Wedding Weekend

This last weekend we headed up to Ohio for my brother Stephen's wedding. It was wonderful to be with family- both families for us, as Nick's parents joined us to help out with Kathryn. (Thank you, Dennis and Marilyn!) So here are some pictures from the events...

Emily and Stephen
The Happy Bride and Groom

Welcoming Emily into the "Sisters" picture:
Emily, Margaret, Kristen, Nancy, Me

The Rogers Clan (my mom's side of the family).
All of the women (including my cousin Katie, who flew in from China!)
except the little girls, who were back at the hotel.
"Nana" and Kathryn
Girls in White Dresses with Blue Satin Sashes
Alison, Meredith, Bethany (my nieces)Meredith "Mer-Mer"

Alison "A-Bomb"
The best of the many attempts to get a cousins shot...with three one-year-olds,
this posed quite a challenge!
L to R on top: Bethany, Meredith, Alison.
Bottom: Kathryn, Bradford, Hayden

What a Stud- Putting at the reception, which was on a golf course
Kathryn was so hyper the entire weekend, so we're getting back on our routine now until our next vacation in a week.
We were so thankful that Nick's parents could join us for the weekend. Not only was it wonderful to see them, but they were a HUGE help with Kathryn.
On the way home, we stayed the night at Nick's brother Pat's house to see their baby Tyler, whom we hadn't met yet.
Proud "Mamaw"

Kathryn was quite taken with Tyler, as you can see.

The night we stayed at Pat and Sarah's was interesting...Kathryn woke up when we went in the room to go to bed ourselves at about 11:00, and she got completely wired...Normally we would just let her cry and she'd settle right down, but when she was four feet from our ears, that did not sound fun, and we didn't want to wake up the whole household. So after trying everything we could think of to get her to settle down to sleep, we finally decided to pack the car and head for home at 4am. Nick had gotten about an hour of sleep (if that) and I was able to sleep for a few hours in the car. Of course, as soon as we got in the car, Kathryn fell right asleep. So we're catching up on sleep now and getting back into our routine.

Announcing...

No April Fools this time! We are delighted to anticipate Cygnet #2 to the Swan clan in early March. I went in for an early ultrasound this last week and saw the baby's little heart flashing on the screen...amazing! Please pray for the safety of this little one...we certainly don't take this pregnancy for granted. I have watched most of my close friends walk through miscarriages, and I know that I am still early in the pregnancy. Pray that I would also be able to trust the Lord, that even if He chooses to take this wee one before he or she is born, that we can trust in His goodness. I guess motherhood is all about trusting the Lord, right? There's often a temptation to worry, and always an opportunity to trust God.

English Muffin Recipe

For those of you interested in making English muffins, here is a link to the recipe I used.

I have made these once with bread flour and once with half bread flour and half whole wheat flour. Both were good. Also, I used an ungreased electric skillet to cook the muffins (surprisingly they don't bake!) set at about 200 degrees, flipping every 5 minutes (total cooking time 20 minutes).

We've Been....

Giving our Dining Room chairs a facelift,

Blowing Bubbles,

Cleaning our house,

Grocery Shopping
("I found what I want!")

Making English Muffins (Yummy!),

Being Silly,
Watching Nick play baseball,
With a little craziness thrown in for good measure.