The Royal Wedding

I LOVE all things royal and have for as long as I can remember. While growing up, I had the Princess Diana paperdoll collection as well as various special magazines about her and Prince Charles. I grieved when she died and my mom and I woke up to watch the funeral. I feel like I have grown up with the Princes, so I was among the thrilled when the engagement was announced, because that meant ROYAL WEDDING!

As time got closer, I watched all the little sound bites, read all about it (People.com was awesome with its coverage), and prepared to wake early to watch. Ava was even convinced she would get up and watch. I figured I would never get her out of bed, but I told her she could get up early.

I woke up the morning of the wedding at 4:21. The actual wedding wasn't due to start until 5:00 a.m. our time, so I recorded it and planned to then fast-forward to the portions I wanted to see. Imagine my surprise when I came out of the bathroom at 4:45 to get ready to wake Ava up and she was sitting on the couch, ready to watch the wedding.

Together we watched Kate Middleton become a princess and I got teary-eyed at the fairy tale coming true for her. It was just beautiful. Ava loved watching all the to-do over the wedding and it was such a wonderful experience to share with my daughter. And the patriotism that the citizens of England felt that day was just beautiful. I loved every minute of. Needless to say, since the wedding we have "heard" a lot about it from Ava. This past weekend we made a trip to Nashville and Ava was so excited to go to Build-A-Bear and buy Flower her very own wedding dress.

So much fun to share this with Ava. I guess I will have to scour the internet for some Kate Middleton paperdolls so Ava can start her own royal collection. I searched and searched the house for my dolls, but I can't find them. I sooooo wanted Ava to see them before the wedding, but it didn't work out. I will find them though and think back to my childhood royal-watching days. I guess I should have been British!

Here we are with Flower at 5:00 in the morning waiting for the bride to arrive.

Ava passed out after the vows. So sweet to have her cuddled in my lap.

Flower was united in Bearimony with the Grinch. LOL