Blessing Joel

Every time I think back onto the day that we blessed Lilly, it brings tears to my eyes. Seeing all of the men of the family, circled around our new baby, giving her a blessing and a name, it was so powerful. Today we got to witness another powerful blessing. Baby Joel was blessed today, and it was so nice to be there. I got to hold him for some of Sacrament meeting, and it was such fun to hold such a tiny baby again. 

After the blessing, the gang headed back to Erin and Drew's house for some refreshments and socializing. I was asked to bring some fruit. As always, I couldn't just cut up a bunch of fruit and put it in a bowl, I had to try and be creative. I had initially intended to do my rendition of an Edible Arrangement, but, well, as you'll see, it didn't go as planned. Let me just say, there was a TON of fruit at this party. I think Erin and Drew will be eating fruit for every meal for the next little while.... Lilly loved getting to play with Chester. I can't wait until we get a dog, because she really does love them. She's not used to pets allowing her to touch them. She also enjoyed getting to "play" with her cousin Emma (I think they're second cousins ??). At church, they were so excited to sit next to each other (in their matching outfits!), but when we got them home, Lilly just wanted to demonstrate how to crawl and push around furniture. Hopefully Emma picked up some useful tips. 

It's always my favorite when we can get all of the family and extended family together for events like this. Especially now that we all have babies so close in age. 

After giving up on the Edible Arrangement idea, I just went for a baby theme. What's not pictured are the chocolate covered strawberries on sticks, and chocolate covered pineapple flowers on sticks. I stuck them into the watermelon once we got to Erin's house.

What you can't see is that the daddies were all crouched around the chair, stopping the babies from poking eachother's eyes out or pushing Joel off the chair. Lilly especially loved pushing Joel forward, while Emma liked grabbing his head. Poor Joel, you're gonna get picked on by your cousins, I'm sure.

Once she figured out that the chair would scoot along the wood floor, we couldn't get her to stop. She looked adorable pushing it around. 

She sure does love her grandma, especially when she shares her food. We found out that Lilly loves strawberries and pineapple, but doesn't like apples or tomatoes.