He smiles!

And even laughs!
Trying to catch it on camera is another matter! This is as good as we have gotten so far!

Everett's Baptism

Before Everett was even born I had scheduled his baptism! When I was the pastor of Krum UMC, Rev. Jim Dorff was my District Superintendent. He would call me every couple of weeks and that first year I remember every time he would call I would be having a bad day. I remember often choking back tears, thinking to myself, you mean someone cares about me? I'm not all alone here? Praise God!

When Madeleine was born, I wanted to be the mommy at her baptism, and so I asked my pastor, the District Superintendent, to come baptize my daughter. If possible, I wanted Jim to be a part of Everett's baptism as well. Jim is now the North Texas Conference Area Provost and is the North Texas Conference candidate for Bishop. He will be busy this spring meeting with different Conferences in the southcentral jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. So, if possible I wanted to get on his calendar! When I called, Jim was very agreeable even though Everett wasn't even born yet!

Thank you Jim for being a part of this event in our son's life and for helping us to give him over to God. Baptism is so special because it is an act that is incorporating and initiating our child into the Christian faith. I want our child to know that before he was ours, he is God's.

Thank you to all of the many friends, family, Sunday School friends, and church members who were a part of this special day with us!

Adorable boy

Here's another one in the Bumbo...


And thanks to Aunt Sally for Everett's Extremely Young Democrat shirt! Madeleine received a pink Extremely Young Democrat shirt but she didn't want to wear it... She only wants to wear what she picks out. Yes, she dresses herself and changes outfits 3+ times a day.

Everett in the bumbo!

I realized at dinner tonight that Everett can hold his head up quite well. That means he's ready for the Bumbo!

Madeleine

The older they get, the more fun they are! Here is a photo of Madeleine making cookies (we had a choir Christmas party January 12th so we made Christmas cookies with the cookie cutters from Aunt Jena, Uncle Chris, Cassandra and Xander). Thanks also to Aunt Terri for the wonderful apron!



One of the things that Kristin and I used to do as children was to put tights on our heads and pretend that we had long hair. Madeleine did that this weekend and I promise Kristin and I didn't ask her to do it!
Here is a picture of Madeleine and cousin Sydney with tights on their heads. This time Kristin and I did encourage the kids to put the tights on their head. This picture was taken in April 2006.




And here is a toy that I bought at a garage sale, it's called a krazy car and here is Sydney pushing Madeleine.

Do they look alike?

Getting kids to eat their vegetables!

I've figured out how to get kids to eat their vegetables! Edamame beans! Or pop up beans as Madeleine likes to say. Madeleine has such a good time trying to get the bean out of the pod and she really eats these beans that are good for you too! It's all about pop up beans!

Back to Work

Today I went back to work after a blissful yet sleep-deprived three months off. It has been wonderful to be able to attend church with my family and to be home with Everett and Madeleine, but the calling to be a pastor is urging me back to LLUMC. It was good to be there this morning (I work Tuesday and Thursday all day, Wednesday mornings and Sundays) and hard to pass Everett over to the wonderful ladies in the nursery. What a blessing it is though to be in the same building as my two adorable children and to work part-time.

The princesses

On New Years Day Sydney, Austin, and Aunt Kristin came over. Madeleine enticed Sydney into dressing up! Sydney informed us all that she was Aurora and Madeleine was Snow White. Aren't they adorable?