Little White Suit

Last Sunday was Carson's blessing. We had oodles of family come into town to show their love. The fun began Friday night when the Cox Family arrived to spend a couple days with us. Poor Kaelynn is the only granddaughter on that side. The good part about that is, she got a lot of baby holding time...

while the boys were off swinging golf clubs, stabbing each other with swords and playing video games. Boys. Gotta love 'em.

Okay, so Kaelynn did join in on the video games. Way to represent, Kaelynn!

Carson is getting more social and more fat rolls and more adorable every day. It seemed like he had about twelve growth spurts in the last week. It's a miracle he fit into his blessing outfit.

Mary is the baby charmer. She could get Carson to sleep in no time! I don't know how she does it.

On Saturday we were feeling cooped up in the house so we lugged the kids over to a park to release a little bit of their energy.

My brother Abe always makes fun of Eli's "jump" from this video I posted a while ago. I recently informed Abe that Eli's little feet have finally managed to get off the ground when he jumps. See, check out this air:

It was very windy, so Eli was taking cover under a slide when he found this little gem. It looked like an exact replica of the doll from Toy Story that Sid deforms. Eli loved it. Also keep in mind, Eli had been hitting his cousin Coleman for the past two days, but he was gently patting this baby on the back, hugging and kissing it. Eli will forever be a mystery to me.

In no time it was Sunday morning and I was frantically pacing the house to make sure everything was in order for the big blessing day. The last order of business before going to church -- getting the little mister in his white garb.

My pacing included setting the chairs up in semi-circles and making the men tilt the trampoline against our house. I was made fun of for both of these decisions.

I was not made fun of for serving one our family's most favorite meals these days -- BBQ Pork Cilantro Salad. Y-U-M!

And we all made fun of ourselves for eating dessert first, but when Nani busted out her famous tuxedo brownies, we couldn't help ourselves.

We took our coffee table outside to open up our living room a little bit and to encourage the kids to eat outside. It was an excellent decision. And look at the cute picture it provided:

My friends Melissa and Kenz came with delicious desserts. Carson spit up right before this picture and I think the sight of that was enough to make them not want kids for a while. It's not as gross when it's your own, I promise!

We were able to sneak away so we could snap our first real family picture. I love Jeff and Eli in this one:

To my surprise we got a somewhat decent one. Props to Kenz for mentioning Elmo so Eli would look at the camera!

The women in Carson's life.

After many people telling me how awkward my semi-circles were, my guests took the liberty to rearrange the chairs. Note to self: arrange in one big circle next time.

Three generations of Davids. One David in particular being a little bit of a goofball. I'll let you decide which one.

Eli couldn't pass up the Kodak moment.

Jeff gave a beautiful blessing. Carson cried through the whole thing but weirdly no one except the men in the circle heard him crying.

It was only appropriate for my mothering coach to attend Carson's blessing. Whenever I have a child rearing question, I text or call my sister no matter what hour of the day it is. She's very well read and well trained on the topic.

My sweet Grandma came. She assured me it was a good party because, "Everyone was quiet when they ate their food which means the food was good, and everyone lingered which means they had a good time." Words of wisdom and a very kind compliment.

Grandma and Grandpa Thomas with their ninth grandchild.

Celeste, Bryan, Laura and Mary.

My mom claims Eli get his mischievousness from me, but I think David and Mary are right when they say Eli gets it from Jeff.

Carson's Great Grandma and Grandpa Ward:

Jacob and Laurie. Jacob made us reschedule the blessing just for him. He's lucky he's worth it.

It was a fun day to celebrate our darling little boy. We're grateful he's a part of our family and we're glad so many people were able to come see him be blessed.