Three Weeks til the Wedding

This weekend we moved into February and that means that we are now in the month that Erika gets married. It seems like it is really going to happen now. On Friday the 31st of January it was three weeks until Erika’s wedding day. We have been steadily working away on the activities and plans, but it seems to be more intense now, and the things that we have been planning are actually happening now. Erika had her first shower last Thursday evening. It was a very lovely event, hosted by Julie Bult’s book club. Her book club hosts a shower for the child of every member when they are getting married. I think I mentioned this last week. There are ten women in her book club so it wasn't a huge shower, but the members are very generous. The one that was held for Jono and Erika was themed “Days in the Life” of the to-be-married couple. I was assigned –Company Coming to Dinner—the other assignments were varied and made for a wide variety of the types of gifts given. Other topics included: Birthday (gift was a cake plate and dome top, cake pans, candles and a cake server), Inviting Friends Over (gift was a collection of snacks and a snack tray and some group games and card games), Laundry Day (gift was a laundry basket, filled with detergent, fabric softener, bleach, and dryer sheets, etc.), Meals in a Hurry (this gift included the fixings for tacos, a Panini grill), --you kind of get the idea—other days included Emergency, Sick Day, Baking Day, Cleaning Day, Picnic Day, Payday’s-not-for-another-week Day, Make-Up After a Fright Day. A nice dinner was served and then the group gathered in the seating area and asked questions of Jono and Erika: How they met, when they knew they were meant for each other, questions about the proposal, etc. And then they opened gifts. These women are all good friends. They have been in this book club for 25 years. So it was fun to see the interaction and friendship and how supportive they are of the successes and happiness of one another’s children. It was a very pleasant evening and a good time. The women were very friendly and happy to be participating it seemed to me. We have never done anything like this in either of my book clubs, but it seems like a satisfying idea. We will be attending a Bult Family shower tonight. The party continues. Paul has found a new area of interest. He may have already told you about this, but he went to the Equestrian Arena a couple of weeks ago when he thought there was an open ride, but it turned out that it was a group that does training and competition shooting black powder guns at balloon targets on poles from the back of a running horse. It was so interesting and fascinating that he went back and joined. They have had a competition in the last couple of weeks that he attended, too. It is just one more fun thing that you can do with horses. He is going again tonight. He has had a bit of fun with it himself, and Lakota is a natural. He doesn't object to the loud noise of the gun report, and he has figured out the poles—running serpentine through them—and Paul is just having a riot with this new way to enjoy himself with the horses. Philip and Camille and the little boys came to dinner on Wednesday night. It was a really great time. The boys are just as cute as can be. Jonathan is chatty and happy and easy to amuse. Andrew, who is now six months, is a solid little guy, who smiles and laughs and sits up by himself and is responsive. We had a great time visiting with them and catching up. They are coming again on Thursday when Peter, Kortney and Eleanor will be joining us.