Baptism Weekend!

We had an eventful weekend in Birmingham this past weekend! Kathryn and I drove down on Saturday to help get everything ready for Elaine Mae's baptism and the dinner afterwards at Ivey and Tom's house. This post is full of pictures, and I will let the pictures mostly speak for themselves! 

 Elaine Mae is getting so big, and has learned how to "bootie scoot" around the house. It is hilarious to watch! She doesn't crawl on all fours, but sits mostly upright facing forward and pulls herself by her arms and  by moving her legs!

 On Saturday, in between playing with the kiddos outside and getting all set up for the dinner celebration, Ivey and I made this carrot cake! We were pretty impressed with how well it turned out! :)

 Saturday was a beautiful day, and we got to enjoy some time outside playing in the sandbox:

 And swinging...

 Sunday, we woke up to clouds and rain! But it did not spoil our fun! Even the rain was a reminder of how we long for God's cleansing of Elaine Mae's heart as she received the sign and seal of baptism! Getting ready...

 Thomas just taking it all in...

 All dressed up!

 Sweet family:

 Grandparents:

 Other grandparents:

 The gang (so sad that we were missing a few of the siblings!)

 Aunts:

 Granddaddy:

 Sisters:

 Chilling with Uncle NaNa:

 Nathan and Laura:

 Beautiful hymn we sang together before lunch:

 The table:

 The spread!

 Gathered for a hymn and prayer:

 Sweet baby girl! She was such a trooper!

 She didn't let her big dress stop her from investigating!

 Grammie:

 Aunt RuRu:

 Three generations of "Elaine:" Vivian Elaine, Ivey Elaine, Elaine Mae:

 All worn out after a big day!

We are so thankful for God's covenant promises that he will be the God of believers and their children. We pray that Elaine Mae will never know a day when she does not love and worship Jesus as her Savior!

Test Kitchen!

I love trying new recipes! I found this one a few weeks ago and just got around to testing it out today! It is Roasted Vegetable Tacos with Avocado Sauce and Feta!

Yummy fresh vegetables!

 Filling:
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small summer squash, diced
½ medium red onion, diced
1 ear sweet corn, removed from cob (or about ½ cup frozen corn kernels thawed)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 medium red pepper, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons cumin
¼ teaspoon salt
 *I doubled the recipe so that I could enjoy some leftovers this week!

Preheat oven to 400˚. Prepare all the veggies as described and toss with olive oil, pressed garlic, salt, and cumin. Roast on the Large Bar Pan until tender and lightly browning.

 Avocado Cream:
1 ripe avocado
⅓ cup plain greek yogurt
¼ cup cilantro
1 tablespoons lime juice

 While veggies are roasting, combine avocado, Greek yogurt, cilantro, and lime juice in Food Processor until creamy

 

Assemble in corn tortilla, sprinkle with feta cheese and top with avocado sauce! Yummy! *I added a can of drained and rinsed black beans to veggie mixture!

Easter Cookies!

This Easter weekend was a busy one for me, and I hate that I didn't get to spend it with family! I worked all weekend, so I spent it with the children in the ER!! I love this time of year, though, and I am so thankful for the truth that Christ has Risen!!! Since I had to work, I wanted to make some treats for my co-workers!
I had so much fun making easter egg and butterfly shaped cookies!

Fun symbols of spring and new life! So thankful for the new life that the Resurrection brings!!

Picture time!

Yesterday I took what has become my weekly trip to Birmingham! I got to babysit the kiddos while Ivey went to the dentist, visit with Robby and his girlfriend who was in town, take some pictures of Elaine Mae in her baptism gown, went on a community egg hunt with Thomas, and had dinner with Tom and Ivey, too! It was a full, fun day!

For the photo shoot, we went to Samford University where they have some really green grass and beautiful flowers right now! When Ivey put her dress on and positioned her on the grass, Thomas said, "She looks like an angel!" And we agreed!

 Of course, there is the behind the scene reality shots of cleaning noses:

 Babies trying to crawl off:

 Trying to eat the bark! We were laughing hard at this point! We could not keep her little hands out of the bark to save our lives!!

 Thomas thought all of this grass and running around was great!

 I said, "Thomas did you know that this is a college?" He replied, "No it's not! It's a park!" Of course, in his little eyes, lots of grass and running around HAS to be a park!

 While we were walking around the campus, we saw two little girls who looked to be about 10 years old doing somersaults. A few minutes later, I was focused on taking EM's pictures, and glanced over and saw Thomas doing this! I started shooting!

 He did a perfect somersault all by himself!

Here's a fun comparison of Thomas and Elaine Mae's pictures:

Elaine Mae, 8 months

 Thomas, 8 months