baptism

Baptism went well.  Their pastor is quite lovely.  Her sermon was riveting and insightful, and full of that very important challenge to stop keeping score on each other, to simply go ahead and freely love.

This baptism of a confused two year old and her baby sister was accomplished with little drama and a lot of kindness.

Here's a gem of a photo, one Heidi told me she very much wanted.  All the girls have middle names after their Great-Grandmas.  Each kid is situated with the Great-Grandma she shares a name with.

These pictures were taken at the end of the day right before the fancy dresses came off.  The bigger one was digging in the garden with her bare hands in that ivory lace dress, burying a small plastic horse.

After a bit, I dragged her from there, her hollering and flailing away.  I clutched her around the ribs, and when I had her to the grass pinched her between my ankles while she yelled, getting most of the dirt off into the grass.

This was yesterday as the preparations for the party went on.  I was in charge of her. You can see she was quite the tough customer.

 This one would not wear any clothing beyond a diaper, but she was otherwise quite agreeable.

 Joe's pet spider, kind of freaky, mostly awesome.

 Here they are preparing the meal

 The children under supervision.

 Today, the celebration:

 Jay's sweet mother with the new baby:

 Trying to get pictures of these wild cousins is not easy:

 Opening gifts:

It was a hot, wild, beautiful baptism.

Wonderful in every way.

Love you kids so darn much,   Grandma and Grandpa