Sarah Kate's Baptism

On September 20, we had the privilege of baptizing Sarah Kate. We were so happy to have all four grandparents there, along with Aunt Laura, Uncle Garland, Aunt Amanda and Uncle Brian. As we stood with the kids for the baptism, the boys did a good job of following my strict instructions not to goof off and to listen to Pastor Chris. Christopher did some gentle prodding of Will to keep his head turned the way Christopher thought it should be, and they even held hands for part of the time. (I was one relieved mama!) And Sarah Kate did a great job of not screaming when water was dumped on her head, although she did burp at one point, just like Will did during his baptism. Following the baptism, my Dad sang "In Christ Alone," accompanied by Mom on the piano.

Sarah Kate looked beautiful wearing a very special dress . . . the dress that my Mom made for me when I was baptized. Here's a picture of me, 10 months old, in my baptism dress:



It is our prayer that Sarah Kate will fulfill the vows we made as her parents by placing her faith in Christ as her Lord and Savior. We do not believe that baptism saves her--it is an expression of her place in the covenant family as a child of believers, her need for the cleansing blood of Christ, and our intention to teach her about Christ and God's Word. We are so thankful to have a wonderful church family to support us in this endeavor!

Here are some photos from her special day:


With Pastor Chris:

Amanda and Brian's Visit

We were so excited to have Aunt Amanda and Uncle Brian here a couple of weeks ago for a visit. It was Sarah Kate's first time to meet Uncle Brian. We packed the weekend with two exciting events: Sarah Kate's baptism and a baby shower for Amanda. It was crazy, but it was fun! After the busy weekend we got to just relax for a couple of days with Aunt Amanda and admire her adorable pregnant tummy with our much-anticipated cousin Asher inside! Here are some photos of their visit and Amanda's baby shower . . . baptism photos to follow in a separate post.

County Fair and our little Razorbacks

In early September, we took the kids to the county fair. Against our better judgment, we went to ride the carnival rides. Christopher said he wanted to ride the ferris wheel, but when we got to it, he looked up at how high it was and decided against it. So he rode a very boring train, Will rode a kiddie ride, and then Noel and Christopher did bumper cars. There also might have been an incident with Will and me on the carousel, but we'd rather not talk about it.



The next day, I took the kids back to meet Nana, Granddad and Caroline and see the animals. The boys loved seeing the turkeys, rabbits, sheep, goats, pigs and cows. The highlight was when Christopher got to milk a goat! He thought it would be a good idea to get a goat for our backyard and then we would have plenty of milk. The boys are still asking when we are going to the fair again--they had a wonderful time!



Finally, here are some photos from the start of football season . . . our sweet little Razorbacks, and Sarah Kate watching her first Razorback game with Grandpa:

Will's first day of preschool

I am so far behind on keeping you all posted on significant and not-so-significant events going on in our lives. So this will be the first of a few posts about September. Back in the beginning of the month, Will started preschool at mine and Christopher's preschool alma mater. He loves his teacher, Miss Lindsay, and loves going to school! His favorite parts of school are the hamster in their room and playing outside. He also likes when they do "tootie talk" but I have not made any progress on figuring out what in the world that is.

Here's Will on his first day of school:

Sarah Kate--4 months old

At 4 months old, Sarah Kate is really adding to her list of tricks! She can roll over both ways and hold up her head to look all around when on her tummy. She is getting good at using her hands to grab and hold toys. Unfortunately, she also likes to grab her bow and pull her headband down around her eyes or her mouth, so no more bows for now!

She is still very social and smiles all the time. She also laughs and coos a lot. She is so much fun to have around! My favorite moment every morning is when I wake her up (yes, I have to wake her up!) and put her on the changing table. She sleepily opens her eyes, sees my face, and breaks into a huge grin! It makes my day every time.

At her 4 month check-up, she weighed 12 pounds, 10 ounces (25th percentile) and was over 25 inches long (75th percentile). She's another long, skinny Henley baby!

Here's her newest rolling over trick:



And her nightly giggle-fest with Mommy--if you laugh at her, she'll laugh back!

The face of summer

It doesn't get much better than this!

First Day of Kindergarten

Yesterday was Christopher's first day of kindergarten. He has been anticipating this day since February 19--the day after he turned five, because he thought that meant he would be going to kindergarten immediately. He doesn't usually wake up until about 7:30 in the mornings, but yesterday when I quietly opened the door at 6:45, he shot straight up in bed with a HUGE smile on his face. You would have thought it was his birthday or Christmas!

After getting dressed in his uniform (which he declared his love for--we'll see how long that lasts!) and eating breakfast, we had a time of prayer with him and took some photos.



Then it was off to school! Of course, we were early and had to wait in the hallway for awhile with all the other eager beavers.




Finally, Mrs. Moore called for her class and his moment had arrived! We went to his classroom, put his stuff away, grabbed a quick photo with Mrs. Moore, and then he took his seat. He looked so big sitting there in a real kindergarten classroom. It just about broke my heart to leave, but I did--after one trip back to take two more photos from the doorway and wave one last time. I managed to leave with dry eyes (mostly) but boo-hooed later when I looked at the photos I had taken that morning.





Will also had a tough time adjusting to Christopher's new school life. That morning when we were on our way to a friend's house, Will yelled from the backseat, "Look, Christopher, horses!" and then glumly looked over at the empty booster seat next to him. Will was so eager as we waited in the pick-up line that afternoon and asked a million times when Christopher was going to get in our van. When Christopher finally arrived, Will said, "Christopher, I missed you while you were with Mrs. Moore!" At that moment, I was SO thankful that Christopher will be going to school 2 days a week and at home with us the other days. Their friendship is so precious.

Christopher's first day of school was definitely a success. He loved art and Latin, and he spent the rest of the afternoon and evening reminding us that he can say "wet" and "dry" in Latin. He was intrigued by the concept of taking a hall pass to the bathroom, a big change from the designated potty break times of preschool years. In fact, Christopher did not use the potty all day. That would be 10 hours by the time I realized that he had not used the potty at school and made him go! I think he didn't want to miss anything, but I have given him strict instructions to use the potty at some point tomorrow!