A year in October

October 2010

And October 2011

busy bumblebees

this past weekend started off with an unexpected but much enjoyed visit from the my mom and dad. they witnessed the sad loss of the ksu vs. ou football game in manhattan and decided to take a long detour home through kc! we all got together at our place on saturday night, my brother and sister-in-law also came over and provided wonderful slices of cheesecake. we failed to get a family photo, but here's one my mom snapped of our little family. if you'll remember, it is kind of hard to get the dog unit still.

i then went to a baby shower sunday afternoon in honor of Samuel Levi (future nephew #3 on nic's side). however, little did we know that the little guy wanted to come early (6 weeks early!!). samuel graced us with his presence yesterday, 11.2.11, after an emergency c-section. he was born at 4lbs 7oz. and we thank the lord for a healthy mom and baby!! here's one of samuel's first baby photos.

and his two big brothers, who i am super excited to get to spend time with in the coming weeks as their mom continues to recover and nurse the newest miracle back to health. 

love those boys.

yesterday, we also went to the sporting kc game for the semi-championship game that put us in the mls conference championship!! (we are talking soccer here for those of you that don't know.) and if you didn't know sporting kc was the kc mls soccer team, you may not be living in kc right now, and if you're not living in kc right now, you may not realize that us being at the game last night is laughable. it's okay, you can laugh. yesterday was our first introduction to winter, the temperature dropped at least 30 degrees and rainy, sleety, grossness fell ALL night long. yep. he we love soccer that much. let's review my ensemble for the evening.

1. leggings, jeans, husband's snowboarding pants

2. 4 layers of shirts, including a fleece and rain coat shell

3. 2 hats, wait, 3 hats including the hood of my coat

4. wool socks and no rain boots 

5. gloves

if you are now thinking, wow, i've got to visit kc (which of course you do) and while i am there i must go see sporting (short for "sporting kc", see you're learning) play, then you must learn this chant, "i believe that we will win!!". that's all you need to know. oh, and don't forget your coat, the weather is chilly. :)

"why, hello, big nose"

nic testing out his new camera that he bought for the alaska trip.

manhattan retreat

before michelle's wedding festivities, i spent some time in manhattan. i caught up on sleep and had a great time visiting my brother (who is a freshman at K-State!). we went to the grocery store, toured campus, ate at chipotle, and visited call hall for some ice-cream! for those of you that don't know, call hall has the most bestest ice-cream. i'm convinced it's made fresh daily. so if you're in manhattan, be sure to stop by for some yummies in the little dairy shop. my granddad (mom's dad) actually worked at call hall making milk shakes back in the 1940s when he was a student in veterinary medicine.

it was quite a delicious adventure.

a beautiful bride

i had an amazing time celebrating the marriage of anthony and michelle in manhattan, ks last weekend!

it's tough work being the matron of honor. so, i thought it'd be best if i took three days off from work to be sure we were all ready for the big day. best decision, ever.

Thursday, 10.06.11:

the hard work begins. mani-pedis.

Friday, 10.07.11:

first order of business, grab coffee and a chai tea latte from radinas.

then decorate the reception site (in crazy fast speed), and stop off at the florist to see a preview of the flowers.

Saturday, 10.08.11:

step 1: hair at 9am. 9 heads of hair, 3 stylists, and 5 hours later our hairs were beautified.

i couldn't get enough of the flower girl. if you remember, i babysat this crazy little one a few months back. i love the shot of her holding her breath for the hairspray attack. she is quite the diva.

an unexpected flower delivery came to the salon, the card was "awww" worthy.

the fincham mrs.

step 2: make-up = no pictures because there was no time.

step 3: 2:15pm - get the bride in her gown and get her ready to see her groom. gorgeous.

step 4: 4:30pm - get them married!

it was an amazing experience and such an honor to stand up there with her (nic took this shot from his seat, don't judge the poor quality of the iphone camera). 

step 5: party!!!

congratulations you two!! 

Michelle's Bridal Shower

a dear friend of mine is getting married this weekend!! the bridesmaids threw her a bridal shower/bachelorette party a few weekends ago. it was my turn to start getting creative and crafty. so with the help of other bloggers i pulled together some fun crafts last minute, not sure when i slept last week. but it was well worth it.

i painted pizza pans that i purchased from the dollar shore with some chalkboard paint that the prior owner of our house left for us in the basement. total cost $4. sweet!

a little nervous for my first chalkboard paint experience:

oh, and i saw these cute little tin buckets at the dollar store and couldn't pass them up. perfect for toothpicks!

the shower started off with the gathering of friends and family, we then opened gifts, played the pre-newlywed question game and made predictions of what their lives will look like on their 1st, 5th, and 10 year anniversaries. they have been told not to open the predictions until the respective anniversary. i'm holding them to it.

one of the bridesmaids made a paper bag album that houses their predictions, so cleaver! no peaking you two!

quick banner throw together that turned out pretty well. twine, clothes pins, paper bags, cardstock, and martha stewart's fantastic font. 

took some posed shots.

going for the wine!

family

we then ate a magnificent dinner. went out on the town. and closed the evening by relaxing in our king suite. life is good.

happy 29th birthday, love.

for nic's birthday a handful of people "pitched" in and got him a tent. this particular tent is to enable him to cuddle with his bike while traveling to alaska next summer. for the record, i (along with a few other family members) will be flying to AK next summer and meeting the motorcycle travelers (nic and his dad) at their final destination (which we haven't determined yet). once we arrive, we will all tour the state together and then the boys will continue onward home. i think those are the only details we've put together so far. lots of planning yet to do.

assembly required.



our collection of motorcycle gear continues to grow as does our anticipation for the trip.