Never a Bridesmaid

I've never been a bridesmaid before. All of my closest friends/relatives are either not married, got married before we became close, or got married without a bridal party, so I'm pretty much the complete opposite of Katherine Heigl's character in 27 Dresses. When I found out my brother had proposed to his girlfriend on Christmas morning--well, here's how that went down:

Future sister-in-law, when we arrived at their house Christmas Day: "I've been having this problem with my hand. It's all itchy and stuff. Do you know anything about that kind of thing?" [holds out her hand]

Me [looking directly at her hand and somehow not noticing the gorgeous engagement ring]: "Ummm...I don't see anything."

My brother, under his breath: "Dude, she's not gonna get it."

Me: *blink* *blink* "OHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

What can I say? I'm, like, the least observant person ever. I attribute this to the fact that I had horrible eyesight from age 8ish until I finally admitted it and got contacts at 16, so I think I just stopped looking at stuff (I couldn't see anything, anyway) and never got back in the habit. Whatever. My baby brother, whom I distinctly remember riding around in a Power Wheels Jeep, sporting Osh Kosh B'Gosh overalls, with his My Buddy doll next to him, is getting MARRIED. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

And, hoorayyyyyyyy!

Anyway, my future sister-in-law has a huge family, including numerous sisters, so I never for a second thought I'd be asked to be in the wedding. When she asked, I was totally shocked, and then totally excited. I get to watch my brother become this awesome chick's husband AND wear a foofy dress--woohoo! Plus, she wants all the bridesmaids to wear the funkiest high heels we can find (no need to match the dress or each other), so I'm already on the lookout for something that meets that description AND is something I could still wear again AND is still "me" (and it is important to note here that "funky" is probably not high on the list of words that describe me, which makes the search a little more challenging...but still, way fun).

But wait--that's not all! With so many kids on both sides of the family, they decided to try to include as many of the older ones as possible...which means the girls both get to be in the wedding, too! Keira's going to be one of the ring bearers, and Ellie's going to be one of the flower girls. All of us are wearing purple dresses (yippee!) in various shades, and it turns out that Easter is a GREAT time to shop for little girls' wedding attire, since there are so many frilly dresses out there. Ellie's is an $11 Kmart find, and Keira's just arrived a few days ago from amazon. How cute are they??


(I know, Ellie's looks kind of pink in the photo, but it's definitely lavender.)

We've got several months left until the wedding, but the girls and I can't wait to get all fancy and celebrate with their uncle and new aunt!