Celebrating Emmaline

Emmaline was baptized today. The weekend has been consumed by this event. All day yesterday we cleaned the house, a task made somewhat easier by the eminent move. Don't know what to do with something? Eh, just throw it away, we'll be gone soon anyway. This is probably the least cluttered the house has been in years :). Meanwhile, Emmaline mastered drinking out of a sippy cup yesterday! It felt like a huge deal, I was getting a little worried that so far she'd shown no interest in holding her bottle. But she figured out the cup yesterday and was SO pleased with herself! It's so funny, she'll pick up the cup, take a few sips, and then just giggle. Chris and I were really excited to watch this development!
To celebrate such a clean house, we had some friends over for a "Yeti Tasting" last night (or just because we wanted to drink good beer!). One of our favorite Colorado breweries makes several variations of this imperial stout, so we did a little side-by-side comparison and Yeti drawing. It was a lot of fun, and no surprise that my favorite is the Espresso version.

This morning we arose very early (for a Sunday). We wanted Emmaline to get up early so she'd be tired enough to nap at 9:00. The church service was at 11:00 and we were minimizing the chance of her sounding demon-possessed during the baptism. She slept very soundly until about 10:15 and then we got her dressed and raced out the door. She looked super cute. She wore a gown that my great-grandmother made for my mom. It is a simple blue long blouse with a nicely embroidered collar and cuffs. Since it was blue we put on a pink headband with a bow (she still has very little hair and can be easily mistaken for a boy).

The 11:00 service is contemporary, so they start with music from the praise band. She loved it! Recently Emmaline is really getting into music, she can't help but dance when she hears it. So she was bouncing around in Chris' arms and squealing in delight during the first song. Hilarious! Our friend Cindy, who's a pastor at our church, performed the baptism. It felt extra meaningful to have a friend baptise Emmaline. And the nap paid off - no tears! Chris and I feel so blessed to have such a supportive church family.Notice the bow was thrown off during the baptism, she's not such a fun of things on her head.

Emmaline talking to her friend Charley, who is just a couple of months younger.

Afterward we had a lunch at our house. In honor of Emmaline's southern roots, we had pulled pork, mac'n'cheese, coleslaw and a bunch of other delicious food. It was great to visit with friends, but felt a little bittersweet since we'll be leaving these wonderful people in about a month! :( The kids were crazy (especially after eating chocolate cake). We realized that our party with 7 kids under 4 is WAY louder than any party the college kids next door have ever thrown. So it was alright with us when things wound down, Emmaline took a nap, and we got to relax for a little bit. It kind of feels like the first time all weekend!