Being related to a SPED student...

The last couple of years, I have had to do several different math, reading, and writing assessments on kids for my classes. I almost feel bad for my little cousins because they have been my little students.

 Last year, I tested Connor for hours on the Woodcock Johnson III and Kaylee on the Key Math. This year, I've had to do several informal and formal literacy assessments. I chose Connor and Megan. They were such good sports. Megan was mad when we were done. She wanted me to keep testing her! I think they liked the testing more so because they could come to my house and play with Luna.

Our First Dinner Date

Today I had absolutely nothing to do but unpack, clean, and wait for the washer and dryer to be delivered; so, I invited my parents and my aunt Elinor over for dinner. I made apricot pork chops, sweet potato gnocchi, and sauteed green beans. It was delicious if I do say so myself!

My dad brought over some spare fire wood. Tony put it to good use, and we all sat around the fire eating dessert and chit chatting.

Now I'm just sitting around waiting for my first load of laundry in my new washer to be done! It's been quite a while since we've done any sort of laundry.....

Wedding nightmare....

As many of you may know, I've been having some really bad dreams about our wedding. I've heard it's common...

Today as I was checking my e-mail, one of my nightmares came true. Our DJ canceled! He has a very good excuse, and I do not have any ill feelings towards him at all. He's been battling some health issues, and he had surgery Tuesday on his left eye. The doctor wants to do surgery immediately on his right eye, so he will be blind for our wedding...

I first "freaked" out, then I called Music on Wheels. They had an opening, and we're all set! If I can handle this, I can handle anything...right??

17 days and counting!

We are now 17 days away from being Mr. and Mrs. Knutson! I am completely in wedding planning mode. Who knew I could get so much done just on my 30 minute lunch break?!

Just an update on the wedding planning:

I got an e-mail from Willow Creek Golf Course; we can decorate the day before our wedding! YAH! I was a little nervous about that....

I met with the florist tonight, and every thing's a go! I can give you the exact names and colors of our flowers as well:

My bouquet--dark rust/orange callas, tomahawk gerbs, circus roses and dark plum stock
Bridesmaids are just smaller versions of mine.
Tony's bout--dark rust/orange calls
All other corsages and bouts circus roses.
The colors will be quite bright!

We have a party bus planned for the wedding party to get from the church to the reception. I called to cancel since it's so expensive, and they lowered the price, A LOT! I love getting deals..

We have 212 people RSVP yes so far, and only 4 RSVP no. We have about 100 left to hear from. They are due by Monday, so we'll see how many people we have to call!

We got our first wedding card in the mail from my high school friend Elyse. That was kind of exciting!

I submitted our wedding announcement to the Stewartville Star, News Record and Rochester Post Bulletin tonight. Check your local newspaper for the photo and announcement!

There are a few other little putsy things that are done, but I won't bore you with all the details! I have all this weekend free, so I'm sure I'll have a HUGE update for you after that!

Becky and Spencer Wicklund

Yesterday one of my first and best friends from college, Becky Witte, married a fantastic gentleman, Spencer Wicklund. The whole weekend was wonderful and beautiful!

We started Friday with Tony driving Livia and me to St. Croix Falls to meet Becky and get our nails done. It was Liv's and Becky's first manicures, so they were a little excited. Then we ran some errands, saw Becky and Spencer's "new" house, and started decorating the reception hall. Friday evening we had the rehearsal. Here are the bridesmaids and the bride before the rehearsal:

Becky slept in our hotel room Friday night, and the girls were up and showered by 7am. Becky had some friends come and do our rooms right in our hotel room!

We had a really fun photoshoot before the wedding with the bridal party! While we were taking pictures, Tony was running around doing some errands for Becky before the wedding. He was such a great amazing help for the wedding!

The ceremony was beautiful. I for sure cried my fair share of tears. It was so sweet to watch Spencer's face throughout the whole ceremony. I saw so much love in his eyes! The reception was also a blast! We danced until they kicked us out!

 This is just a cute picture of Toner and I before the wedding...

Becky's wedding has really gotten me in the wedding mode. Tonight I made the flowergirl baskets, finalized the wedding ceremony, and made a HUGE to do list for the next 3 weeks!

Our weekend!

Friday was Josie's 2nd birthday. Adam and Emily had a big birthday party for her on Saturday, but Tony had to work. So, after he was off work, we headed to PI to bring our gift and see the big 2 year old! Here she is with her new Kitty piano from Uncle Tony and me. She really likes the microphone.

My cousin Michelle came up from Iowa to practice my hair for the wedding. Here is the finished product!

Tony got a lot of yard work done. There are random things growing everywhere, so he's trying to get it to look nice.

 Luna wanted to help.

 Now Tony's planting bulbs. I really wanted to help, but the bugs were eating me alive even after bug spray and long sleeves and pants!

 Here we are with our do-rags.(spelling?). It kept the bugs out of my hair!

Fall is in the air...

Last night, Tony decided it was time to break in the downstairs fireplace. What a wonderful idea!

 Tonight, Tony and I are going to our first Tables of 8. We got randomly put together with 3 other couples, and we're going to one of the couple's house in Rochester for dinner. We were in charge of dessert, so I made Uncle Dave's apple crisp and bought some vanilla ice cream. I hope it tastes as good as it smells!