MY little flower girl

::sigh::


3 1/2 year old Miss Morgan Paige was in a wedding on Saturday night. On Friday we went to the rehearsal... and we hoped for the best. On Saturday she practiced several times with the other flower girl, so we were still hopeful that she'd be able to do it.

Saturday night. 7pm. At the appropriate time our little sweetie slowly walked down the aisle, tossing the flower petals just as they practiced. Of course, during practice, they were holding pretend baskets and tossing pretend petals, which is a big difference when you are someone who is only 3.

At the altar, they went up the steps just as they were supposed to and stood there, just as they were supposed to. And then Morgan became fascinated with her basket of petals. She sat down and started unloading them. Here, there, everywhere. And then she saw the mass of petals on the ground around her, so she got down and started gathering them up. She sat with them. She rolled around the floor with them. She turned toward the altar and leaned over them, her little flower girl dress up in the air, the faint pattern of her panties under her tights flashed to the crowd.

Me? Well I was having a heart attack. Miss PJ wouldn't let her daddy hold her, so I was standing out the end of a side pew, trying to get Morgan's attention without attracting the attention of all the attendees. Eventually Morgan got up off the floor and sauntered over to me. I whispered to her to sit down at an empty chair and she did so for a minute, but when I stood up and looked back at Steve, she got up, and sauntered BACK to the front of the church. She sat down, she stood up. I nodded my head when she stood. I shook my head when she sat. And then when she started messing with the petals and looked at me again, I did the sign for "all done", hoping that she remembered the signs from when she was young. Nope. She started making faces and waving at me! I decided it was going to be time for drastic measures, so I handed Payton to Steve and he immediately left the building, because she started crying, wanting me to hold her again. Shortly thereafter, Morgan decided she was done, and walked back down the aisle, head down, but eyes up and this fiesty look to her face. I walked down the outside of the aisle with her, and when I got down to the end to where she was, she started trying to dart in the aisles to get away from me! ACK! I grabbed her hand and we went straight outside.... and stayed out there for the rest of the ceremony.

Did I mention that throughout the ceremony and Morgan's antics, the other flower girl had her arms crossed over her chest and a big scowl on her face because Morgan wasn't cooperating? Priceless.

There's always those flower girl stories.... but this was the first time that person came from MY womb, so at first Steve and I were quite embarassed... but then we thought about it and decided that she DID do as requested... she got down the aisle.... and she IS 3. What more do you want!

I did NOT get any good photos.... my camera was still inside the church when I darted outside with her, and it was almost 8pm before the ceremony was done.... Morgan had been at the church since 5:15 for pre-wedding photos, so she was hungry and quite DONE with the whole thing, but this is what I did get:

::sigh:: There were kids from a church group next door running all over the place, so she would not look at me and cooperate, but the one smile I got was this one: Did I also mention that in the post wedding family photos, this is the same face she was using? The bugged eyes and overexaggerated grin? THAT's my girl.

:: sigh :: She and Payton made it till 10:15pm at the wedding reception, which was good. And she LoVED her dress. She's been wearing it every day since... she's wearing it right now with some orange tights. So she thinks she's quite the little princess.

I hope the pre-wedding photos turned out! Steve took her while I was home getting ready with Payton, and he said she did cooperate then. Phew!