vonGooden Wedding

Last weekend, I had the honor of being a bridesmaid in the wedding of one of my favorite people - my friend Katie! Katie and I became friends in college when we were in the same sorority. Although we were very close during college, I think it's safe to say we've become even better in the years since. I could try to explain how much she means to me, but we'd be here all evening. Suffice it to say, she is one of my biggest cheerleaders, but in addition to her giving me support and helping me maintain my sanity (I know, that's a relative term ;)) through law school - mostly via email - I have to also say that she did all this while she was getting two Master's degrees and oh, you know, graduating from MEDICAL SCHOOL. Minor details. Hehe. Anyway, Katie and Chris are one of the most perfectly matched couples that we know and we could not be happier for them. We are thrilled that they will soon be moving to Birmingham for Katie's residency. HOORAY! That knocks around 3 hours off of the distance between us. So fun.

Anyway, the wedding weekend was an absolute blast. We headed out to Chattanooga on Thursday morning and got to meet my sweet friend Amber and her husband for a late lunch (it is ALWAYS good to spend time with you :)). Then we checked into the hotel and JM took a little nap until time to go to Katie's parents' house for her uncle's cajun cookout. Oh. My. Goodness. Talk about some amazing food. And the company was even better! We got to know some of the groomsmen (I already knew the bridesmaids well due to our Vegas trip - which I failed to post about. It was AMAZING.) and had a wonderful time. Friday morning, Katie and the bridesmaids got manicures and pedicures, compliments of the "Phyllises," two of Katie's mom's friends who are both named Phyllis. They also provided us with mimosas, fruit, cheese petit fours - it was awesome. The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner were wonderful, too, of course!

Saturday was the wedding day, and it was perfect (from my perspective, of course, but I think Katie and everyone else would agree!). We got our hair done, pictures, etc., and then it was time for one of the prettiest weddings I have ever been to. It was so "Katie." I don't have many pictures, but it was gorgeous. The colors were black and white with red accents, and we each had different bouquets. So cool. Of course, I cried throughout the whole ceremony, but it was just so sweet. Love those two!

I still feel so honored to have been a part of the weekend. I had SO much fun with the other bridesmaids and the groomsmen, and of course, with Katie and Chris. And it was a nice little getaway for John Michael and me, too (thanks Mimi and PawPaw and Nana and Papa for taking care of the munchkins!)! Congratulations, Chris and Katie!!!

Katie and me

The girls at the rehearsal dinner :)

John Michael and me at the reception! We had a blast!

My Day with Addie by Nana

(Addie and Nana (John Michael's mom) had a play day on May 6! Here is Nana's account of their fun time :))

To set the stage for today, Addie and I were talking about her kite being stuck in the tree. We discussed flying a kite in the soccer field but Nana didn’t have a kite. I asked her where she thought we could get a kite. She said “the kite store!” (of course – how stupid of me). Then I reminded her of Phillips Toy Store where we went at Christmas and her eyes lit up. Then I suggested we go there to do birthday shopping and she was more than agreeable to that.

I requested that I have a stroller and Addie to bring her Birthday Princess tiara.

We first go to Cheekwood. We tour the East Gardens, going through Turner Seasons Garden, Herb Garden, Carell Dogwood Garden, Howe Wildflower Garden, and the Burr Terrace Garden. We start in the stroller but Addie ends up walking/running most of the way – except up hills, of course. At our first stop was beautiful purple Japanese iris. I took a picture of her there. There were many photo opportunities. There were not too many plants blooming but the ones that were I identified for her. At some point she started pointing to plants and identifying them also (by making up names for them). So cute. She loved all the water features. When we got to the pond, we stopped and looked at all the critters. There was a mud turtle, many tadpoles, koi fish and a dragonfly that Addie pointed out. We heard a big bullfrog croaking. I told Addie that he was croaking “welcome Addie Leigh Corn to my pond.” She liked that. As we were moving on, Addie said, “Goodbye pond, goodbye Mr. Frog, goodbye Mr. Fish, goodbye Mr. Dragonfly, goodbye Mr. Turtle.”

As we arrive up the hill at our picnic spot, with a very serious look on her face she said, “Actually, I believe they were all girls.” I told her they may have been except I was sure the bullfrog was a boy. After some serious thought, she determined that the turtle was a boy, and one fish was a girl but 2 were boys and the dragonfly was a girl.

We spread a blanket on the side of a hill for our picnic. Addie takes off her shoes and rubs her feet in the grass. It was a beautiful day, bright blue sky, a great temperature and a slight breeze. The picnic lasted about an hour as we were discussing many important issues. Then it was time to be heading back to the car. As we’re going back Addie parts a plant with her hands and looks into it. I asked what she was looking for and she said Peter Rabbit. So we looked for Peter Rabbit in many more plants on the way back to the car.

On to Phillips Toy Mart. I don’t know if Addie had this calculated or not (I think so) but she steered left in the front door (away from the doll and Princess sections). We wandered up and down the aisles, watched the trains for a while and played with various toys throughout the store. She didn’t see anything she wanted for her birthday. We finally got to the doll section but there wasn’t one she wanted. She did want a stroller but I told her she already had one and can only push one at a time.

Next came the Princess section. She pointed out the Princess dress she got at Christmas. Next to it was a Snow White dress. She said, “Nana I would like this dress please.” I said of course you may have that dress. Then she said, “May I also have those red shoes?” Absolutely! Then she said “May I also have that crown?” How can you refuse when she asked so nicely and politely? Of course this dress was to stay at Nana and Papas house since she didn’t have one there. I went along with that one. We picked out a toy for Brother and checked out.

When we got home she was so excited, jumping up and down, to get her Snow White dress on. She of course looked like a fairy tale come true in it. We were watching a movie and after a while Addie said, “I think I would like to take this (dress) home.” I was certainly expecting this and gave her a minimal hard time but told her of course she could.

She requested I sit next to her and we snuggled together on the couch the rest of the afternoon.

Another day made in heaven for a Nana and her little girl!

Four!

My sweet Addie: Happy Birthday, sweet pea! I cannot believe you are four years old. It really does seem like just yesterday that you were born. Funny enough, today's weather was exactly like it was in 2006 - unseasonably cold and rainy, or as you told me this morning, "It's a little bit chilly on my birt-day today!" I will never forget that day four years ago - how excited and terrified I was, but then the second I saw you I was madly in love. And (most :)) every day has been even more fun than the one before it. How has it happened that my sweet, content little baby has turned into a smart, sassy girl?! I love finding out what each day is going to bring and what funny thing you're going to say next. You are so loving and caring towards Landon. I am still amazed at how wonderful you are with him, and even though you're starting to get jealous of him when he gets your toys, you're still quick to try to make him happy whenever you can. You are also so sweet with Daddy and me and with your friends at school - you've even gotten extra stickers for being such a good friend! We are so proud to be your parents.

Sometimes we think your intelligence is going to do us in - you are already trying (often successfully) to outwit us! You are clever and funny and a complete joy to be around. Every day I ask you how your day was, and you say, "Gooood." Then I asked you what you did at school, and without fail you say, "My favorite part was..." You're also the most fun hide-and-seek partner EVER! When you're hiding, you giggle and squeal, and when you're the seeker, you count so fast that there's no way anyone could possibly hide!

You are quite the well rounded girl. You can go from wearing your princess dresses and pretty shoes to playing in the mud without missing a beat. You are dainty when you want to be but can very much hold your own and be tough. You never cease to amaze me!

Addie Leigh, you are the light of my life. Although I wish I could make time slow down just a little bit, I am having so much fun and can't wait to see what each day brings. You are my pride and joy and I love you SO MUCH! Happy "Birt-day"!

The PAR-TAY!

So we did it. We finally broke down and had another birthday party for Addie. The last one was her first birthday party (a HUGE joint celebration with Holland). Even though Lynn did most (ahem, close to all) of the work for that one, I think I'm still exhausted from it. HA! Anyway, we decided to have a small party for Addie's classmates and a couple of her other friends at a local JumpZone-type place here in town. It was awesome!! The venue provided EVERYTHING except the cake and kids (and goody bags - yes, I sent kids home with clutter-inducing crap - HA!). We just told them the "theme" (I chose just "pink," not quite ready to enter the realm of character birthday parties) and they set everything up in their party room. Granted, it wasn't exactly how I would've decorated things, but the relaxation factor won me over enough to not care. Anyway, the kids ran around like crazy, jumped in the jumpy things (I'm sure they have a technical name...) and had a BLAST! There were a few tears due to some (okay, one) of the kids being...well...a little rougher than others, but I think overall, it was a success. Addie was the little queen bee. It was hilarious! All of her little girlfriends wanted to do whatever she was doing. I have never really seen her interact with more than one or two of her friends at a time, so it was really cute to see them all playing as a group. Of course, Addie was "number one" because it was her birthday, but it was great to see them all playing so well together. But I definitely have a new respect for her preschool teacher! PHEW! :) Just watching those kids play for two hours was exhausting.

Because the kids were running/jumping like crazy, I had a hard time getting any good pictures. But rest assured, Addie was adorable!

Check out that hair!

Up they go!

You know it's been a while...

when you type in "blogger.com" and the firefox "fill-in" doesn't remember it for you. Whoops! But to say there has been a lot going on here would be an understatement.

Of course by now everyone knows about the flooding in Tennessee. It was the craziest thing (actually, still is the craziest thing - I think the really hard part is just beginning for most). I have been speechless. It is absolutely heartbreaking to know that so many people have lost their lives, their homes, their belongings. And it's also heartbreaking to see my beautiful hometown of Nashville essentially in ruins in many areas. And it all seemed to happen so quickly! When the flooding really started happening, we had stopped at Nana & Papa's house to feed their dogs (they were out of town). We were on our way to Clarksville to our friends' Derby Party, and since the kids hadn't eaten lunch, we grabbed a snack at "Old MacDonald's." The kids and I were inside eating and John Michael said he wanted to go check on the greenhouse before we left because he said sometimes water would get in it when it rained hard. It was about ten minutes later when he came back in, and he said, "You probably need to give Jessica a heads up that we're going to be running a little late." I was confused and asked him why, and he just told me to come look. WOW - it was unlike anything I had ever seen. The creek had flooded completely over the driveway into the front yard and as we stood there and watched, the water was rising. He told me to rest assured that as soon as the rain let up, the water would drop quickly.

So he went back out to "rescue" some equipment and other things around the farm, and I went back in with the kids to check out what the news was saying. The rain just kept. on. coming. And there was more behind it on the radar! I started getting worried that we weren't going to make it to the party at all (please don't think I'm the most selfish person ever - I still had no idea the magnitude of what was happening!), Addie kept asking when we were going to see "Baby Kate," and Landon was irritable (we had counted on our drive to Clarksville for a nap :)). Then JM came back inside, changed his clothes, and said he thought we'd be staying the night. Unfortunately for SuperMom, Landon had been a little wheezy that week (diagnosed as allergies and we've started Claritin and are seeing a little improvement) and I had not brought his medicine, never imagining we wouldn't be home before morning! The weather reports were starting to talk about flooding everywhere and the numerous street closures in Franklin, including the INTERSTATE! Geez. I spoke to my mom on the phone and she told me that she and my dad were unable to get out of their neighborhood to go to the Jimmy Buffet concert. Yikes! After about an hour - and when the radar showed a "lull," we decided to brave it to try to get home. We had to take some creative detours, but we made it home fine - and just in time for the tornado sirens. Yuck. They went off three times that night. Thankfully, they were just warnings. Of course, we know how very blessed our families are to have stayed safe and not have permanent damage to our homes (we had none, our parents' homes both had water in their basements).

Work has been very busy due to the flooding in Franklin. It seemed so abstract to me until the other day. Don't get me wrong - I had seen Hillsboro Road covered in water, and seen pictures of the parks in Franklin as lakes. But I had my first upclose glimpse of the aftermath while driving to Publix the other day. Such a routine task, right? Well, I looked over to my left and saw what appeared to be the entire contents of a family's home on their front yard - clothes on what appeared to be 10 to 12 makeshift clotheslines; baby toys everywhere; and a crib on its side. It brought me to tears. I can't imagine.

In case you haven't seen this video yet, it has some moving photographs...