Celebrations in TX

While in Texas our primary celebration, of course, was our new nephew Nathan-- his life and baptism. Whenever the family is together, though, we always like to pack in lots of other celebratory events. Here are the activities that filled our first two days:

Chelsea & Jon's Baby Shower

We are super excited that Jason's younger brother Jon and his wife Chelsea are welcoming their first baby (another Schleicher boy!) in less than 2 months now. So, we threw a little shower to share in their excitement. Aunt Mary and Uncle Doug even drove a few hours south for the weekend to help us celebrate. On Saturday morning, Mary and Beth were in charge of the decorations for the shower.

Mom Schleicher prepared a wonderful and quite tasty array of shower food and treats (even including a fun baby-face cake that you can see in the center of the table).

After enjoying some yummy snacks with the happy parents-to-be...

...Jon and Chelsea opened a bunch of new baby gifts and toys.

Nearly every gift came with a book to add to Baby Schleicher's growing collection. Every teacher-mom appreciates a good baby library! :)

The shower activities got to be a bit long for some of the little ones, so we set up a DVD player in the kitchen that Ian, Ryan, and Cody especially enjoyed.

In addition to gift-opening, we also played a few games. I'm not exactly sure how my sister had time with a newborn to plan a bunch of great shower games, but somehow she pulled off an excellent party! My favorite game was when we had to look at computerized creations of Jon and Chelsea's future baby and decide which one really belonged to them.

Amidst the shower celebrations, we naturally had to fit in some Nathan snuggle time!

We discovered that this on-the-belly position was quite calming for our nephew!

Andy's 40th Birthday

On Saturday evening, we threw a Husker-red birthday party for Andy. Doesn't he look great?!

This evening was the first time that Jason and I had seen Jon and Chelsea's Texas home. It was beautiful and perfect for hosting our big crowd! The little guys especially liked the upper level where they could freely play with trains and cars.

After a yummy meal of ribs and potatoes, we gathered around the table...

...and sang to the birthday boy.

This is my most favorite picture from the evening! Andy willingly let all of his nephews steal his candle-blowing thunder. What a great uncle! :)

Then it was time for the best part-- digging in! Cody and Jaden were quite fond of their first experience with red velvet cake. Grandma and Grandpa were great helpers.

Grandma and Cody

Grandpa and Jaden

After the cake-eating, we finished the night off with an active game of hide-and-seek. Cody and Jaden dragged all of Jon and Chelsea's stuffed animals along with them during the game. Guess it's a lot more fun hiding in a large group! Not too strategic though... :)

Nathan's Baptismal Remembrance

Now this was the event that we had all been waiting for! The night before his big day, Nathan's Mommy and Daddy got this little man all sparkling clean and smelling good.

At the Sunday morning service, Nathan's baptism was publicly recognized. In the background, you can see the photo of Papa Walquist baptizing Nathan in the hospital on the day he was born. At this service, Grandpa Schleicher talked about Nathan's baptism and gave a special blessing to Nathan. I don't think that Nathan made a peep throughout the whole service-- so well-behaved! Jon, Chelsea, Jason and I (all as Nathan's sponsors) joined Matt and Kim at the front of the church.

Following the service, we tried to get a full family photo of everyone gathered to celebrate God's gift of Nathan. This is not an easy task, especially when there are four two-year-olds! But, we got a few funny ones and a few okay ones too.

After the service, Cody and Jaden got to experience a first-- going to Sunday School. Matt and Kim's church has a Sunday School class for 2-year-olds and their parents. (Our church doesn't start S.S. until age 3.) The class started with a group opening. All the kids sat on carpet squares in the gym. Cousins Cody, Ryan, Abby, and Jaden did an okay job with this part at first.

But then, our little rabble-rouser Cody had to create a little trouble with Abby! :) The funny part is, that while she looks so innocent and attentive in this pic, little independent Abby did the same thing right back to Cody a few moments later.

By far, Ryan and Abby's favorite part about the opening was getting to sing (and dance) along with a few of the songs. They were so funny to watch!

After the opening, we had a Bible story time, snack, and then craft. It was a well-done little class. Cody and Jaden seemed to have a great time!

I got a big kick out of their craft-time final products. Can you tell which of the pictures is done by our particular-minded Jaden? :)

While waiting for the rest of the family, the little ones had a tickle war with Uncle Andrew. He's a pretty fun-loving uncle. 

Jason and I feel honored to serve as sponsors for this precious little child of God!

Nathan's celebrations continued back at home with a tasty brunch. Lots of hands pulled together to work in the kitchen...

...while the other hands were busy at work entertaining the kiddos. Uncle Doug knows just what little boys like! :)

 

More Birthdays

Two more family birthdays of the month included Jon and Kim. Neither of them were celebrating a milestone birthday, though, so they just got cake and a song. :)

An Early Christmas

Finally, because our family gathering took place just a few weeks before Jesus' birthday, we took aside some time on Sunday evening to exchange Christmas gifts.

We opened all the kids' presents first, and then did adult gifts after the kids had gone to bed.

Cody and Jaden definitely understood how to unwrap their own gifts this year.

It was fun to see their excited reactions about all the many generous gifts, too. Thanks so much, family!

Celebrating Family

With our big crew, life was definitely busy, active, and a bit chaotic at times during this full weekend. Those of us with kids, however, are used to having a somewhat chaotic household, so it worked! :) We were thankful to have the chance to all be together.

The Walquist Family (sans Mom & Dad)

The Schleicher Family