Jiggity Jig

Memories are funny. You never know the moments that are going to stick with you. Of course, some are obvious, but I'm not talking about those. I'm talking about the little things. It doesn't seem significant at the time and may not even come up as a memory for years later. Sometimes we have no idea why we even have certain memories, they are just there. Like the little jingle my Mom would always sing when we pulled up at our home after a little roadtrip, "Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety, Jig." Sometimes, I find myself singing it to Ian when we pull into the driveway and wonder, "Will that become a memory for him?"

We headed back to Crawfordsville, IN last week. A dear friend of mine, Bekah, got married. We went to high school together and have kept in touch throughout the years. Not as much as I would like, but life happens and you do the best you can. It was an honor to be invited to her wedding and it was such a wonderful ceremony (the party was great too;)! Bekah is an opera singer and comes from a very musical family. Her father and brother both sang during the ceremony and reception. We also got to enjoy Bekah's voice - she surprised all the guests and her groom! It was a lot of fun seeing old friends and catching up. It has probably been close to 10 years since we have all been in a room together (mainly my fault since I missed our 10 year reunion). We didn't skip a beat though - this time we were just sitting around talking about our kids and realizing we are our parents. Oops - that wasn't supposed to happen! Everyone is doing great though and it was a priceless memory for me. We were able to snag the beautiful bride for a quick photo (her little brother, Luke, had to jump in the photo too) - awwww...we're all grown up. Mr. Menard did a fabulous speech - be brought the whole place to tears! He began his speech by looking at Gino and asking, "Did you love her the first time you saw her?" and then he looked at the crowd and said, "Yeah, me too." Wow. It was a fabulous night with great food, great music, great company and best of all...great dancing!

Brandi Plant, Me, Bekah Cerro, Joy Wilkinson, Julie Hess and Luke Menard

Julie, Lisa Schwartz, Michael Plant, Joy and Me

Joe Peacock and Me

Ian had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa! It rained the first 2 days we were there so that was a bit of a bummer. They have a great backyard and he couldn't wait to get out and play. However, the rain did make great puddles! He couldn't resist breaking in the rain boots.

We met up with friends on Friday night for dinner and drinks, Saturday I had lunch with a good friend (Heather) and got to meet her daughter, Tanner. Ian and Tanner had fun playing together! The wedding was Saturday afternoon and evening. Sunday I enjoyed lunch with Stacie and her family on Sunday, then spent the rest of the day seeing family and friends of the family. We were able to stop at my cousin Lisa's Sunday night and get a tour of her new house. Congrats to them!

Erica Green, Kasey, Joy and Me

JD Flynn

Joy and Joe Gates

Heather Penwell, Tanner, Ian and Me

Ian and Tanner

Stacie Elliott with Ian and her son, Wyatt

It was an exhausting 5 days, but so worth it! Plus, we have to start paying for Ian's travel in January so this was his last free ride! Our cross country jaunts are sure to decrease now. We got our money's worth though - in his first 20 months of life he has flown 8 times and been to 7 states. Wow!

A couple of weeks ago, Kate told me about this cool music class that she was taking Ella to and invited us to join her. We met them this morning for our demo class (plus shopping!) and the kids had a blast! Ian and Ella are the youngest of the group, but that doesn't stop them from diving right in to all the excitement. It was really cool to watch them interact with each other and the other children. I figured Ian would enjoy it because he loves music time at Kristin's. She always says that is how she can tell when he is sick because he doesn't want to participate:( He observed for the first 10 minutes or so and then he jumped right in. The class is about 45 minutes and at the end they blow bubbles while singing their goodbye song. All the kids love the bubbles! I think we have a new Saturday morning routine...