Friday night, as promised, Grandpa S and Uncle James arrived from Iowa. It was great to have them here early; they got a chance to chat and play with Anna for a while. James quickly caught on to Anna's routine: eat, play, sleep, play, repeat...every 2 hours.
Saturday morning Anna woke us all up pretty early at 6:30 and was ready to start her daily routine. She spent some time playing with Uncle James and Grandpa and then helped me get the food ready for Sunday. The boys all went out and browsed some tool stores in the area while Anna and I stayed home and cut up the fruit, made some salads, and just enjoyed some mommy-daughter time. She's a big helper in the kitchen!
Saturday afternoon Grandpa and Grandma F, Great Grandpa and Grandma, Aunt Amy and Uncle Jason arrived. Our house was suddenly a little more full than usual. It was fun to have lots of people at our house and Anna enjoyed it as well. There were lots of people to entertain her and play with her and lots of faces to study and memorize. She's doing so much more looking and studying lately--very exciting! We spent the afternoon chatting, enjoying one another's company, got some pizza and were just awaiting the arrival of Grandma S and Aunt Kate when the electricity started to flicker on and off...this is where the excitement really got rolling...
The lights flickered a few times and we knew that there was a chance of storms, but we hadn't really been paying much attention to the weather. A couple people went downstairs to check on the weather situation and then the electricity went out completely and all we could hear were the tornado sirens. We (the women) quickly headed downstairs and of course the men quickly headed outside (why it is that men seem to think tornado sirens mean run outside boggles my mind). I was a little (okay a LOT) on the nervous side. First, this was the first severe weather situation we had been in with our little baby girl. Second, my mom and sister were very close, but still on the road in bad weather. And third, we had 11 people at our house including a 3 month old, a pregnant woman, add in two cats and a dog and we only have a teeny tiny little crawl space under the stairs for a storm shelter which is really hard to get into because of the freezer that takes up most of the path to get there.
The men kept coming back in saying, "It doesn't look too bad out there," "It's really calm and I can even see blue sky." Most of these made me even more nervous thinking...don't they always say there is a calm before the storm!? My mom and sister finally arrived safely and the tornado sirens finally stopped. We later found out that there was a tornado about a mile north of our house that did some damage, but thankfully no one was injured.
The storm excitement started about 8:30 when the lights went out. At 10:15 we were still sitting around in the dark chatting when the lights finally came back on. It was quite the experience. It was hot and muggy and we had 12 people in our living room unable to really see one another just talking for a couple hours. There was a little concern about the electricity not coming back on in time for us to shower and get ready for church in the morning, but luckily our story isn't quite that exciting! When the lights finally did come back on it was blinding but we were relieved!
Anna was asleep and in her bed by the time the lights came back on, but she didn't sleep well that night. She woke up at 3:30, 4:30, and 5:30. It was quite the night for mommy, especially since I didn't get to bed until after 1:00! We got up for the day after her last wake up and were able to get everything ready, everyone bathed, eat breakfast and get in the car by 8:30 for church at 9:00. Magically everyone was able to find the church and arrived on time and we paraded the whole crew in for Anna's big day!
Finally we come to the pictures!
Anna all smiles before church started. 
There were two baptisms Sunday morning, Anna's and a little boy named Hayden. Here's our crew ready to go, Anna's Godparents included, Aunt Amy and Uncle James. 
Blessing the water. 
Another good group shot.
Pastor Ken Ehrman baptized Anna. He had a huge handful of water ready for her and she threw her arms out and let out a yell when he poured it on her head. It really surprised her!
But she quickly calmed down and he was able to walk her around the congregation for her introduction to the church.
Anna and Pastor Ken and the prayer shawl from the Prayer Shawl Ministry at church.
Blessing the babies.
Anna's hair-do after baptism. She was soaked with holy water and drool.
Anna slept through the rest of the service after baptism. This was the first Sunday I didn't have to step out of the service because she was fussy, apparently she just wanted to be a part of the service. Family photo after church.
Parents and Godparents
The whole group that made the journey to Minnesota to be with Anna.
Our family with Pastor Ken. He's a wonderful pastor and we're so thrilled he was able to perform the baptism.
Overall, even with the storms and excitement, it was a WONDERFUL weekend. After church we came back to our house and enjoyed a nice meal together. It was great to have everyone here! Everyone headed back to Iowa early in the afternoon and Anna and I took a nap on the couch...we were exhausted! It was a busy weekend, but we'd do it all again...and probably will...her 1st birthday is next May! :-) Hopefully it's not stormy...
Blessing the water. 
Another good group shot.
Pastor Ken Ehrman baptized Anna. He had a huge handful of water ready for her and she threw her arms out and let out a yell when he poured it on her head. It really surprised her!
But she quickly calmed down and he was able to walk her around the congregation for her introduction to the church.
Anna and Pastor Ken and the prayer shawl from the Prayer Shawl Ministry at church.
Blessing the babies.
Anna's hair-do after baptism. She was soaked with holy water and drool.
Anna slept through the rest of the service after baptism. This was the first Sunday I didn't have to step out of the service because she was fussy, apparently she just wanted to be a part of the service. Family photo after church.
Parents and Godparents
The whole group that made the journey to Minnesota to be with Anna.
Our family with Pastor Ken. He's a wonderful pastor and we're so thrilled he was able to perform the baptism.
So, I told Christopher to text Brian to see if you were okay...I heard it was close to Mound and that Mound got hit hard. Of course, he forgot! The Plymouth tornadoes path they drew on the TV was directly toward our house...so I was freaking out as well...but all is well, thank goodness. You certainly did have a crazy weekend!
ReplyDelete