Kathryn's Baptism

We were definitely not lacking anything to celebrate last weekend. In addition to 3G's party, Kathryn was baptized on Sunday.

Nathan was mad and didn't like his outfit. He actually doesn't like wearing anything that's not pajamas.

Daddy and Kathryn. She was the 12th one to wear that gown on Steve's side of the family.
Us with Pastor Constien.
Pastor Constien and Kathryn.
Kathryn got some bling from Paw-Paw and Lady for her baptism. Check out her diamond cross necklace. She can thank her Great Aunt Ruth for putting that idea in Lady's head.Kathryn was so excited when she received the gift.Oma and Opa even made a trip down for her baptism.
And they got to experience some severe Georgia weather.Paw-Paw and Lady with Nate and Kate.
The birthday girl with the baptized girl.
As soon as Nathan got to church he took his jacket and shoes off and untucked his shirt.
Holding babies looks like it comes so natural for Uncle Joe. (He was a little nervous about standing up while holding Kathryn.)
After church, everyone gathered at Paw-Paw and Lady's house for lunch. This is how Baby Sister celebrated.
I'm pretty sure Emma enjoyed her cupcake.
I just wanted to slip a picture of Mace in somewhere.
Nathan showed Opa all of Paw-Paw's bobbles. I'm sure he was very impressed.Emma and Nathan had fun playing together. They weren't so sure about each other the day before. All it took was some play food to bring them together.

Then Nathan moved on to flipping the switch and turning the lights and fans on and off on the back porch. That's one of his daily activities at Paw-Paw and Lady's house that he's not allowed to do at home.
Little did we know that as the water was flowing over Kathryn's head during her baptism, it was also flowing all over our entire house in Rapid City. When Steve got home Sunday night he walked up the front porch to find water pouring out from under the front door. A pipe froze and burst while we were gone. If that's not a great welcome home, I don't know what is. Just another reason why living in cold weather regions sucks really, really bad.

90th Birthday Surprise

Our initial reason for visiting Georgia was to attend Great Grandma Gerken's (3G) 90th birthday party. Joe and Lexi and Steve and I decided it would be fun to surprise her with our visit. She was sort of surprised even after all of Lady's slip-ups over the past couple of weeks. Lady made a few remarks regarding our visit, but she didn't think Grandma would be able to piece everything together. Well, she did. She's not your typical 90 year old. She might not have been super surprised, but she was really happy to get to meet her third great grandchild, though. Right now, I think all three great grandchildren are in pretty good positions with Great Grandma Gerken for now. Emma is the oldest, Kathryn is the youngest and Nathan is the only boy. Nathan is lucky he's not a girl or else he would just be the middle grandchild. Not a good place to be. Take my word for it!

Here we are hiding out in the bathroom before we thought we were going to go out and surprise 3G.
Nathan and Uncle Joe doing what they do best.

Nathan chowed down on a cupcake.
Then washed the cupcake down with at least three cups of punch. He loved it.
Steve was lucky that cupcake and punch didn't come back up.
Me and my babies.
Paw-Paw and his only two grandchildren, for now.
Cousin Emma held Kathryn and even gave her a sweet kiss on the head.
Then Nathan gave Emma a hug (against her wishes) before she left.

90th Birthday Surprise

Our initial reason for visiting Georgia was to attend Great Grandma Gerken's (3G) 90th birthday party. Joe and Lexi and Steve and I decided it would be fun to surprise her with our visit. She was sort of surprised even after all of Lady's slip-ups over the past couple of weeks. Lady made a few remarks regarding our visit, but she didn't think Grandma would be able to piece everything together. Well, she did. She's not your typical 90 year old. She might not have been super surprised, but she was really happy to get to meet her third great grandchild, though. Right now, I think all three great grandchildren are in pretty good positions with Great Grandma Gerken for now. Emma is the oldest, Kathryn is the youngest and Nathan is the only boy. Nathan is lucky he's not a girl or else he would just be the middle grandchild. Not a good place to be. Take my word for it!

Here we are hiding out in the bathroom before we thought we were going to go out and surprise 3G.
Nathan and Uncle Joe doing what they do best.

Nathan chowed down on a cupcake.
Then washed the cupcake down with at least three cups of punch. He loved it.
Steve was lucky that cupcake and punch didn't come back up.
Me and my babies.
Paw-Paw and his only two grandchildren, for now.
Cousin Emma held Kathryn and even gave her a sweet kiss on the head.
Then Nathan gave Emma a hug (against her wishes) before she left.

Dysfunctional Family Pictures

We tried to get an updated family picture to include Baby Sister. It was every bit as miserable as I expected it to be. Nathan has something against having his picture taken professionally. His bad attitude started when he had to stop playing with the Lego table in the lobby. Nothing went well after that.

Here he is showing his fake crying face.
This was the best one we could get.
Kathryn was all smiles that day, unfortunately.
Now we have waaaaaayyyyyyy more pictures of her than we need.
When Baby Sister was getting some solo shots taken, Nathan saw the photographer rearranging her on the pillow. He took off running towards her and grabbed Baby Sister's leg and yelled at the photographer, "Don't touch Baby Sister! Leave her alone!" He's not over protective at all.
This is my favorite.
Baby Sister loved the feathers.
Nathan wouldn't cooperate for a picture of him with Baby Sister. He wouldn't do a picture by himself either. Finally, I just held him and they cropped me out of the picture.
Then we took a break and Nathan began playing with the football. The photographer stood in the lobby (so that Nathan wouldn't see her and get mad) and took some pictures.