the smallest members of our party...

the little ones always steal the show don't they? they are just so cute everyone wants to be around them, they add joy to joy.

my niece is almost one and a half and she was such a good little "flower girl." she is my first and only niece, i watched her 4 days a week the first year of her life and i am just in love with her. i wasn't even sure if she'd be able to walk for our wedding but i wanted to put her in a little white dress and let her be a part of the party.

we were very lax about it. if she was in the mood and got down the aisle then fine - if not no biggie. we thought maybe my sister would carry her, we just wanted to play it by ear. we didnt waste money on flowers or petals or anything and decided that if anything she could carry icculus, our stuffed sock monkey with her or at least play with him.

well with her mom leading the way she strutted down the aisle like a champ with the monkey as a force field and the crowd LOVED it. i mean, how cute? she even stayed awake long enough to boogie with us, we were very very impressed.

ok, here is some monkey explanation. why the hell do mike and i have a sock monkey? and why do we love it enough to make him a bow tie and invite him to our wedding? i mean a wedding is a pretty grown up event right? and we seem kinda normal as far as you can tell?

well, a few years ago now mike was the victim of a random act of violence, he was attacked by two bikers with a ball peen hammer on our way home from a bar one night. it was horrible, one of the worst nights of our life, but it helped make us solid as a couple...(apparently he started to look for engagement rings the following week.) well, when i picked up his prescriptions the following morning i also picked up this sock monkey to be his "helper monkey" to help him get well, and make him smile. in the years that have followed the monkey has become a symbol of our love for each other, in times when we were living different schedules and mike was asleep before i got home from school i would come home to the monkey doing ridiculous things on my side of the bed - he became our device to say i was thinking about you while you weren't here - just look what this crazy monkey got into this time. silly i know, but it's us. all of our friends now know about him, he comes on vacation with us, friends ask if he can come out with them, and he even has a facebook page.