Baptism Times Two

Yesterday was a very special day for our family when Eliza and Molly were baptized. After a bit of negotiation and soul-searching, it worked out to have both girls baptized at the church I grew up at, with both sets of grandparents present. While we are still figuring out what exactly faith and religion means to our family, and how big a role church and religion will play in our day-to-day lives, both Jason and I were happy to have the girls baptized.

Eliza and Molly both did wonderful during the ceremony. Eliza was reluctant to go into the minister's arms, and continued to hold Jason's hand even as the minister performed the rites. Molly did great and didn't cry or spit up while up in front of everyone. After the service was over, we all stood in line to have everyone greet and welcome us (Jason became a member of our church). Eliza did great at shaking people's hands and it was wonderful to hear the many "you have such a beautiful family" comments.

our beautiful family

Eliza got a new white dress for the occasion (good thing Easter is on the horizon or I'm not sure I could have found one!), and Molly wore the dress that Hayden wore, which is the same dress that I wore to be baptized, that was made by one of my aunts. Even Hayden had a new dress on and all three girls looked lovely.

Hayden in her pretty new dress,
holding her groom barbie she bought with her Christmas money

Eliza all dressed up, but still acting goofy

Molly, in her fancy dress, posing with Grandma

the older girls with Grammy and Granddad, before heading to church

We did try to re-create a picture that we had with Hayden and Jay from when Hayden was baptized with Eliza and Molly, but that didn't work out too well. Molly doesn't sit up yet at all and Eliza is not yet to be trusted with holding onto her. Plus Molly was ready to be done.

After church we had a bit of a funny snafu getting home. We'd taken two cars so that Jason could pick up some fried chicken for our Sunday dinner. I had driven myself and Molly to church in the Escape, while everyone else came in the Pilot. On the way out, Jason headed out to go get the chicken, taking the Escape. As I walked to the pilot, I suddenly went "oh no, did he remember?!!!?" and of course he didn't. Can you guess what the problem was?....

I had simply carried Molly inside in my arms, and Jason had driven off with the infant carseat. So Grammy, Hayden, Eliza, Molly and I were stuck at the church with no way to safely (and legally!) get Molly home. Of course this was the one time Jason did NOT have his cell phone, so repeatedly calling him did no good! Luckily Grandma thought to intercept Jason at the chicken pickup and the girls were entertained by climbing around the car in their fancy dresses. Despite the snafu, we still made it home in a timely-ish manner and enjoyed a wonderful Sunday dinner of chicken, biscuits, green salad, fruit salad and cupcakes.

Happy baptism girls!

Art Appreciation

Yesterday we took the kids to the North Carolina Museum of Art. Grammy and Granddad are in town so we were looking for a Raleigh-based activity for the morning that would allow us to get to Jason by lunch time. I was a bit apprehensive of taking the girls to the art museum, since our last art foray in Chapel Hill was a bust (mainly because of the icy welcome we got from museum staff - we were tailed from the moment we stepped in the doors and definitely got a "how dare you bring small children in here" vibe even though the museum does children's programs from time to time!). And when the woman at the information desk yesterday says to me, "You're brave," I mentally questioned my decision to bring a 4 year old, 2 year old and 5 month old to the art museum. BUT.......

It all turned out JUST FINE and I think the girls even had a good time. Eliza did state, about 5 minutes into our visit, that she was done. Literally, she said "I'm done." But we managed to work through that. We went in telling the girls there were three main rules - No touching. No running. No screaming. Hayden did great; Eliza did pretty well. Even Molly behaved herself. :)

One of Eliza's low points. Good thing the floors were nice and clean -and free of art.
please, please can we go outside and look at the water?

One of the things that really helped was that the museum had a child activity kit you could check out, that identified about 5 paintings and had little activities to go along with each piece of art - like color bingo, touch the textures, or a puzzle. Granddad did a great job being the keeper of the kit and helping the girls (mostly Hayden) through the activities.

Color bingo (which we made up our own rules for) that went along with the American Impressionist painting below.

The girls search for hieroglyphics and learn about symbols in the Egyptian art gallery.

Plus the museum had easily accessible, lovely outdoor space, which when coupled with ridiculously warm weather (75! in February!), made for a good escape from the toned down behavior required indoors.

There wasn't a whole lot of serious discussion or perusal of the art, but we did manage to look at four of the works of art in the kit, and wander through two-thirds of the galleries. We did talk about the Rodin sculptures and Hayden had fun posing like some of the statues.

Granddad is telling Hayden about how her daddy posed like the thinker in front of the original statue in Paris when he was a boy. Maybe I'll find that pic and scan it in some day.

We also got to take some fun(ny) photos of being buffeted by the wind while outside in the Rodin garden.

Can you tell it was a tad windy?!

Hayden was about done with the museum after the garden, but we convinced her to go see the modern art piece in the kit. She had fun doing the puzzle that went along with it.

What better way to appreciate art that from a reclining position?!

Despite my apprehensions, (even though the art museum was my choice), we ended up having a very nice visit. And it was easy to go meet up with Jason for lunch. We will definitely go back again; we'll just be sure to keep it in small doses.

I asked Hayden what this statue would be called, and she said "The Hugging Statue". Close!

Superbowl Party #11

Earlier this month, we introduced Molly to our family tradition of throwing a Super Bowl party. It was our first real "party" in our new house (we tried last year, but no one except Grandma and Popop could come!), and I was a bit nervous about playing host after such a long time off. Luckily I had a trusty assistant to help me with the preparations. Of course, she was more interested in tasting things, than actually helping, but she still did a good job.

Eliza's version of spreading out the cookie dough for baking...
She needs a little more training, but I like her neat lines!

a great way to develop fine motor coordination

One of the things we tried new this year was to make 'pigs-in-a-pretzel.' We made our favorite pretzel dough (seriously try it. SO yummy!) and wrapped it around mini hotdogs. There were a couple large ones we tried too, just so we could taste test before the party. In case you are wondering how they turned out, ALL the 'pigs-in-a-pretzel' were gone by the end of the party; and only a few of the plain pretzels (I made two batches of dough!) were left.

You know you want to try one!

This year was a different crowd then we've had in the past. Many more kids (ours and guests!) and less adult beverages, but everyone still had fun. The kids' table was very busy, and our kid kitchen was a popular hangout zone.


Even with the different guest list, we still had a GREAT spread of food. Pigs-in-a-pretzel, plain soft pretzels (in the shape of Xs and Os!), sausage nacho dip, sausage roll, mini quiches, mozarella and tomato skewers, sweet-ish meatballs, white chicken chili, veggies and dip, plus various chips completed the savory part of the spread. For the sweet side, we had our traditional M&M pudding cookies, toffee chunk cookies, homemade Paula Deen's ooey-gooey butter cake (who's afraid of diabetes? not us!), pumpkin bread and chocolate covered graham crackers. It was all DELICIOUS! (items in purple are what we made. I love the opportunity to make party food!)

the savory stuff

sweet stuff

mmmm, cookies

(didn't Eliza do a nice job on the M&Ms?!)

The Giants were the overwhelming favorite of the crowd. Molly wasn't sure who she was supposed to cheer for - Grandma's Giants, or Daddy's Patriots. The other kids didn't really care too much, but they were mesmerized by Madonna's half time show, as were all the adults. (How old is she?! She can still do that?!)

After half time, the average age of the party guests jumped at least 20 years as all the kids went home or were put to bed. All in all, it was a great introduction to Molly of our family tradition. Thanks to everyone who came. We had fun! Let's do it again next year!

Do you still love me Daddy, even though I'm wearing a Giants hat?
I'm really cute! Just feed me a cookie next year and I'll be on your side!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Since we have no shortage of pink in this house, it was easy to dress the girls in a Valentine's Day theme. Aren't they the cutest Valentines?

We even had Valentine-themed socks. (that have been around since Hayden!)

Molly's drooling and spit-upping necessitated some outfit changes throughout the day, but we still managed to keep her in festive clothes.

Paris is so romantic! (Thanks Grammy for bringing back this cool shirt!)

so bright eyed and such a cutie!

Outfit number #3. Can't you just hear her 'talking' to me in this pic?!

Look at that head control!

Eliza changed clothes too. Why you ask? because it's Eliza. It's what she does. She also makes funny faces.

And then, towards the end of the evening, I asked Hayden to take a picture of me and Molly. Just because. (okay, actually because I'm always behind the camera and it would be nice to show up in her baby book occasionally. plus Hayden likes getting to use the camera). This is what happened.

Not bad but a little off center.

So we had a talk about getting me in the middle of the picture. And then Eliza came over, and Hayden told her to get in the photo. And then this happened. When I saw it, I laughed. It's the best pic of the day.

Me gazing steadily at the camera with a fixed smile because Hayden was very inconsistent about when she'd actually take the picture. And Eliza grinning while getting her face smooshed by Molly. I love it!

Happy Valentine's Day!