Meanwhile, the little K-kids spent the night and here is a tiny tidbit of our post-breakfast activity.

In other news…Starring Guini and Gemma May; produced by Gavin and directed by the nonna.  It is in post-production as we speak.

In other news…

Meanwhile, filmmaker, Gavin Kelley, has started doing impressions of his Nonna (mostly her “cuss words” like “O pooey,” and “O booger-snots”),  which send her into convulsions of laughter.

FOUR kisses

Four hugs

Four winks

and four LOVES!

All for my little Averi-kins!

I love to hear you talk.  I love to hear you sing.  Your eyes are simply intoxicating.  I like it when you dance and arrange everything so perfectly.  You are Lucy (from the Peanuts comic strip; your name means “elf counselor” and you sure do like to give advice, o yes you do!) and you ever and always are my sugar-pie-honey-bunch!

~~~

Back by popular demand – last years’ birthday video (when she was just turning 3) by Averi and Nonna!

Here are some birthday Bible words for Y-O-U!

Remember, Averi-J, to faithfully pray to God

so you can always find Him;

God is your BEST hiding place;

and He will protect Averi from trouble

and surround her with songs of deliverance.

And God will instruct Averi and teach her the ways she should go;

And He will counsel Averi with His love – remember,

He is watching out for you, Averi!

Do not be like a naughty mule,

which has no understanding

and has to be controlled by bit and bridle

or it will not come to you.

Naughty people have lots and lots of troubles,

but the LORD’s unfailing love

surrounds you, Averi, when you trust in Him.

Rejoice (get up and do a happy dance) in the LORD

and be glad, you righteous little booger, you;

sing to God, Averi, because He has made your heart clean!

Psalm 32

Your Nonna L O V E S you!!  Happy birthday!!

01/08/12 – Worship from Resurrection Fellowship on Vimeo.

Rocky with the Rez team recently. Loveland, CO

LIVE Stream Sunday at www.rez.org, go to media, live webcast at 8:30 or 10:30 am.

Except it isn’t really carved wood.  That is me looking through it, there on the left.

The M-O-B and the M-O-G (mother-of-the-bride and the mother-of-the-groom, me and Tammy)

I needed a good-sized,  ornate-ish frame for the old-fashioned-family photo booth and just didn’t have time to go shopping for one.  So one afternoon when Hunter came over.  We decided to make our own.

I grabbed a large, wooden frame from the garage that had seen better days and had already been sprayed white for a previous event.  First we hot-glued some gimp around the inside trim.  Yes it is called “gimp” and no, I do not know why.  It had been in the fabric tote since about 1995.  Much like the frame, it was saved from a certain junk-heap-discardation in the near future.

Then we glued lace scraps (cast-offs from the balloon-lace-ball project) to the main surfaces of the frame using a white-glue and water mixture (2 parts glue to one part water).  Imagine it as a decoupage-type project.  The pieces were random and that is fine.  Then I discovered I had some Mod Podge in the craft cabinet and we added a little of that, too.

Then with our glue-Mod Podge mixture, we tore strips of paper towels, twisted them, dipped them in the glue and rolled them into “leaves” and rosettes.  We put them aside to dry on some wax paper.

When the lace on the main part of the frame had dried, we took the hot glue gun and just made curly-qs, some loops and swirls all the way around the frame.  The combination of this 3-d texture on top of the lace is going to create the idea of an old-fashioned,  carved-wood frame.

When everything was pretty dry, we hot-glued the rosettes and leaves to the corners of the frame and then took it outside to spray paint it.

We sprayed it silver.   On grandpa’s utilitarian-garage-side…which was good because we got a little out of control.  But it could have been brown or white or whatever color…and may still end up that way!

After a few minutes of airing it out and letting it dry, we brought the frame back inside and then made a purple “glaze” by just watering down some paint.  We used paint brushes and paper towels to put the glaze onto the frame and get it into the crevices and then sort of wipe of the excess.  This also makes it have a more textured, carved look.  It creates shadow and makes the various materials look like one aged piece.

A couple of hours later, voila!  We had a faux, carved-wood frame for the photo booth.

That is it the “open” frame on left.  This is Ryan and Tredessa “trying out” the photo booth a few days before the wedding when we were at the barn decorating.  When I was finished, I realized that I really could have accomplished the same effect with a much larger “frame” by using a piece of foam core or cardboard cut into a frame shape.  Just a little FYI on the DIY!

Some of my fav wedding-photobooth shots~

Niece, Elise posed in honor of her lover-husband who could not attend.

Dana and Jason hammed it up for quite a few good shots!

Two of my grandbebes, confetti girls Gemma and Averi with Ryan’s little flag-boy, Cody.  CUTE!

Picture-perfect!

Rocky, Dave and Tristan (the brothers) provided some pretty cool music and worship before the procession.

Before the walk down the aisle, the girls gathered  to pray for the bride and Ryan’s guys prayed with him.

One of the things we love about Ryan is his easy laugh.  He crinkles his whole face and just totally laughs.

When everything got started, {the brothers} kicked off the wedding, which was wonderful.  DP told some marriage jokes and Rocky told how he’d always wanted brothers and now he has 3, and Tristan said “ditto” to some one else’s blessing (he is a man of few words) and then they “threatened” Ryan (playfully, of course), followed by praying over Ryan.  It was a wedding with great entertainment and family love, too!

~~~

The Procession & ceremony in one minute:

Dave officiated. And he was super hilarious.  Tredessa and Ryan were so happy and lighthearted.

Instead of having the attendants lined up on either side, we seated them casually on either side, mixing up Ryan’s guys with Dessa’s gals and splitting the kiddies up.  It looked pretty cute.

They wrote beautiful vows to each other.I’m not saying Tredessa is like her mother or anything, but her words probably outnumbered his 2:1…but they both said beautiful things, promising not to divorce and to love carefully.  Lovely.

The whole ceremony was joyous.

The kiss.  Although this may have been the second or third kiss.  Then there was hugging.

They are married!!

Tredessa and her sisters

Tredessa’s Grandma and Grandpa Moslander surprised her on her wedding day.

Time to go celebrate their marriage with family.

Photos:  Chronos Images (Matthew Greenlee and Rachel Ruge)  and Lilac Photography (Eldeen Pickett)

Yes, I made Amelie Belle a fabric-scrap tutu for Christmas, except that I did not have any fabric scraps appropriate for her to wear with her hot-pink cow-girl boots so I bought some of those 97-cent fabric samples at Walmart.  I bought 8…maybe just 7, and a roll of one-dollar hot pink grosgrain ribbon.  I already had the elastic.

I cut the fabric into strips 4-6″ wide, some the shorter diection of the fabric and some the loger direction.    Then I looped them over a pice of elastic measuring 15″ around.  I ended up cramming so many strips onto it, it stretched the fabric and her little buns couldn’t hold it up on Christmas morning.  So it has to be pinned for now.

This is a totally no-sew skirt and if it begins to fray, you just snip here and there.  Easy and pretty stinking cute.

ARE YOU  R E A D Y for the great   r  e  v  e  a  l ? ? ?

I present Amelie Belle Rhoades in her scrap-fabric tutu.

Beautiful photography by her Auntie Stephanie

I mean – how stinking cute did she make that skirt look???

Love my little Belle-Baby!

It is the wedding day.  The THINGS are in place:

A casual, vintage scene has been set.  Welcoming!

On the right, you can see the jars hanging from the tree with subtle (and non-fire-hazard) illumination.

This pretty little sign was painted by Mairin Bierer.  It hung across the aisle before the bride and her attendants came to walk it.  We were all family.

Meanwhile, back at the barn…

The centerpieces included old books from the bride, French labels with romantic quotes and song lyrics, milk-glass containers, candles, dusty-green sprays…

And here is what the bride and groom and their people are up to…

First the bride’s sisters and her mother met weekly to put together a fabulous wedding shower for her.

As soon as that was over, we met weekly to create and glue and make and dream and talk and laugh and plan and gather supplies and create timelines.  It was a very DIY vintage-y wedding, for sure.

It is hard to recall who exactly saw which idea first but along the way we had giant paper flowers, and old frames with lace.  Tredessa brought a big stack of old lace curtains over and we created “lace balls” by using a glue mixture on the lace and forming it around balloons.  When it was dry, we popped the balloon and voila: a lace balloon ball to hang from the ceiling.

Tredessa really liked the idea of a barn for a wedding and in short order her old roommate introduced us to a family who’d built a small barn on their 17 acres.  They used the downstairs of the barn for the owner’s hobby of hand-carving wooden carousel animals (which are amazing!) and the upstairs for family celebrations.  It was perfect!

We realized that to have a wedding ceremony, a celebration dinner, and photobooth and a dance floor all in one spot would be a tight, tight fit.  So Dessa decided to pray about finding a nice, small church for the ceremony and the next thing you know, New Horizons Christian Fellowship opened right up for us.  It was so cool, right across the interstate from the barn!

Here are some of Ellie’s photos {www.lilacphotography.com} showing the “things” of the wedding

We used things we have, antiques and vintage items to decorate at the wedding.  This old typewriter was at the guest table.

I have to say I have some talented kids.  Stormie designed and printed the super-cool wedding programs with the full love story on them.

Jovan created the flower mobile that hung over the guest table.

The wedding party on a framed poster.  Jar candles on a rustic candleabra for ambiance.

A felled branch was wrapped in white satin ribbon and candles in jars, along with lots of glass and heavy crystals embellished the “tree” we created.  The whole backdrop was draped in cottons and canvases creating a living room atmosphere.

The sidewalk to the church was lined in the trademark-Rhoades-family luminarias.  We used framed lace at both the church and the barn for the dinner celebration.

The gift area was comfy and merchandised with antiques.  Mercury-glass love birds on an old window from Tredessa’s grade school, touches of home.

Left, Tristan playing at the wedding.  Right, Tredessa and Ryan scattered photos of great-grandparents around the reception, witnesses to long love, a nod to their heritage.

An old brass and crystal chandelier got a coat of white paint for the wedding.  It hung right over the bride and groom during dinner.

Here is a look at things we made and the progression of the wedding as we were getting it set up.