Hi friends! Took a little va-cay from the computer while we had family in town. This past weekend was a really special one for our family. Saturday Ellie was baptized and became a member of our church.
My mom bought her this beautiful white dress to wear for the occasion.
Ellie felt like quite the little princess in her new dress with everyone doting on her all weekend long (as you can see from the posing in the pictures!). It was such a treat to have both grandmas and grandpas here AND my brother Austin and his cute wife Dayna. We had a full house and I loved it!
Of course, if Ellie was getting a picture taken with grandma and grandpa then so was Addison. :)
The whole crew on our way to the church. It was such a special program – just Ellie and one other boy got baptized so it felt very cozy and personal. When I got up to do a little spotlight on Ellie I was incredibly touched to see how many of our friends showed up to support us. It was a special night for my sweet eight year old and one we will never forget.
The rest of the weekend was THE BEST. Lots of hanging out and relaxing at the house. Happy to all be together.
Other events included:
A little ball in the backyard. With quite the audience. :)
A superbowl party.
A little shopping.
Late night chatting.
A little cooking.
A lot of eating. (Too much eating!)
And a whole lot of help with the kids.
One afternoon my dad was outside playing with Kole, my mom was making dinner, and Kenny’s mom was reading stories to my girls. Now THAT is what I’m talking about! I just wandered around not really knowing what to do with myself! It was wonderful. I loved having my house full of family and I was so grateful for the help. And now they are all gone. My parents stayed through today and it was hard to say goodbye. Reality set in all too quickly! And tonight around 6:00 when everyone was hungry and tired and I was juggling the usual homework/dinner/baths/cleaning ritual on my own I closed my eyes and remembered my happy afternoon. When there were more adults than children and everything ran so smoothly. :) (I miss you all! Come back!!)
It was such a treat to have everyone here.
A perfect weekend and I am so proud of this sweet girl.
xoxo, Erin
Congratulations to Ellie! It’s great to be eight and to be baptized. {My oldest daughter was baptized last year and it was such a happy and special occasion.}
Hope you guys have a great week!
~Robin
She is adorable! Your weekend sounded perfect!
Elli looked beautiful. What a great combination, Jesus and family. Nothing is better then that.
We had a lot of family this weekend too. I loved it!
Hope you have a great week,
I love having all of our family here too! It doesn’t happen often, they are 2.5 hours away, 4 hours away and two days drive away!When my littlies were babies, it really used to stress me having everyone here, now they are 3 and 5 I LOVE it! No one cares about the chaotic mess and like you say, there is always someone keeping kids occupied, someone to chat too and even 5 minutes to sneak off!! Hope your week goes well too!
Congrats to Ellie on her baptism. You are so blessed to have had so many show up for such a special occasion. Glad your weekend was so wonderful.
She is so beautiful! I love how she has a different pose in every picture-so cute. Congratulations!
Sounds like a very special weekend, indeed. Congratulations Ellie. Such sweet memories to savor.
Such a fun time as a family! I was so emotional when Ryan was baptized. Such a happy time but unbelievable that they are old enough to be baptized!
Aww, congratulations to Ellie! She looks totally gorgeous & so grown up.
I hear ya on loving help with the kiddos….I am going home to Australia in 5 weeks for my little brother’s wedding & I am sooooo excited for 3 whole weeks of my girls playing with their cousins & having aunts, uncles and grandparents to help with everything! Not to mention lots of coffee breaks & late night chats with my mum & sis :)
Hope the reality of routine is a little less brutal for you today!
Congratulations Ellie! What a special time! I am so happy for you all.
She is too cute with her little poses in her beautiful white dress. Congrats Ellie! So glad you got to be with all your family for the big day!
So great that ALL of her grandparents got to be there for her! She does look so sweet and beautiful in her white dress, and way to grown up too! (I was ok with us having 6 year olds, and was working on being ok with 7 year olds, but 8 year olds is just way too grown up! Of course Pierce is already planning his birthday and I can’t even think about it!)
Glad it was a great weekend for you guys. Oh and I love the “audience” in the backyard!
Congratulations Ellie! You are a very special and beautiful 8 year old! We wish we could have been there for your baptism, we are all so proud of you and we love you very much!
She looks so beautiful. You can tell see she is just glowing and so happy. I love her dress. It sounds like a perfect weekend. :)
Congratulations to Ellie! She looks so beautiful!!!
Ellie looks so beautiful. I remember the day that you and I got baptized!! Those are great pictures with all the family.
that is great! looks like our girls both got baptized on the same day-such a wonderful time.
What an exciting time in her life! Congratulations Ellie! :) She looks beautiful and proud. What a special day :)
Congratulations to Elli on such a momentous occassion! She looked beautiful.
She looks so pretty and proud of herself!
Her dress is amazing, and she is probably the sweetest person I’ve ever seen!
Congrats!!
I really love your blog, Erin!
I almost feel like part of the family!
✿Camie
Camila In Wonderland
*sniff* I missed it. *sniff*
But I loved seeing the pics of her in that beautiful dress. And the family pics were great. I bet it was the best weekend! How appropriate that it happened to also be Super Bowl weekend? :)
Love you guys!
What beautiful pictures and what a fun weekend it looks like you all had! You have a gorgeous family. Congrats to Ellie as well :)
I bet you loved having family around – the help alone is always such a blessing. I totally get what you mean about not knowing what to do with alone time. That happened to me a couple of weeks ago…. the hubby took Dane to Nana’s house for a little and I didn’t know what to do! Do I clean?! Organize something?! Catch up on schoolwork?! Just sit on the couch and watch TV? Well, I chose the last option since that barely EVER happens and, let me tell you – IT WAS GLORIOUS!!!
Have a great rest of the week!
Shannon in PA :)
Congrats Ellie!!! Super cute pictures and so fun to have everyone there!
Beautiful dress and beautiful family :)
So proud of your choice, Ellie! You looked beautiful!
Erin, it’s so fun to see some of Kenny’s family on the blog. Glad to have you back!
Great pictures! She looks so pretty in her dress. I see lots of big eyed stuffed animals on that wall, lol. We have a bunch here too with my girls! Have a great day!
Blessings
,Jill
Hi Erin,
Congratulations on the baptism! Sweet pictures. I am wondering where your sister-in-law found her polka-dot blouse…so cute! And the shoes are great too. Just my style! I would love to know. :) Thanks for all the effort you put into such an inspiring blog.
~Erica
Your daughter looked beautiful in her dress. Congratulations to her on the baptism. Thanks for sharing this special moment with us.
Do you know where your mom bought your daughter’s dress? Or the brand name? I’m in search of one like that! Thank you!
Anonymous – my mom bought that dress at a store in southern Utah called Christensen’s. I’m not sure if they have a web site because they are a local store. You can try?
Sorry that isn’t much help!
Erin, thank you! I wasn’t sure if you would even see this. My daughter is making her communion and I remembered this post and how pretty Ellie’s dress was. I enjoy your blog! Thanks again, Amy
Thanks Amy! Congratulations on such a special day for your daughter!