Weddings and a Too Small Dress

Casey and her Dad

We spent the last few weeks preparing for my brother, Callum's wedding. He was marrying a girl called Casey. I was going to be a flower girl for the wedding.

Mum ordered Imogen, Charlotte and Sophie dresses online and we waited for them to arrive. Casey's mum bought me a dress. It was a size eight (and I am 11!), but it still fitted in length.

Imogen was going to do all the singing for the wedding, and her singing teacher's husband was going to play the organ.

Duncan was asked to be a groomsman and Dad was going to do one of the readings at the wedding Mass.

Imogen had to make all the booklets with the Order of Service in them and get them all printed and bound together. They looked really nice,

Finally, the day of the wedding arrived. I had a pretty relaxed morning, but about lunch time Callum arrived and things began to get busy. I changed into my white dress, Sophie did my hair in braids and Imogen lent me the pearl necklace that she wore to Felicity's wedding.

Soon we all on our way to the wedding. Imogen and Charlotte went in one car, Mum, Sophie, Dad and I went in another one and Callum and Duncan went with the best man in the groom's car.

We arrived at the church and Callum spent ages talking to all the guests as they arrived. Finally Callum and all the guests went into the church and the bride arrived.

Callum and Casey

I was given a bunch of fake flowers and we all went into the church. Imogen gave me a poke when it was time for me to go up the aisle and I began to walk at the same time the organist began to play. I walked very slowly down the aisle trying not to rush. When I was halfway up the church, the first bridesmaid began to walk. I reached the pew and stood in front of it as I waited for the rest of the bridesmaids. Casey and her father began to come up after all the bridesmaids. They were having trouble fitting up the aisle because Casey's dress was so big and had a hoop underneath all the petticoats.

There were not so many bridesmaids for Callum's wedding as there were for Felicity's so I wasn't as squished in the pew.

Callum wanted to have a Mass along with the wedding, but the whole ceremony didn't seem to take very long at all.

When the wedding was over, we all turned and walked out of the church quite a bit faster than we had come in.

Callum taking the veil off Casey

Everybody went down to the lake right by the church and the photographer took lots and lots and lots of photos. Casey had trouble trying to keep her dress out of the dirt. It was so big, and I appeared to be promoted to the position of Official Dress Carrier.

Imogen and Mum went home to feed the cats and our dog, Nora while Dad took the rest of us down to MacDonalds for a milkshake because we were all getting hungry. I accidentally spilt some of my chocolate milkshake down my nice white dress. Luckily, it wasn't very noticeable and I managed to get most of it off my dress with a tissue. When we had finished our milkshakes, Dad drove us all to the reception.

We arrived before Callum and stood waiting outside the room Callum rented for the reception, Mum and Imogen joined us and soon all the guests began to arrive. But of course, now was not a good time to go and get something to eat: the photographer wanted to take some more pictures.

I stood on the stairs with all the rest of the bridal party, smiled, switched places and finally, we were allowed to go into the reception room.

I was sitting at the bridal table with Callum, Casey, Duncan, the bestman, the maid of honour and all the bridesmaids.

Callum and me at the Reception

The food at the reception was really good. We had pastrami, chicken, rolls and some seafood (which I didn't eat because I don't like it very much). The thing I liked the best was probably the sticky date pudding and custard,

The reception was really long and we were all very tired by the time that Mum said we should leave. We went to the cars and climbed in. I dozed on the way home and was very thankful to get to bed when we arrived back.

The wedding was great fun, but it was also a lot of work and very tiring.

Have you ever been a flower girl or bridesmaid?

Australia Day Birthday

It is Australia Day and it's also my birthday.

Dad is reading at the 7.30 am Mass and Imogen is singing at the later one so we will have to split up and go to two different churches.

Sophie climbs out of her bed. She is going to go to the early Mass. "Happy Birthday," she grins and gives me a hug.

Mum enters the room. "Sophie it is time to get up. Oh you got yourself up." She turns to go.

"MUM!" Sophie cries.

"What? Oh, Happy Birthday Gemma-Rose!"

Maybe Mum thought I was still asleep.

Suddenly there is the sound of a rocket taking off. It is really Callum starting his car. He has to pick his girlfriend up before Mass.

I jump out of bed and head for the dining room.

"Good morning," Duncan says appearing round the corner in his suit.

"Duncan," I say, "it is my birthday!"

"OH, Happy Birthday," Duncan says.

I sigh. Maybe everybody is still waking up. But I'm not. No way. I am full of energy.

Sophie appears beside me fully dressed. We bound into the dining room.

 "Look," I shout. Blue tacked to the wall is a birthday banner. It has HAPPY BIRTHDAY written in light blue words and standing in front of the them are Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf from the movie Frozen.

"Do you think Charlotte drew it?" I ask Sophie. She nods. We both know that Charlotte is the only one talented enough to draw them.

Charlotte appears in her pyjamas. "Happy Birthday," she mumbles.

"Thank you for the banner!" I give Charlotte a big hug.

A few minutes later Duncan, Sophie and Dad leave for Mass.

Charlotte hands me a crumpet. I sit down and eat. When I am done I jump up and run towards my bedroom. In a few minutes I reappear dressed.

Usually the birthday girl or boy gets a day off jobs. But today there are not enough people. It doesn't matter. Having the day off jobs isn't the best part of a birthday.

After I have cleaned the the cat litters and straightened the cushions in the family room, Mum offers to do my hair. Finally I am all ready for Mass.

Imogen puts her L plates on the car before driving down our street and onto the road. She is driving Charlotte, Mum and me to Mass.

After Mass we drive back home and open the front door. Everybody is waiting inside for presents. I make some hot chocolate and we are ready. Duncan grabs the film camera and everybody takes a seat.

"One, two, three," Mum says and everybody starts to sing Happy Birthday.

I grin.

Sophie gives me an envelope. "Happy Birthday!"

"An envelope! Just what I always wanted," I joke. Inside is a piece of paper. "The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns," I read. "Thank you Mum." It is a Kindle book and a sequel to one of my favourite library books.

Charlotte trots up next and passes me a package. I give her a big squeeze and probably give her a broken back. I tear off the paper and shake out a running shirt. My eyes grow wide. "I was wanting one of those!"

Charlotte gives me another present. It is some sketching pencils.

Duncan gives me a Rapunzel wig.

Imogen gives me some coloured inking pens.

Callum hands me a movie called Horton Hears a Who based off a book by Dr. Seuss.

Lots more presents get given to me. I especially like my Lego house Mum gives me and my owl necklace from Casey.

When presents are done Sophie and me sit down on the ground and we begin to build the Lego house.

"Gemma-Rose," Mum calls from her room.

I stand up and run toward her. "Yes Mum?"

"Do you want to go to that animal place we went to on your birthday two years ago?" Mum asks.

I nod.

"Get your shoes on everyone," Mum shouts.

Ten minutes later we have our shoes on and food packed. We pile into the car and we are off.

A while later the Dad parks the car and we hop out. The food gets carted over to the sheltered eating area. Dad hands me a cold sausage in a wrap with pasta salad. It sure tastes nice.

When we have finished putting away the extra sausages we go to look at the kangaroos and emus. There are two emus and loads of kangaroos and wallabies. After we have walked around the enclosure a few times we head back to the car.

In the evening Imogen cooks pizza and we eat in front of the movie Horton hears a Who.

Felicity rings to wish me Happy Birthday then we have cake.

I have had a wonderful day.

Feasting on Father's Day

Yesterday it was Father's Day.

We all hopped out of bed, ate breakfast and got ready to go to Mass like we do every Sunday. But on the way back home from Mass we did something we don't normally do.

Dad parked the van outside the supermarket and then he and Mum walked into the shop to buy something special for lunch. They came back a few minutes later. Dad started the van and we drove home.

"Everybody out," Dad bellowed from the front of the van. We all piled out of the van, trotted down the driveway and into the house. Imogen started to unpack the lunch and I smiled as I saw a container of potato salad, a packet of cheese, a bag of rolls, followed by some peppercorn ham and pesto ham. We all tucked into a good lunch.

 "Gemma-Rose, go to my bedroom. In my cupboard are some presents," Mum whispered to me after lunch. I dashed off to Mum's bedroom and soon came back out with a big bag of presents.

I chose a present from the bag and walked over to Dad. "Happy Father's Day," I said giving him a kind of square and squidgy parcel, and a big kiss.

Dad opened the present and a smile crept onto his face. "A pair of shorts. Thank you."

Sophie gave him the next present. "Socks! Groovy socks," cried Dad in delight.

"Here you go, Dad," said Charlotte, handing him another present.

"Ooh...arr...Um I can't get into this one," Dad admitted as everybody watched him struggling to get it open.

"Maybe I put just a little too much sticky tape on that," pondered Charlotte.

"Nuts! Yummy hot spicy nuts," exclaimed Dad when he finally got the present open.

"Another pair of shorts! Thank you Imogen," said Dad, taking the paper off another present.

One by one the presents got opened and oohs and arrs kept going round the room.

Mum handed Dad the keys to the car. "Go look in the boot of my car," she said with a mischievous grin.

Dad, Imogen and I headed out to the car. Dad opened the boot and inside was a huge cardboard box. He looked at the side of the box. "Ocean," he read,"You're giving me an ocean?"

"No, no," said Imogen as we plodded back into the house.

"Is it supposed to make all those click clacking sounds?" Dad asked.

"Yes," Mum reassured him.

Dad pulled out of the box lots of black pieces of plastic, then some black square plastic frames and four white plastic boxes.

"It all looks like giant Lego," said Charlotte.

"Does it have any instructions?" Mum asked.

"No. There's only lots of plastic," said Dad.

"I think this part goes here and this one here," Imogen said, helping Dad put up a rather tall tower.

"What is it?" Dad asked.

"Not telling," said Mum.

"Done," said Dad, standing back to view the masterpiece. "It's a cabinet with four drawers, isn't it?"

"Yes. It's for all your stuff that's lying on the table in the other room," said Mum.

After a relaxing afternoon we had dinner and ice cream. We did the dishes and then settled down to watch Oliver Twist. When we had finished that, Mum said, "Callum sent me a text message telling everybody not go to bed."

"Not go to bed?" I asked.

"Yes. We've all got to stay up till he gets home from work."

"Imogen, while we were at the supermarket I bought some crumpets. Do you want to cook some?" Dad asked.

Imogen walked into the kitchen and soon we could hear the kettle boiling and the toaster being placed on the kitchen bench.

We ate crumpets and talked until we heard the front door open and Callum walked into the family-room.

"Good. You are all still up," he said and with that, he walked into the kitchen.

Callum came back a few minutes later with a platter of salmon, olives, a orange dip, cheese and crackers. Everybody scrambled to the table and started filling plates high with cheese and crackers.

"I am full," said Dad as he polished off the last of his crackers.

"So am I," said Mum.

"But it was good," I said, getting up from the sofa.

"We better be getting to bed," said Sophie.

I toddled out of the room.

"Good night," said Mum as she bent down to give me a cuddle.

"See you in the morning ," I said drowsily.

Mum closed the door softly and padded off down the hall.

Everybody enjoyed Father's Day and the feast that came with it. But I was glad it was all over and I could go to sleep.          
   

Birthdays and Bowling

It was Callum's birthday and Imogen made pancakes with honey, lemon juice and sugar for breakfast. Yum!

Then we did our jobs. Sophie and I hurried so that we would have time to make Callum a birthday present.

When it was time for presents, I gave him the wristband that Sophie and I had been sewing for him. It is grey and black with beads on it. Then Sophie gave him a knotted bracelet. Callum likes wristbands. Mum and Dad gave him a huge TV. Mum was going to buy a small TV but Callum added some more money so he could get a bigger one. Charlotte gave him socks and Imogen gave him two recharging cords. Then Mum and Callum gave us chocolate and stickers as unbirthday presents. We don't usually get unbirthday presents. I was surprised!

Mum said it was time to get our swimmers on. We go swimming every Saturday morning. After my swim lesson we went home and had a quick lunch.

We then set out to go bowling. Sophie and I were allowed to go in Callum's car. Wen we got there we had to find the right sized shoes. I liked bowling even though I never threw the ball right. It didn't matter. I still knocked the pins down. Every time I threw the ball, it crashed onto the floor. I am surprised the floor survived. Dad, Sophie and Mum were great. Mum won the first game, then came Sophie, then me and Dad was last. On the next game, Dad came first, Sophie was next and Mum and me nearly tied. Mum got only one pont more then me.

On the way home Dad gave us some potato chips. When we did get home we had nachos for dinner. That is Callum's favourite dinner. Afterwards we watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs".

After the movie, we had birthday cake. Mum gave Callum a huge bunch of twenty balloons because he turned twenty.

Then I went to bed.