The Day Auntie Lockett Allbritton Became Auntie Lockett Taylor

Once upon a time, there was a Yogi, who married a Rock Star at the Columbia Gorge Hotel. And on the day of the wedding it snowed. And snowed. And snowed. It could not have been more romantic.














We were all cozy inside the hotel...

































Everything was in place. Everyone was ready.




















Except Chase. She refused to wear the GORGEOUS dress her Nee Nee Kar Kar made for her - we finally got her into it - kicking and screaming - and crossed our fingers she would stay in it. Her apparent mastery of flower girl responsibilities was a ruse.




















But besides that, everyone was in fine spirits...




















The mother of the bride was seated...













The Maid-of-Honor and bridesmaid looked so glam...







































The gentlemen were dashing in custom suits...




















They wore shiny boots...




















Tildy, the older flower girl, made it down the aisle with no problem...













The ring bearer made his way down the aisle...













All the details were gorgeous...








































And then the father of the bride walked his daughter down the aisle...













And gave her away...



















And Lockett Allbritton became Lockett Taylor...




















And then my darling Chase had a major meltdown. And I didn't have any stickers, or pens, or anything to distract/amuse her. And Brian had to run her down the aisle in the middle of the ceremony. But everyone could hear her screaming, "ma ma," so after three minutes, which seemed like three hours, I followed my husband and daughter - running down the aisle toward the back of the room, in an effort to silence her.




















And although we missed the end of the ceremony, we're pretty sure they got married. Here is the lovely Lockett Taylor with her father.



















The wedding party...














A reception followed...














And Lockett caught up with old friends from Vassar...














And people celebrated...













And Lockett was happy and absolutely stunning...




















And then there was the reception line...



























And dinner...



























































































And a very tired mother-of-the-bride...














And toasts...














About how you know when you've found "the one" ...














About how lucky Courtney was to have found Lockett...














About time, love and commitment...














And many eyes misted...



















And then there was cake...



























































And then the Taylors waltzed...
































And they lived happily ever after...



























Welcome to the family, Uncle Courtney!

The Wedding: Rehearsal Dinner

The place...













The bride and groom (to be)...













Jack (Groom's father)...



















The rehearsal (Lockett & Joe)...













Karla and Chase...













The dinner (Courtney with his mom, Marilyn)...













Courtney's brother, Kevin...














Friends...





















































The wine...

































The toasts...
































The lovely Lockett (with Maid-Of-Honor, Abigail)...






































The dashing groom (center - flanked by Brent and Pete)...













Us :)...




















And my darling Chase...

Merry Christmas!

Wish I could post a picture, but that's not going to happen today.

Our trip to Portland has been a bit hectic - balancing family, friends and the wedding (which was gorgeous - pics to come) has proven to be a bit more difficult than I expected.

I went on a rant yesterday. Not pleasant. It just happens when I (a) don't get enough sleep and (b) get really annoyed. It's not pretty. Hubs was tired and annoyed as well, so we decided it was best to spend a quiet evening chez nous.

More to come at a later date. I was mostly going through blogging withdrawl and had to write something.

Sleep

I've come to realize that the holidays - motherhood for that matter - wouldn't be so tough if we didn't need to sleep.

Chase, bless her, has recently decided she doesn't need as much sleep. So, instead of going to bed at 7:30 p.m., she has elected to retire at 9 p.m. - for the past two nights. And I just don't have it in me to correct her, especially because we're headed to Portland tomorrow for a whirlwind trip.

Lots going on. Besides the usual family activities, we also have my sister-in-law's wedding to attend. Chase will be a flower girl. So lots of pictures (assuming I receive approval to post them) will be up at the end of the month.

Couple quick notes on Chase before we go... today marks 21-months!

- She now sings along to songs. It's incredible. Her favorites are: ABCs, One was Johnny, A-alligators all around, Baba black sheep, twinkle twinkle little star and Happy Birthday (which we still sing to all of her animals every night).
- She has learned the word "no" - thanks to our dog - and says it all-the-time.
- She loves to color, paint, play with stickers, water and gets frustrated by puzzles - she can actually draw circles, lines or dots, when asked.
- She also loves dressing her stuffed animals in her clothes
- She still eats yogurt all-the-time (doctored-up with wheat germ, fish oil and jam)

Measure This!

This afternoon we went to get Hubs measured for a tux for his sister's wedding.

Chase LOVED the full-length mirrors.
First she started dancing and twirling.

Then she started making sudden movements, just to see if she could outsmart her reflection.
It was HILARIOUS.

And then she'd look to the right, to see if her reflection on the right was keeping up.
And then to the left.

And then she decided to measure herself.
She then decided to march around the store, holding the tape measure on her belly.

Oh, and she wears her tutu everywhere.
Dress it up, dress it down.

Spare Time

So not that I have any, but I was seriously considering joining up with a candidate and doing some PR for them. But then I realized I just couldn't decide who to support.

And then Oprah joined the Obama campaign.

And I must admit, I am fascinated by Oprah. By her ability to sway public opinion. From a PR perspective, she is GOLD. And so I wait, to see how she will influence voters, polls, and what Hillary Clinton will do in an effort to secure her lead for good.

Ni Hao

I'm so happy.

We found Chase a Mandarin tutor.
She came by today and played with Chase for an hour - and Chase loved her.
Chase even said Xie xie and Zaijain (thank you and goodbye) when her Laosha (teacher) left.

Super fabulous.

And even more fabulous?
We found a baby sitter!
Yes, that's right.
Last night, Brian and I enjoyed our third night out in Denver.

On another note, our little puppy got snipped, chipped and had his little bump (on his cheek) removed and sent off for a biopsy today.

Christmas Is Coming: Cookies

Yesterday we made Christmas cookies, a paper garland and sledded in the snow. It has been snowing here for the past three days - we've had about 8 inches in all! Totally crazy.

Definitely a white Christmas here!

Christmas Is Coming: Nativity

Chase helped decorate a nativity scene today.

Christmas Is Coming: Ornaments

So the Nutcracker looks a bit like he's been gored by the King of Mice, but Chase did her best!

Party Girl

So we didn't have our act together tonight.

We attended a fabulous, one-of-the-best-Christmas-parties-of-all-time, and Chase was all-dolled-up. I mean, SUPER cute. And we didn't get a picture.

Chase was really funny at the party. It was at a posh restaurant and after she got over the initial fear of the man in the red suit and excessive facial hair (not that I blame her), and warmed-up to the lady who made the most complex balloon figurines ever, she decided the bathroom was her favorite room. Not only was it quiet and a perfect echo chamber, it also had water - lots of water - that came out of a sink with a sensor. Chase became totally and completely transfixed.

So I spent half the party in the bathroom. And when I realized we would not be leaving the bathroom anytime soon, I decided it was time to go home.

So we left the party - at like 7:47 p.m. - and both agreed it felt like 11 p.m. - we're SO old!

Happy 2nd Birthday Cooper!

This is Cooper. Chase's next door neighbor. He is super sweet and has a little crush on our girl. His birthday was 5 December, but his birthday party was today. His parents went way out of their way to create a farm-themed birthday party.














With a barn...




















And a duck pond...














And face painting...













And play dough...













And gorgeous cupcakes...

Christmas Is Coming: Santa's Lap

I won't take Chase to the Santa at the mall. I just won't. There is something uber creepy about a random man, dressed-up, who likes having little kids sit in his lap.

Christmas Is Coming: Christmas Presents

In an effort to cut down on gifts (that she'll use for two minutes, but sadly they'll remain on the planet for hundreds of years), I have re-worked our wish list. Please refer to this list for her birthday as well!

1) Charitable donation:
I heard back from the Denver Zoo. They are willing to take contributions in Chase's honor, donated to zoological funds of your choice (over the next two years) - and when we hit $2,500, they will give her a bench with her name inscribed on it. They are making an exception for us, as the benches usually fund Zoo operations and are usually purchased with a one time gift. http://www.denverzoo.org/donations/donations.asp

2) Donation to her personal savings account:
Chase has her own savings account. She will get to spend the money however she chooses. I can only imagine what she will buy - her Nana Cris, who was given money when she was young to buy a pretty dress for a party and came home with a monkey instead.

3) Donation to her college fund/long term savings:
We figure we have to save about $200,000 for her to attend the college of her choice. If she gets a scholarship, that's a bonus and she can use any remaining savings for a house (or a monkey). Enough said.

4) Donation to lessons:
Give the gift that keeps giving. Chase is so active. I try to keep her busy, and lessons would be a huge help. Swim lessons. Yoga lessons. Snowboard lessons. Music lessons. Dance lessons. You decide. And just think, she will owe her expertise in that area to you!

5) Books:
This girl reads a lot. I read to her at least 3x per day. She loves books. She loves Blueberries for Sal. Language books. Books about travel (I'm not kidding, she likes "My First Atlas," a book that has a brief description on each country) are favorites.

Christmas Is Coming: Making Chocolates

Not the most flattering picture of my lovely daughter.
But it really captures her in action.

It actually reminds me of me.
Crazy, unkempt.

And though I never liked chocolate until I lived in Europe, chocolate has been in my blood since I was young. I used to make chocolates with my mom.

I actually won an adult chocolate sculpture contest when I was 12. So now it's my turn to share chocolate art with my daughter.

So we started off filling chocolate bear forms with a paintbrush. It didn't go very well. Trying to paint small forms was clearly inhibiting Chase. So we switched to sheets of tin foil. This worked really well. So well, in fact, that we did three large sheets.

Chase covered them in chocolate. Then we set them aside so that the chocolate could harden and later be pulled from the foil to stand alone.

The most beautiful part about the process was that Chase had no idea she was using chocolate. She didn't even try to taste it. I could tell, however, that she was curious about why the chocolate was changing from liquid to solid form.

And she was utterly put-out when the paint brush "froze" solid with cooled chocolate.

Christmas Is Coming: St. Nicholas's Birthday

Today is St. Nicholas's birthday (Thanks mom, for the heads-up). "Legend has it that Sinterklaas (Dutch name for St. Nicholas) arrives in the Netherlands by way of steamboat from Spain 2 weeks before his traditional birthday, December 6th, along with his helper, Zwarte Piet (Black Pete), who will help disperse the gifts and candy to all the good children... The bad children may be taken back to Spain with him."*

We celebrated by putting a pair of Chase's shoes outside last night. When she checked on them today, she found them full of little gifts. (Mom, sorry I didn't use the pretty pink shoes you sent, I did it so late last night it slipped my mind. I just used the shoes closest to the door. Chase LOVES the shoes you picked out for her.)

After the excitement of the gifts wore off, we decided to spend the morning at the zoo. We took in the usual sights and sounds (lions, zebras, giraffes) and the we found something new. A rock. Not just any rock. A rock that Chase could climb on for 30 minutes - and never wanted to leave - I eventually pulled her from it - at which point she cried as if I was taking away the most important thing in her life. It was a special rock. I'm sure we'll spend many mornings to come on The Rock.

From there, we drove to the Mental Health Center of Denver, where we dropped off a gift for a child. Then it was back home, for an afternoon of play (Chase didn't nap at all today) - complete with Cooper, her little beau, dropping by with some hand-me-downs for her.

Thus far, I have managed to steer clear of big, plastic toys, that make lots of noise. No longer. I now have four big plastic toys. One that spins (to a variety of songs), one that calls out shapes and numbers, one that can be ridden and one that helps kids learn to walk. In addition, I have a kid-sized plastic vacuum and a large circus elephant that Chase can rock back and forth. It's good to be a toddler these days. It's also good to live down the street from a family that has a child Chase's age.







































* Information courtesy of http://holidays.kaboose.com/christmas/traditions/st-nicholas/xmas-around-stnicholas.html

Can I Help You?

Today I was at TAR-JEY (Target).

And while I was sitting in the parking lot, reading a book about religion (I'm currently on Hinduism) - as Chase only naps in the car now so I've started reading again - I was contemplating how noble it is to seek to attain perfect unselfishness, perfect mental peace, and detachment from worldly desires (yes, right before going shopping) - a big (huge) truck pulls up, parks diagonally across two spaces. A man and woman get out like they own the world (bad karma, dude).

After Chase woke up (an hour later), we headed into the store.

So at one point, I was looking through the shoes, and along came a sales lady, who said, "can I help you?" I said, "yes, I'm looking for these shoes in a size 7." She said, "oh, everything we have it out." But she didn't offer to help me look. So I said, "I think it's just going to take time to look through these shoes." Still no offer to help.

I wanted to say, "how, exactly can you help someone if you're not willing to help?"

But instead I kept my mouth shut and tried to focus on attaining perfect mental peace.

Christmas Is Coming: Charitable Giving

Today's Christmas activity was charitable giving.
So we bundled-up and delivered our donation to the zoo.

As Chase spends so much time there, and loves it SO much, I have decided it will be her charity of choice, until she is old enough to make the decision on her own. I have talked to the Director of Development there, about starting a running tally for Chase, so that friends and family can donate in her honor - over the holiday season - and for her birthday - in lieu of gifts. The end goal, to ultimately donate a bench in her honor - near the giraffes - she loves them and always insists on climbing on the nearest bench and having a snack. The bench costs $2,500 - a noble goal for a 20-month-old.














I'm still waiting to discuss how I can make small donations over a period of time go towards the bench - so I'll post the details when I know them.

In the meantime, I thought posting the details on the different funds would be interesting to some readers. And I would ask - again - that over this holiday season -and for Chase's birthday, to please consider making a donation in her honor (if all goes well, you will be supporting the zoo and helping to secure a bench in her honor).

Conservation Fund
Denver Zoo is actively involved in over 60 field projects in 26 countries, including the U.S., and another 12 projects within the Zoo itself. Much of our research focuses on conserving large ecosystems as a means to preserve endangered species.

Red Apple Fund For Lifelong Learning
This scholarship fund has since provided nearly 70,000 children and families with access to the Zoo.

Asian Tropics Fund

The next major phase in building the "new" Denver Zoo, Asian Tropics will be a ten acre series of exhibits dedicated to rare and endangered Asian elephants, rhinos, tapirs, leopards and numerous birds and reptiles. Gifts to Asian Tropics are matched dollar for dollar by a Zoo Improvement Bond, thereby doubling your gift!

The link to the Denver Zoo: http://www.denverzoo.org/donations/donations.asp

Christmas Is Coming: Marzipan

So today's Christmas activity was supposed to be marzipan. I love the stuff. But the marzipan I bought was strangely hard, maybe because it has been in the fridge for a couple days? Anyway, it will have to wait until tomorrow.

But I do have a Marzipan story instead. I was at the grocery store, ran into a gal that I met at the park (we exchanged numbers and then lost them - I found her number yesterday and gave her a call about a month after I met her - and scheduled a play date for next week). Anyhoo.... I ran into her at the store and we were chatting. She asked me what I was picking up, and I said "food color, so we can do Marzipan tonight." And she responded, "oh, do you celebrate both holidays?"

And I wasn't really sure what to say. Don't get me wrong, I knew what the answer was. Time seemed to slow down as I tried to recall if anyone had ever told me marzipan was part of a Jewish traditions. I don't know, I'm not Jewish. Or was she just making conversation?

I concluded it was best to say, "oh, we celebrate Christmas." I hope my silent pondering about the history of marzipan didn't offend her in any way.

New Wallet

I think it's time for a new wallet.

And no, it's not because I spilled soup all over it last night (I was multitasking). And no, it's not that I left it on the roof of my car and drove away, only to see it (in my rear-view mirror ) fly off and get run over four times - by a minivan and three cars (good thing I was able to make a U-turn and pick it up before the school bus ground it right into the pavement).

I need a new wallet that is Chase-proof. Apparently, my wallet can withstand heat, pressure, but it just doesn't stand up to the curiosity of a toddler.

Chase loves to take everything out. As a result, I never know where anything is (I can hear my husband's voice at this point saying, "sure, blame that on Chase.")

But now what to look for? A zipper maybe? No, she's good at zippers. What about a snap. Nope, snaps are too easy to undo. Maybe I need a wallet that uses super-glue as the adhesive.

Yes, that sounds like a great idea.

Christmas Is Coming: The Gingerbread House

I love Christmas. I love decorating for Christmas. I love Christmas cooking. I love buying gifts for people. I love nutcrackers (and The Nutcracker). I love Christmas songs (when sung by large choral groups in cathedrals - especially in Europe).

But most of all, I love how Christmas smells.

And so our house has been decorated (and no, I'm not keen on those inflatable decorations or loads of lights) since 1 December. Christmas cards ordered. Tree purchased. Stockings hung by the chimney with care.

And now I can get to work on some of my favorite Christmas activities...

So I built the house, provided Chase with a brief tutorial and then sat back and watched.

After looking at me like, "yah mom, I get it, how hard can it be?" she put candy on and then pulled it off. Many times. Then she decided to push REALLY hard - which actually made the gingerbread house cave in on itself.

So after a quick re-build/remodel, I explained to her that the candy was like stickers, which seemed to make all the difference in her candy application (see below).

Christmas Is Coming...

Today we found the perfect Christmas tree.
But we didn't cut it down.
And we didn't hang it from the ceiling (as we do in our family).

Instead, we bought a small, potted tree (which is supposed to grow up to 70 feet tall). The plan is to plant it in January (location TBD - anyone want a tree?).

When we got home, we placed it on a table, where Chase and Taggart can't reach it.

Chase opened her advent calendar (courtesy of the Donahues!) - and inside were three, small ornaments - she selected a tiny, red Santa ornament as her own, and let us hang the other two.

Good Grooming

Chase just isn't into any part of the grooming process. She hates brushing her teeth, won't stand for having her hair brushed, won't sit still long enough for me to clip her nails. Won't keep barrettes in her hair (to keep hair out of her eyes).

And as a result, she arrives at the park and ready for play dates with unkempt hair (that goes every which way), scraggly nails and bad breath. Pretty, oh so pretty.

Oh dear, I must figure out how to make it - *fun*

At this point I'd settled for tolerable.

News?

None here. Except I went to the dentist today and she couldn't numb my nerve. It took about 14 different injections of Novocaine - four of which were injected into tiny holes she drilled into my tooth. I SO dislike (dread) going to the dentist. And I've got three more visits in the pipeline.

As one dentist said to me, "God gave you a lot of gifts, but good teeth was not one of them."

Thanksgiving Hols: The Pig Pull

My favorite part of the week - The Pig Pull!

The shed (where everyone gathers for dinner)...













The shed's kitchen...













The smoker...













The pig...


























The head...

































The dinner...













Chase, riding off into the sunset on the white "ma" (horse)...