Lilian's Igba Nkwu

Saturday, one of my college roommates got married. Sort of. Her family is Nigerian (as is her groom's family), and their traditional ceremony (the "igba nkwu") was Saturday. Their "white dress" American, church wedding is in September. She asked our other old roommate and myself, if we would be among her "ashebi" girls. Lilian is a surgeon in Alabama (though she is relocating to New York with her groom, who is also a surgeon), and as soon as I posted about Jack's accident three years ago, she immediately called me to find out what I knew, and then she called the hospital to get me in touch with Jack's surgeon while we were still in transit to the hospital. She is such a kind person, and were honored to be among her "ashebi girls" - whatever that entailed. We would later learn, it means we are kind of her bridal party, accompanying her throughout the ceremony, and wearing traditional dresses. We received the assigned fabric, and I made (yes, I made!) our two dresses and coordinating ties for our husbands. Our dresses were not as flashy as some of the others (I loved the sister-of-the-brides dress!!), but we didn't have to pay a tailor to make them for us. Her family provided head wraps when we arrived at her hotel.

The shuttle driver asked if it was our first time at a Nigerian wedding. I asked him what gave us away??

The bride in her first outfit (of four). While she is in this outfit, the family elders "negotiated" the couple's betrothal. At least, I think that's what was happening. Once they agreed, we paraded her into the ceremony area, where she greeted them, and then we exited for round 2. Each time she changes dresses, we all leave with her, and accompany her back into the festivities.

The bride in her second outfit. She is carrying a cup of wine, searching the crowd for her groom. We are following her. Once she finds her groom, she presents him with the glass of wine. If it meets his approval, he drops his money into the cup, thereby accepting her as his bride.

 She found her groom, he accepted, and here they are with all the ashebi girls.

The first-timers. Thankfully, someone in Lilian's family was sitting next to Jack, and gave him the play-by-play of what was going on.

The bride and groom!

Outfit #3 for the bride ... I think at this point, they are considered married. It was hard to follow all of that.

Once we ladies accompanied the bride in her fourth dress, our duties were fulfilled, and we headed home. The party continued, despite having gone on for six and a half hours already (plus two hours beforehand for head dresses and photos). Jack joked that he spent more time at this wedding than at his own - and we still have her American wedding, too! But it was an amazing cultural experience. The life of the party, the dancing, the ritual, the tribal language we didn't understand, the hospitality (and willingness to teach us) of her family ... it was so much fun celebrating these two.

Beach Trip

Last week, we spent some time at Seagrove Beach (Florida panhandle). It was our first vacation since April of last year. My dad and one of my sisters vacationed with us and helped a LOT with the kids. Carter and Ellyson were fishes. Carter loved riding the "waves" on a boogie board. (I loved that the "waves" in the Gulf are tiny.) Ellyson loved playing in the sand. Grant and Graham ... tolerated ... the beach. They were excited when they saw it ... until they felt the sand. They eventually warmed to it enough to sit on a towel on the sand. But they preferred the pool.

We walked into Seaside one night to get dinner, where we found a vegan food truck for my sister.

Other highlights? Graham - whose pack-and-play bordered our bed, figured out how to leverage himself against our bed, to pull himself out of his pack-and-play. He also walked around with his shoulders up, palms to the ceiling, asking "where gampa?" throughout the trip. He wanted to keep track of Grandpa at all times.

Potty Training

... at its best.

Country Kids Camp

Carter had Country Kids Camp this week. I told the kids a little white lie: that the minimum age is four. Technically, it's three, and Ellyson could have gone this year. But she just turned three, and I felt she was still a little young to be in that environment without an adult family member. 

But Carter splashed in the creek, slid into the lake, trekked through the woods, rode a horse and sang camp songs. In the group photo, his group - fluorescent yellow - is in the second row, and Carter is just left of center.

My best accomplishment involving camp? I was on time for every single drop-off and pick-up. And that is not a feat to be overlooked. ;)

For Sale

So, this is happening. Our listing went live one week ago. Due to showings and needing to keep the house pristine, my blogging has been limited. It's hard to blog when I'm constantly shuttling kids out of the house - or trying to clean it.

We always intended to sell this house. It was "supposed" to happen five years ago, but there was a little hiccup in the housing market. So here we are, five years later, trying to keep a tidy house with four littles running around. Lord, help us.

Wordless Wednesday

Vacation Bible School

The kids and I had VBS this week at church. I taught the two- and three-year-olds (six of them). Grant and Graham played in the nursery, with their girlfriend Anna. And Carter was in the kindergarten class, with a few of his friends who don't attend our church, but joined us this week.

Water Day Wednesday

We joined some friends at their pool yesterday, for week three of summer Water Day Wednesdays. We went straight from our morning Vacation Bible School, so the little three were pretty tired. In fact, G&G napped in their stroller for the second half of the afternoon, before I whisked Carter off to his dentist appointment. (Yes, on his birthday. They took pity on him coming on his birthday, and he got a second "treasure" from the tower.)

While we were there, the dentist checked Grant's tooth. He and Graham were already scheduled for a visit (with x-rays) four weeks from now, but his fall bumped a tooth out of place. The dentist thinks there's a 95% chance everything is perfectly fine. His thumb sucking might even gradually pull the tooth back into place. But he gave me some things to watch over the next month, on the off-chance there was internal damage.

Carter is Six!

Carter turns six today! He hasn't yet lost a tooth, but this morning, we discovered his first six-year molar has emerged. He loves Legos, super heroes and Star Wars. He's 48" tall and 49-50 pounds (depending on the day) - putting him in the 80-90 percentile for size.

Falling from the Crib

Grant gave us another first! He fell out of his crib this morning. Apparently hit his wooden stool on the way down. It bumped his tooth, and scratched a path from his mouth, down his neck. He was in pain and pretty shaken.

By late afternoon, his neck was less inflamed (this photo was late afternoon;  I can't even post the one from earlier). We are not ready for G&G to be out of their cribs. And maybe the fall scared him into not trying again. We will see. In the meantime, our extra crib mattress is now beside his bed, to soften his landing.

Say "Goldfish!"

Pepperidge Farm should be paying me ...

Summer Adventures: Wednesday Water Day

Yesterday we continued our summer tradition of Wednesday Water Day by joining friends at their neighborhood pool. C&E were little fishes. Ever the stuntman, Graham enjoyed riding a boogie board on his belly. Grant tried his best to keep his feet out of the water. ;) But the thing about having three non-swimmers and one semi-swimmer in the pool together? I couldn't spare a hand to take a picture. So the only one we took, was Carter's selfie of his swim trunks.

Summer Adventures: Stone Mountain

Our first full week of summer break also brought a trip to Stone Mountain. It was bring-a-friend week for mountain members, so the kids' friends M&K (and their parents) came along. Since we had three adults to six kids, we managed to let the older kids play mini golf, and we also all did the water adventure attraction - two things I can't do when I'm four-to-one with them.

As always, we also rode to the top, and rode the train. The boys are really getting to a fun age now, and they can actually do these things. Last summer, they weren't even walking yet!

Summer Adventures: New Playground

With four kids ranging from almost-two to almost-six, the level of chaos in this house can very quickly consume a room. As in, in the time it takes me to vacuum the bedrooms, the kids have dumped every ... single ... toy ... in the playroom.

So, to spare our house, I am in keep-them-out-of-the-house mode. Our first full week of summer brought a trip to a new playground, where there's a little water feature where the kids can play. We only stayed about an hour ... our norm ... but all had fun. And I had no issue handling all of them by myself here.