Today my family is driving up from VA for the weekend. Back in the summer we bought tickets for all of us to see “Spamalot” on Broadway. My sister and BIL received their tickets as a wedding gift and I seem to recall that Mom & Dad’s were for Father’s Day. They have great seats – down near the front only a few rows back from the stage. Denis and I opted for balcony seats but I’ve been told there are no bad seats for this production.

Then they’ll accompany us to church on Sunday – they haven’t visited our church since CootieBoy’s dedication so they’ll see the new facility and how much we’ve grown. They’ll also see the band perform, which I don’t think they’ve seen in the new “rock on” incarnation.

I’m sure CootieGirl will show off her new valentine socks (not quite knowing that it was Marmie that gave them to her). CootieBoy will no doubt act like the spaz he is and make everyone smile as he chatters to them nonsensically. Cooper will run laps of elation that there is company, and the cats will scatter in four different directions to wait out the invaders.

So last night (Thursday) we drove to VA with the kids. I left work early and we were on the road by 5:00 p.m. CootieBoy was fussy for most of the trip because he was really experiencing a bad head cold. The last hour of the trip he wimpered the whole time. CootieGirl sat happily watching movies – most notably the delightful “March of the Penguins” and then half of “Finding Namo” before the DVD player battery went dead.

Today was a whirlwind day. The bridesmaid brunch was this morning – my sister made delicious food for us all to enjoy (she’s a great cook, just like my husband and my mom). Then Denis and I ran out with the kids to pick up some minor groceries. After I dropped them all of at my parents’ house I ran back out to the local DSW to try and find a cheap pair of black heels because I forgot to bring mine and needed them for the rehearsal dinner. I found a cute pair very reminiscent of Ginger Rogers for $30.

We left the house at 4:25 p.m. to drive over to the church for the rehearsal. We had to rudely awaken CootieGirl from her nap in order to get her into her fancy dress and she was NOT happy about it. In fact, she was very petulant for about an hour after she woke up. CootieBoy looked dapper in his Christmasy outfit.

The rehearsal for the most part went well, although we have our doubts as to whether CootieGirl will be able to ring the bell and walk down the aisle by herself. Our backup plan is to have Denis walk with her down the aisle if she balks at doing it by herself tomorrow night. I figure we’ll ply her with tons of chocolate about an hour before the event and she’ll be so hopped up on caffeine she’ll agree to anything.

After that we headed to the restaurant for the rehearsal dinner – it was a fun, festive evening and unlike any rehearsal dinner I had ever attended. All dinners I’ve been to in the past are basically just dinner and a few toasts here and there. But tonight there was an actual program – specific speeches, stories, toasts and gifts. It was nice, but I’ll admit it made for a long evening. The kids handled it well though, despite it being two hours after their bedtime by the time the dinner ended. They came home and gratefully crashed in their beds.

We stayed up a bit longer to watch old home movies from when Jen and I were little girls, and then Denis and I forced them to watch home movies of CootieGirl’s school Christmas pageant (don’t worry – we condensed an hour long show into about 15 minutes).

And now I’m going to bed. Tomorrow is a long day – I have to be at the church at 4:30 p.m. to finish getting ready. Which means from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Denis and I will be solely responsible for keeping the kids entertained. We originally were hoping to go to a late brunch with my pal Gladball and her boyfriend, but that was not to be.

So if I don’t get to post at all tomorrow, let me say Happy New Year! See you next year!