Matthew's Baptism

Yes, it took us a while but we finally baptized our little boy this past Sunday.  It was a wonderful day and he was such a good little man.  We opted not to use the same gown the girls wore because it is fairly girly and I'm not sure Matthew would have appreciated not being able to walk in such a long gown.  Also, let's be honest, I'm not sure it would have fit him either. Megan wore it when she was almost  months old and Emily was almost a year but she was small. Anyways, he looked like such a cute little man in his outfit.

I think my mom summed it up best when she said there was a reason to baptise your children before they can walk. Matthew was not happy with being held (restrained) throughout the ceremony and we let him wander a bit. Better to have a quiet wanderer than a screaming kid. Our church does Baptisms on Sunday afternoons in a group rather than in a Mass. We live in a very young family oriented community and Baptisms during Mass would make for very long Masses every Sunday. I like the way we do it.  Every time Matthew wandered up toward the Altar where Deacon was speaking we would lure him back with a "high 5". He loved it. This picture was taken after his turn in the water!

The girls were little angels too. They actually kept quiet. Even Emmy.

A group shot with Deacon and the Godparents, Jerry and Lori Kedroski.  They were my "Catholic Parents" growing up. 

After the Baptism we went to Coffee n Cream to celebrate with some sweets. Matthew took a header out of his chair and landed flat on his face. He was a trooper about it, as he is about almost everything, but he has a beautiful scrape on his face from the incident.

It was a beautiful day and now all 3 of my children are "card carrying Catholics", so to speak. Congratulations to my little man and welcome to the church!

Happy 4th Y'all!!

Starke June in a Nutshell

I bet you'll ask what the heck is going on. If this is what our June was all about then why the heck didn't I post anything about June IN June?  You know, life with three kids is really crazy. Especially when those kids all still rely on you for the most basic things. Megan is starting to be a little more self sufficient but I think she suffers from the 'first child syndrome' where she's used to having me do everything for her so she doesn't even try. Emily tries but can't do it all by herself so she has to scream and whine about it. At this rate, Matthew will be cooking 5 course meals and getting dressed all by himself by the time he is 2.  Poor third kid. I wonder what life would do to #4 if we go there. Only time will tell, I suppose.

June in a nutshell ...

Sleeping babies.

Swim lessons.

A concert.

(That's Tim McGraw, if you didn't know.)

Enjoying the concert.

The tickets were our Christmas gift to each other so we had been looking forward to this for a while!

Thanks, Mom, for babysitting!

... and Kenny Chesney too.

It was a GREAT show!

A second trip to Great Wolf Lodge. This time we went to celebrate Father's Day and stayed two nights. It was even more fun than the first trip there. I LOVE Great Wolf Lodge!!!

Sprinkler time in the backyard.

And more sleeping babies.

It's a pARRRty!

Matthew's party was a pirate theme. The idea originated from our need to get rid of a bunch of leftover stuff from parties past so instead of calling it a 'leftover' party we decided to claim pirates had stolen the booty from the previous parties. I did buy some new things though because I knew there would be pictures and I'm sure Matthew would have been mad, some time in his life, if we had used Rapunzel or Strawberry Shortcake tablecloths and cake toppers.

Your party hostesses, Megan and Emily (waiting to dig in to the treasure chest and grab some pirate treasure).

The guest of honor not too sure he likes being the center of attention.

And here we see Matthew opening more presents. Such a lucky guy to get to open everything all by himself. 

Thanks for coming to me parrrrrty, matey!

Matthew's Birthday

Grammy and Grandma came over to spend the afternoon with the kids for Matthew's birthday.  Here are a few pics from the day and later after dinner with his official First Birthday Cake. 

Here he is opening his gifts from Grammy and Grandma.

Well would you look at that! Here is is actually playing with one of his own new toys!

Trust me, it didn't last long.



Singing Happy Birthday to their little brother and rushing to be the one who gets to blow out the candle for him.

First hand in and not too sure what to think.

Yeah, he's done. Maybe a little too much for one day?  Matthew, I promise you will like cake and/or frosting some day.  Maybe not on May 22, 2012.

Kid, for what it's worth, your sisters enjoyed your birthday cake.

I still can't believe he's already one.  Actually, today he is closer to 14 months old. Time sure flies, doesn't it?

Shave and a haircut ...

Well, so there wasn't a shave involved but here are a few pics of Matthew's first big boy haircut! It was really starting to resemble a mullet so it was time (back in May) to finally get it done. He wasn't too sure about the process but he ended up being a trooper.

Not even the balloon would cheer him up.  Poor kid.

Well, OK, now that you finally gave me my paci ...

Just a little fun!

Matthew, this is the last mohawk you will ever have.  Do you understand, young man?