kate, will, and the princess and the pirate

on wednesday, april 27 tornadoes rolled through alabama and many lives were lost and entire towns were destroyed. {i debated posting this because i did not want to in any way to down play the devastation that occurred, but what followed is a memory i want to remember.} warning: long story ahead.

i called my grandmother on thursday to check on her - she was fine - just lacked power. but she was very worried that she might miss the wedding of prince william and kate the following day. at first i laughed it off - i mean, with all the devastation shown on tv and she was worried about some wedding. well, it hit me later that night how much she was looking forward to it and the woman is 92 years old so this will likely be her last royal wedding to watch. so i hop in my car at 9pm and drive to decatur. i called her on my way and she kept saying it was crazy {but i could tell in her voice she was so excited}. when i arrived she had on her silk jammies and a bag packed. we made it back to birmingham a little after 11pm. my alarm went off at 4am to start watching the full coverage. maggie crawled in bed with me and we sipped coffee and watched the wedding of will and kate. by the time i left for work she had fallen back asleep {and missed the kiss on the balcony}, but it is a memory i will never forget.

then on to saturday. michael and i met in monroeville for marshall black's (to jessica pettis) wedding which was beautiful and so fun! {no pictures though}

then on sunday i drove back to birmingham to get ready for isabell's 3rd birthday party. david {the dad} had asked me a while back if i would dress up as a princess for his daughter's birthday party. i thought he was kidding so i said 'sure'. well, he wasn't - but he was able to talk jeff into being a pirate. as usual, susan and david went above and beyond for the event complete with a balloon artist, face painter, bouncey thing, new playset, and tons of wonderful food.

jeff and i with the birthday girl...

easter weekend 2011

{yes, i am playing catch up} for Easter this year, michael volunteered us to help out with egg hunt at church. it was so fun to see all the kids dressed up with their cute baskets.

sweet jodie helping out with the pony rides...


me with the easter bunny (poor hope was burning up)...


then we headed to birmingham to go to church with michael's parents at st. stephen's and had a great lunch with maggie in decatur. after lunch we sat and talked. mostly about the upcoming wedding of will and kate. i think maggie had watched every story leading up to it - she knew every detail.

frank patiently waiting around for lunch...
mary and maggie...