Matt and Heidi's Wedding

Last weekend, we went on whirlwind weekend trip to NC to attend Matt and Heidi's wedding. Chris and Anya both had important jobs: Chris officiated and Anya was the ring bearer.

This was a special trip for a few reasons: 1) the wedding and 2) because we hadn't seen family in awhile and this was the first time all of my siblings/step-siblings (on my dad's side) and our children were together. It's the first time we met Leo, Oliver and Bennett, and baby Leslie.

We stayed over at Don, Koby and Alivia's Friday. Anya and Alivia were so happy to see each other after 2 years and they were instantly buddies again .

 reading together

 Saturday, wedding day, went pretty smoothly. Chris and Anya did their jobs well and the wedding was lovely.

 aww...

 I love this picture

wedding party

After the reception, all the kids (plus Dad and Angie)  headed over to Don and Koby's for more visiting and a family play date. Matt and Heidi eventually came by as well, but sadly, the littlest ones had to go to bed and they missed the visit. It was great to see everyone that was there.

 circle of cousins

The next morning, we got up early and headed to the airport. Look who we ran into there! Their flight to their honeymoon cruise took off at the same time as ours, so we all visited for awhile over (a terrible) breakfast until we had to part ways.

We can't wait until July when everyone gets together again for a much longer visit.

Negotiations

Anya has been requesting for a cat since Morganna passed away last year. Chris and I are pretty adamant that we will never have another cat. They're cute and all, but they destroy the furniture and neither of us wishes to deal with cleaning a litterbox and it's smells again. We've been very clear about our stance, but Anya has continued to lobby for one on a regular basis. She's tried various tactics from whining, begging, asking politely, to many attempted "deals".

Her most recent negotiation was this: "Mom, I'll do anything. How about if I save up and pay for your kitchen remodel? Then, can I have a cat?"

Deal!

I of course let her know that the kitchen will cost somewhere around $100k and that it will take around 175 years to earn that much with her allowance. And, no, people don't live that long.

So, for the past few days, she's been doing as many extra chores as she can to earn additional funds. And this morning will be day two of going out front and selling her toys and books and day 3 of extra chores. She's earned about $5 so far and is still enthusiastic about earning money and getting that cat.

We'll see how long this lasts. It's pretty amusing for now, although a little embarrassing hearing her tell strangers that come up to her table set-up that she's raising money for her parents' kitchen remodel.