Celebrating Kayleigh - Part 2

After a somewhat restless night sleep, we somehow made it to church ON TIME and DRESSED. Miracle of miracles. Blaine and Christina decided to baptize Kayleigh at Christ United Methodist Church in Plano. It's the church we usually all attend at Christmas time and we all love it there. 

Kayleigh was a total princess in her gown. I could just eat her up. 

The dedication part of the ceremony was extremely touching and special. I admit to getting a few tears in my eyes. Just an awesome thing to see a new little one brought into the Kingdom of God and pledging to raise her in such a way that she knows the love of Christ and falls in love with Jesus. I was a proud, proud Aunt.

And of course my side notes:

Side note #1: Ryan was massively, massively sleep deprived. We figured over the course of the 3 days he was probably behind on about 10 hours of sleep. My son is just such a sleeper that it finally caught up with him. At the end of service. With a big, loud praise team playing in his ears, he passed out on Steve's shoulder and that was it. He slept through all the pictures only to awake when we were walking out.

Side note #2: Quinn was convinced she was part of the ceremony. She kept running up and pulling on K's dress and dancing. It was hilarious after I finally stopped worrying about grabbing her from ruining the moment. And then the most touching moment for this momma's heart came: at the end of the baptism, the pastor handed Quinn a bag and said "This is for Kayleigh. I'm sure you will think it's for you but maybe you can give it to her later." Everyone laughed and then simultaneously gasped when Quinn immediately turned and handed it to Kayleigh and Christina. She just knew. My proud momma moment.

Congratulations, Kayleigh. We love you soooo much and we pledge to live our lives in such a way so that our love for God is reflected and you desire that for your heart. We are always here for you.

Here are some family pictures:

The proud parents

Ryan pre-pass out

Quinn didn't want to sit with us the entire time. Only wanted her K-bug and Aunt/Uncle

Look at this beauty!

Mr. Ed - special, special family friend. He was my dad's best friend for years and years. He is my surrogate Dad and I would call on him for anything. So incredibly wonderful that he was there. 

Family photo - Ryan passed out

Family photo - Matt, Quinn, Christina, Blaine, Me, Mom and Steve

Aunt Lace, Uncle Rykert, Matt, Christina, Blaine, Me, (Ryan dead to the world), Mom 'n Steve

The girl's picture - minus Quinn who was running around eating popcorn

I mean, really!

Me and the princess!

They had popcorn at the church! Our church needs to hop on that : ) 

Aunt Lacey & Uncle Rykert - all the way from Louisiana. So neat!

Proud parents again and the Reverend. And of course the princess, who did not melt down one time during the 15 minute photo shoot.

What an amazing and special trip - whirlwind for sure but we would do it again in a heartbeat. Props to my husband for his PR back to Houston - door to door in 4hrs and 15 minutes. And for everything that he does for our family --- packing up the car, making sure the kids have their movies, driving like a champ and pitching in wherever needed. So blessed by you, honey. You are my rock. Love you.

Celebrating Kayleigh - Part 1

This past weekend we loaded up again and  headed to Dallas to celebrate our special niece, Kayleigh. She is such a light and a miracle - we are blessed to be her aunt and uncle. And I've said it about a million times to friends but I could not be prouder of my brother and Christina. There is just something incredibly special about watching two people whom I love dearly embrace parenthood. I've seen a whole new side to both of them and it makes my heart sing. (Ok, enough gush. Christina is rolling her eyes at me now :) )

Anyway, it was a VERY busy weekend with VERY little downtime but well worth it. Just to document a bit...

We headed out Friday a.m. (just 15 minutes later than our expected departure date - we're getting better at this!) After the requisite potty stop at Buccee's, we kept on trucking to Corsicana so give the kids a break and eat a Chili's lunch. They just need that unwind time (and so do we). A few scary storms later, 2 movies, and we were in Plano.

The kids immediately saw Gigi and Steve's new pool and wanted to strip down and get in their swimsuits. We kept them busy until proper adult supervision could be attained. Then we left the kids in the capable hands of the other adults and headed to the hotel to check in and get all our gear settled. By the time we returned, Aunt Lace & Uncle Rykert had arrived. How special they came as well to celebrate this special weekend. It was wonderful to catch up with everyone and the kids had a blast playing in the pool, eating junk food, and enjoying all the attention. We finally wrapped up SUPER LATE and headed back to hotel where we prayed for a good night sleep.

(Side note: My mom and Steve have worked SO hard on the backyard --- basically redoing our entire pool plus adding tons of landscape and goodness knows how many bags of mulch. It looked GORGEOUS. And they did it all themselves (well, not the pool, but no landscapers --- just them, every weekend working on every detail. So proud of you guys --- it reminds me so much of how it used to be and it was perfect.)

We apparently forgot to pray for power though because just as I was settling the kids down with a book and Matt had half a foot in the shower, the entire power grid at the hotel went out. Cue freak out. From all of us. We finally settled back in with the kids and prayed that the lights would return by morning. And they did. At 2:30am wherein Matt and I scrambled to turn off all the other power and lights before the kids woke up. Back to bed. And then my little sleeping partner Ryan decided that 6:45 was an acceptable wake up time after not going to bed until 11:30am. LOVE that.

After wiping the sleep from our eyes, we headed back to mom's house to help get things ready for the party. Christina, the party decorator extraordinaire did an AMAZING job with the decorations. She is so flipping talented. I did what I could, peeling shrimp and cleaning stuff, oh and cooking a cake - but that's a whole long story. Matt ran around doing various errands so my mom & Steve could focus on the house. By 12:00 it looked debatable if it was all going to come together --- but by some miracle and a lot of helping hands, by 5:00 it was ready to roll!

I can't say I was a huge help from 2:00 to 5:00 since I headed to The Dry Bar at the Shops at Legacy. I had heard awesome things about this place so I decided to treat myself to a blow out. Not that I "needed" it but it was sort of a vacation, so I went for it (Kudos to my husband for watching the kids at the "potel" so Mommy could get pampered. That place ROCKS. Complementary drinks and professional blow outs --- no matter what you choose, all $35. Amazing wash and amazing style. Anyway, I can't wait until they open one in Houston. I'm sure Matt can.

In keeping with the Dr. Seuss theme, we all dressed in coordinating shades of red, white, and blue (yes, we were THAT family). I was lucky enough to find this adorable dress from my friend Jen's shop, Twisted Simplicity in Frisco. Actually she posted it online the week before the party and I loved it so much that I bought it right then and there. And talk about customer service, she was lovely enough to drop it at my mom's house that week so I would have plenty of time to try it on and exchange if need be. But it was perfect! 

And in keeping with Clanahan tradition we failed once again to get a family picture. OMG. But when we arrived to the party, I needed to put the finishing touches on the cake and somehow between the time I finished that and greeted some friends, the kids ended up out of their precious outfits and into the pool. Oh well, what are you going to to do? Next time, next time. 

The party was adorable, all of the touches were perfect, and I think everyone had a lovely time. It was so great to celebrate with so many special friends --- many of whom have been around for every special Anderson/Clanahan occasion. And the star of the party could not have been more adorable. I just love her.

Here are some pics that my brother and Christina took with a few thrown in from me. The blurry ones are clearly mine, straight from my phone :)

Matt, me, Lisa & Adam (our matchmakers and my favorite couple friends)

Ashley - one of my best and longest friendships. Love you!

Ok, this wasn't the exact cake for the party but my test run -- it looked similar though :) Dr. Seuss colors. Or my attempt.

Christina, K-bug, Quinn, me, and Aunt Lace

My hubby

Me, Ashley and Lisa - love my girls!

Q is just IN LOVE with Kayleigh. IN LOVE.

And Kayleigh LOVES jewelry. Smart girl. 

Best photo of the night - Blaine & Kayleigh photo bomb

Oh, random - this was the inside of the cake on the test run. 3 colors. Who am I? Betty Crocker??? Please understand the sarcasm in that statement. I would be voted most unlikely to make a cake for a party ever. But I did. That's some trust from family.

Quinn liked it.

Ryan thought it was too sweet.

Ok, seriously the only picture I have of my daughter in her precious dress. Mommy fail. It was SO cute though.

My mommy!

She was too busy eating to take a picture --- my 3 year olds are becoming increasingly annoyed with the camera. 

They enjoyed spinning. This was Q's 3rd outfit change I think. Posting this so you can see Ry's adorable matching outfit. I figure I only have 1-2 more years of this twin coordinating thing so I am living it up while I can.

Another late night and back to the hotel. Kids crashed. And so did we. Part 2 coming next...