Baptizing Baby James

David was so wonderful to come to the baptism (even though my mom was out of town!).  Thank you so much for coming, and for taking tons of pictures!  You have him and Renee to thank for all of these great shots!

The bulletin.

Sittin’ in the first part of the service.

The screen up for the baptism – we weren’t the only ones have our little boy baptized that service!

I just love this picture.

The five of us (FIVE!!) went up on the chancel area with the other family.

Love the look on Jim’s face here!

Getting a kiss…

The way Methodist ministers baptize is by dipping their hand in holy water and placing it on the person’s head.

And Jim likes to hold the babies up for the congregation to see.

And here we are showing him off!

He did so good!  I just love our church home.  And I love that the liturgy for the congregation has them state that they’ll help raise ‘em up!

Baptism Day: January 16, 2011 Before the Service

Just his sweet little hand…

The baptism suit we picked out came with a little bonnet thing, so a wanted a few pictures of him in it.

It’s not really “him” though. 

And the hat/headband thing doesn’t make much sense for how we do baptisms anyway.  The head needs to be uncovered for the water.

Part of our little family:

I just love this:

Our whole little family: (everybody looks cute in ONE of these next few pictures!)

The girls enjoyed sitting with their extended family during the service.

Can ya’ll come to church with us every week?

We usually sit over to the side so I can get up and “jiggle” the baby easily, but we were in the middle for the baptism.  I had to get up and go jiggle anyway.

More pics to come of course!  Breaking them up is a little easier on me. 

Presents!

Natalie got lots of “loot” at her party!  Matt and I got her Toy Story on DVD since we didn’t have that one, and the girls really love those movies.

She loved all of her cards!

Auntie Kathryn gave her a Thomas video, and it may have been the biggest hit!  She kept trying to get people to put it on for her. 

Mamma and Pop gave her a bunny from Build-A-Bear that has their voices recorded in it!  Oh, she loves it!

See?

Joanna had to go and get her bear from Mamma and Pop to show everyone!

Still carrying around her Thomas.

She got some baskets filled with goodies from Nana and Popo!  (I LOVE the baskets – they’re spread all over the house, filled with crafts and toys!)

Someone started us singing Happy Birthday again, and Natalie was SO excited!!

She was dancing to the song here!

What a wonderful party we had!  I stress myself out a little when it comes to “entertaining,” but it’s so worth it!  Natalie really enjoyed being the center of attention and very much got into the birthday celebration!

Party Goers

Here are some pics of the “meat” of the party – our family!  And I’m sure there are some cute ones of my kids thrown in because… c’mon!

A few of most everyone:

Kathryn and my dad

Mamma and Pop

James and Me, Gran

Grandma and Natalie – I LOVE this picture!  And Natalie LOVES it when someone will read with her!

I LOVE this picture too!  Jenny, Natalie, and Joanna

Kathryn and James.  They were good buds.

The girls love it when unsuspecting kind people let them play with their phones.

Andy and Christiana.  Have I mentioned how much I love having my cousins live close by?  Well, I do.  I love it!

Natalie getting to play on the iPad

Me playing with Renee’s camera.  Man I love that thing.

I think this face on Natalie is hilarious!  I can’t remember what she was doing here though.

Uncle Mark is so fun!

I think Natalie was being spun in these next couple of shots!

These next few are of Uncle Mark holding James.  He found a buddy for sure!

Mark had him asleep in no time!

This one’s blurry, but I still love it.  I had the flash off and Mark was swaying.

LOVE this one!

Oh man it was nice to have so much family in the house to visit with!  We were missing several, for sure, but I had such a wonderful time!