Amelia's baby blessing

Before I share some more Thanksgiving weekend fun, I wanted to share a few pictures from the end of November. We have some lovely trees that offer shade around our house. Of course, that also means a lot of leaves. Once the leaves were mostly all off the trees, we took advantage of a beautiful Saturday to rake and bag them up. Chris did most of the raking with Claire and Maddie's help, and we all worked together to bag them up. Claire was a huge help, and it would have taken a lot longer without her. It was dark by the time we finished, so that help made a big difference. Here are a few shots before we started bagging. The girls LOVE to be outside with daddy. :)

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we took some family pictures to use for our Christmas cards for the year. Here are some of my favorite shots!

This was before we left the house for church. She couldn't be cuter!

Thanksgiving weekend was a busy one! As I shared last time, we had a great Thanksgiving with my parents. We also often try to get our Christmas tree that weekend, and especially after not being able to have a real tree in Korea, we were ready to decorate! Saturday, we went with my parents to find our Christmas tree. Much of the day was spent finding it, setting it up, and decorating. Chris worked on the outdoor decorations which arrangement he had been thinking about for months! After the tree was set up and my dad helped me put on the lights, Claire and I decorated while my mom did the important job of holding sweet Amelia. :)

It was so nice having a helper to decorate, and I was so excited to have my decorations back as we didn't have them last year in Korea!

We got the tree decorated just in time for my sister and her family to arrive! You see, not only was it the weekend for Thanksgiving and Christmas decorating, it was also the weekend we decided to have Amelia blessed in church as more family could attend. Wendy and Dan were on their way home from spending Thanksgiving with his family in West Virginia, so they stayed the night with us. While the visit was sadly brief, the cousins had an awesome time together while it lasted.

Megan and Evan playing the piano

Claire pulling Jason in the wagon. I love his cheesy grin.

Wendy with sleepy Amelia

On Sunday, Chris gave a beautiful blessing to Amelia with her Papa and Uncle Dan as well as some church friends joining in the circle, and Chris's parents also in attendance. The occasion was a great photo opportunity as well as a chance to try out Chris's new DSLR camera. 

Dan, Evan, Jason, Wendy, Dad, Mom, Mom Naugle, Dad Naugle, Jocelyn, Megan, Claire, me, Amelia, Chris, Maddie

Our family with our awesome parents.

Our little family.

Amelia's special day

 I may have shared this story before, but this dress is actually my grandfather's Christening dress. He was born in 1903 which makes this dress about 110 years old! My mom found it quite a few years back, and little baby girls in my family have been blessed in it ever since. The lace and material are so beautiful and delicate, and I love the significance and family connection with this dress. Claire and Maddie were also blessed in this dress. I am always so scared a baby will have a big spit up or blow out in this dress, that I change them into it after we get to church, have them wear it for the hour meeting and pictures, and then change their clothes. We are too afraid to try washing the delicate material. Anyway, the pictures don't quite do it justice, but see how pretty it is? (Amelia looks pretty in it too. :))

It was an awesome weekend spent with family with so much to be grateful for. I feel richly blessed.