancestors lived. He used to always say he wouldn't live pass 60 because everyone else had died young. Guess he showed them! His last few years were not good. Living in a nursing home, not able to communicate or take care of yourself is not living. He wasted away and was not the man my brothers and I loved and admired. That man left us a long time ago. We all miss him greatly, but are glad he is finally at peace and once again beside his Princess where he belongs. I'm so glad that I was able to tell him how much I loved him and be by his side until his last breath. I missed that with mom. She slipped away from us, in the middle of the night. No time to tell her goodby or tell her how much we loved her. I feel cheated by that. Anway, now I feel like an orphan. I don't have a mom or a dad. Your life just isn't the same when they are gone. You are now on your own and no one will ever love you as much as they did. It's a sad and lonely place to be. Life goes on, but some days, I just don't want to be in it! Colleen

Death...are you ready?

Death....not a word most of us like to say, let along talk about. The truth is, we all die....there's just no way around it. For some, it's a blessing but for others it's a tragedy. My friend's 34 year old daughter died last week. It was unexpected, so it was a tragedy, although some might say it was a blessing after so many years of not being in the best of health. She wasn't ready to go...she was looking forward to many years of helping others less fortunate than herself and being there as her parents grew old, so she could help them out. Now her parents are left without a child (she was their only one). They won't have grandchildren. Their branch of the family ends with them. So sad. Death can be so cruel. Why take a 34 year old that had something to offer this world instead of some drunk or druggie that doesn't seem to be any benifit to this life? Who can understand? I guess it's GOD's will, but sometimes it just doesn't make sense. Tammie was coming out of the clinic, after a check up. She was with her mom and they were talking about what they were going to be doing in the future. Tammie was so happy to finally be going back to full time work and starting a new job on top of that. She was as happy as she had ever been. Her mother said one minute she was talking and the next she just fell over the front of the car and slid to the ground. She was dead in that instant. The doctors and nurses did all the usual things...CPR, airway and defib. but she was gone, just like that. No time to say goodbye. They speculate it was a blood clot possibly caused by her recent surgery, but that will go to her grave and they will never have the answers; kind of like when my mother died. Just sudden and no answer as to why she died. In my case, it leaves me with a feeling that there will never be any closure to her life, because we don't know what caused her death. It's kind of like an unfinished book, the story never ends.
Now, on the other hand, my uncle Roland died a couple days after Tammie. He was 80 years old and suffered from Parkinson's disease. He was ready to go and I'm sure his family looked at his passing as a blessing although I know they miss him and are sad that he's no longer with them. It's like my poor dad, sitting in a nursing home, dad after day, not enjoying life....just living. Maybe he understands more than we think but he can't communicate, so we don't know. He's just wasting away...just a shell of the man he once was...it's sad and it's hard for us to deal with. Some day we will be glad that he has been released from this life and it with his "Princess" once again, but we will be sad because he's gone.
hummm....Dealing with death in Kansas. Colleen

Rude People

Why are people so rude? Is it because they were raised by rude people or is it because they are just stupid and don't know any better? No wonder everyone is so crabby.....dealing with rude, stupid people.....bahh!!!! Colleen