Zachary's Baptism

A happy little boy

He smiled while the water was being poured on him. He loves bath time, so I assumed he would be fine during this portion of the ceremony.

Gathered around the altar, which Fr. Larry referenced as gathering around the Lord's table.

Fr. Larry giving the sign of the cross on Zachary's head. This was followed by all of us giving him the sign of the cross as well, including his siblings.

Shown after he was draped with the white cloth and given the light of Christ. I always explained this as the song "This little light of mine" which I sing to the kids often and hope that we teach them every day.

This weekend we had our baby boy baptized. We attend this adorable, quaint, country church. We loved how the ceremony was held after mass, as it felt intimate and personalized for our family. We also felt that Emerald and Calvin then could come close to see what was happening w/o being a distraction to others in the church. We were honored to have Zachary's godparents, Jenny & Mike attend the ceremony with us. They are such wonderful examples of our faith. Zachary was his usual quiet, calm self and smiled while awake, and even slept some during his baptism. We have planted the seed of faith in our children and we hope that it develops into something wonderful as they grow up. What an amazing day--Mother's day, family and friends, and Zachary's baptism. I had a sweet day! :)

Zachary's Baptism

Not a bad family shot!!

Godfather Mike and Godmother Jenny--special note that we are super excited for them. They announced this week that they are expecting their first child in November! Prayers for a healthy baby!!

Zachary and Josiah having a serious discussion at church.

Zachary wearing the traditional baptismal gown. Pop Pop, Aunt Laura, and all 3 kids have worn this gown. It means so much to me to have this family tradition.

Zachary's Baptism

Nana & Pop Pop with Zachary

Zachary was one tired boy by the end of the baptism

Mike, Jenny, Fr. Larry, and our family

Zachary's Baptsim

The whole family on the steps of our sweet, country church.

Mike and Calvin

Emerald had fun after the baptism, cake is always fun.

Our neighbors, Jamie, Chris, Avery, and Carson, helped us celebrate Zachary's baptism. Chris had fun playing music on his phone and all the kids were dancing like crazy. It was too sweet.

Happy Mother's Day!!

I am so blessed with my 3 angels! What more could any mother ask for?? To think, there were years upon years that Skip and I prayed for children, noise, fun, love, chaos, hugs, kisses, "mommy" and "daddy" sounds, "I love you's", etc.............prayed and prayed. God does answer prayers, doesn't he??!! Thanksgiving prayer heading up to Heaven as I type! Thank you God for my life, my husband, my beautiful, healthy children, and every other blessing bestowed upon me. I love you Skip, I love you Emerald, I love you Calvin, I love you Zachary!!! It is funny how a mother can love so many, and all in unique ways. Before I was a mother, I wondered how I could love someone as much as I loved Skip--I knew I could, I just didn't understand it. Then, after Emerald came along, I wondered how I could love more than one child. How does a heart grow big enough to love so much?? It is possible, and I do love each of my children, I love them all so very much! I love them equally, the same, and different. It doesn't make sense writing it, but feeling it, oh, it makes perfect sense. I can't imagine my life any other way than how it is right now. And for those silly, silly people who don't know me and ask anyway--yes, you do love your children the same, adopted or not! My love is so strong for my children. There are times when I don't feel as if I brag about them enough. Right now, I am bragging my heart out because I have the best job of anyone on the planet--I am wife to Skip, and mother to 3 amazingly beautiful individuals. Thank you God for answering our prayers!!

Sending hugs and love to both of the moms in our life, and the wonderful grandmothers of my children. We wouldn't be who we are without the love and support from you both. I also send out all my love to all the mommies out there wishing you a Happy Mother's Day! May you feel as blessed as I do! There are several mommies in our lives celebrating their first Mother's day. The fun is just beginning.....enjoy!

PS, thanks M ;)

The ball pit

You have to know the ball pit was a favorite. Calvin was scared to go in at first, then followed big sis and had a great time. They had a good setup. The kids put the balls into the "target" and the ball went up, into a tube, and into a ball cleaner, then came out the tube into the opposite side of the pit. At least you felt a little good about the balls getting cleaned at some point. I didn't get pictures of another favorite area, the pretend area. They had a grocery store, bank, kitchen, pizza parlor, and dress-up area. The older 2 stayed in this area the longest and had so much fun pretending to pass out money, ring up purchases in the store, dressing up, etc. I am so glad we decided to go to Paradise Park and look forward to taking the kids back at some point in the future.

More outside fun

Even though it was a little chilly outside the kids loved the outside play space.

Cooking & outside fun

They have a fun dinosaur dig area in the sand. We opted out of that, b/c it was wet. We also went to story time, then they got to do a craft project and went to cooking class where they made a bird's nest with sticks, chocolate, and jelly beans.

Face painting

At Paradise Park they had face painting. It is a little area where the kids are supposed to paint their own faces. This area was a hit, as well. It was kind of funny how they just sat down, no direction at all, and went to town painting up their faces like they'd been doing it all their lives.

Fun at Paradise Park

The kids enjoyed "fishing". They had magnetic fish and the kids tried their hardest to catch as many fish as possible.


The water tables captivated the 2 year olds! Emerald and Keegan had fun, too, but Gavin and Calvin played for an hour with the toys in the water.

While the Lindsay boys were here we took the 5 kids to a fantastic kid-friendly place in Lee's Summit called Paradise Park. It has several rooms in the building for playtime fun. We were probably there for 6 hours and the kids had a blast! More pictures to follow.

A full van

Yes, we fit 5 children, 2 adults, and 2 strollers in our van. Guess it's a good thing we got the van :) Luckily, Keegan is old enough to ride in a booster seat--not sure we could actually have fit 5 car seats in the van.

Gavin is such a happy little boy--most of the time anyway. Just don't change his clothes.

Keegan thought he was pretty big to be the only one using an adult seat belt.

Emerald, the princess among all those boys.

Calvin showing off his cheesy grin. He was excited to have someone riding with him in the back. Since Zachary joined us in the van, Calvin has been a big boy riding in the far back all by himself.

Zachary, as usual, was a good boy in the car. He spends most car trips like this--asleep.

And to think that when we were kids we didn't even ride in car seats. It is not an easy challenge trying to fit 5 children age 5 (well, he's almost 5, in 2 weeks) and under into a vehicle. Those darn car seats take up much more room than their tiny little bums. We only had a few issues with the "my space/your space" concept. Keegan was trying to train my kids that they should keep their hands to themselves. I wish we'd gotten a picture of them all when all 5 were asleep in the van--too sweet.