Westley's first Easter

As we've done with all major holidays, we had multiple celebrations for Westley's first Easter.

We spent some time at my parents' house, where Westley and cousin Kaden played in matching pajamas from my mom:

The night before, Brian and I colored eggs (without Westley's help this first time around).

On Easter morning, we arrived to church too late for Westley to participate in the egg hunt. (Seriously, people! The thing lasted about 45 seconds! Note taken for Easter 2012.) A friend dropped a plastic egg in Westley's little basket, and he seemed awfully pleased. And it sure was a beautiful morning.

New birth

At church Sunday, the sermon was focused on the concept of new birth. The pastor talked about Nicodemus, spiritual birth and infant birth. We had the honor of having some of our items, including two photos of our beautiful Westley James, as part of an altar vignette:

The photo at far left is from his first photo shoot in the hospital. The photo on the right is one of my sonogram photos taken midway through my pregnancy. There's also the baby Bible we bring to church with us most weeks for him to look at during the service, a Tiger rattle from his Classic Pooh-themed nursery and a pair of green and yellow crocheted booties, which my maternal grandfather's sister made and gave to my mom when I was born. The blue baby blanket is one of his treasures, too.

As with many services, we spent part of that one in the cry room. It's a peaceful space and a place we can worship together as a family without worrying about interrupting the peace in the sanctuary:

Keeping tabs

I love volunteering, especially when helping others is a no-brainer.

That's how I feel about the aluminum can tabs that the local Ronald McDonald House collects and recycles. The money goes toward the organization's general fund, which, among other things, pays for lodging when guests with sick kiddos cannot. That's what I call trash to treasure! If you have tabs, I'd be happy to take them off your hands. (It's called being a "McHelper.") Or click here to learn more about the mission.


Volunteers at the house tell me that home baked cookies are the guests' favorite. So I baked these up to take in with the tabs:


I'm conspiring with our church's youth group director to challenge the tweens and teens to collect tabs, too. Two more no-brainers: teens and pop!

Why I love our Advent candles

I lit our Advent candles tonight and am admiring their pine-needle fragrance. Brian and I special ordered them years ago from our favorite candle shop, Waxman Candles in Lawrence. It's also where we bought the unity candle for our wedding and many, many others. I don't really want to pack Christmas away yet. I'm glad Epiphany isn't until Thursday.

I love the funny story behind these candles. We had looked and looked for pretty, fragrant Advent candles and couldn't find what we wanted. So my dear, sweet hubby called Waxman and asked if they could make us pine needle-scented candles in the colors of the traditional Advent candles (three purple, one pink and one white). The employee who took his call said they had just filled an order like that from a local church. Would we like them to make the same for us? Sure, Brian said. Sounds great. We were so excited to get them in the mail ... and then were shocked when we did. We love them, but the candles are huge! Larger, in fact, than the ones at our church. The white Christ candle, the tallest, stands a foot tall even after years of burning it.

This story is one of many that make our Christmases ours. I cherish those inside jokes and unique memories.

Our night before Christmas

Westley and Aunt Lynn looked awfully cute together when we met up at Grandma's for the traditional beef-vegetable soup on Christmas Eve.

We stopped by for dinner before attending the 11 p.m. candlelight service at Aldersgate.


Brian read Westley the copy of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" that his grandfather had read to him. We have a great framed snapshot of Grandpa reading the same book to a little Brian years ago. I want to frame the above one, too, and display them together. We also now have our own special version of the book: a 1938 copy Brian bought on eBay this Christmas. There's something exciting about starting new traditions, and this is a Christmas Eve one we intend to observe.

Speaking of Christmas Eve and books, I surprised Brian and Westley with a board book for West: "What is Christmas?" by Michelle Medlock Adams. Westley loves to look at books while we're at church. (Bonus: It helps to keep him quiet!) Brian surprised us with a "Milk for Santa" cup that is from a local potter. We left it and homemade sugar cookies out for Santa.

The candlelight service was beautiful, and likely my favorite part of Westley's first Christmas. He stole the show a little bit (and was even photographed by a friend as Brian carried him, sleeping in his arms, when he went up to receive communion).

A Nativity story

Westley loves his Nativity set, an early Christmas gift from Grandma B.


I had asked Santa for that toy and look forward to playing with it together as he grows up so we can talk about what Christmas is all about.

Advent candles

Brian, Westley and I had the honor of lighting the Love Advent candle at Aldersgate on Sunday.

This was part of the reading:

"As Mary held Jesus close to her heart and felt the warmth of the newborn babe, so today, may we hold you close in our hearts as we open ourselves in love to you."

Beautiful.

On a lighter note, Westley was mesmerized by the Pointsettas that are already decorating the church.


I'm looking forward to Westley's first Christmas Eve service tomorrow. If you're in Wichita and are looking for a place to attend church tomorrow, our church offers lots of services.

A song in my heart

On Sunday, I was part of a trio with friends Nicole and Ann. We sang BarlowGirl's gorgeous song "Hallelujah, Light has Come" during all three services at Aldersgate. The lyrics are so meaningful to me this year:

"Hallelujah, we've been found
A child is born to save us now"

It was also a special Sunday because Westley had his first time in the nursery and attending children's time during the service. Pastor Kim talked about how the joy in our hearts at Christmas is like a bell ringing. If we let too many things weigh us down, our hearts can't sing with God's love. What a fabulous lesson.

Brian's parents and grandma joined us for the last service, and I snapped a few photos for them:



We decided to go to lunch together, and I suggested that Great-Grandma pick the place, considering she probably eats out less often than the rest of us. Janice suggested a couple of places, including Egg Crate Cafe. Grandma's eyes lit up. "Do they have waffles?" she asked. And our lunch plans were hatched. Fun morning.

Here is the church, here is the steeple

I've always been captivated by church steeples, for their architecture as much as for their spiritual symbolism. Here are three in Wichita from different faiths that I photographed late one recent afternoon. The pretty sunlight, clouds and sky color made for some dramatic sights:

East Heights United Methodist Church, where Brian and I were married nine years ago.

Church of Scientology

University Congregational Church

Trunk-or-treat!

On Sunday, Aldersgate hosted its annual "trunk-or-treat" event, where families were invited to trick-or-treat from decorated car to car. The youth group competed against each other with themed booths (Mario Cart, concession stand, tailgate and "Back to the Future").

Westley's costume, which I ordered nearly two weeks ago online, hasn't arrived yet. (Fingers crossed that it makes it here on time.) So Plan B for Sunday's event was a snuggly fuzzy bear winter suit with a hood and bear ears. But it was 77 degrees when we left for the party, so that went out the door, too. Plan C worked out pretty well, though: I dressed him in a matching spider long-sleeved onesie, pants, socks and bib that I scored at my favorite local consignment store (Hannah Banana) for only $7.

The candy-givers were very kind and offered Westley sweets. We declined and said they should keep it for someone with teeth. A friend who is a professional lactation consultant must have been on to something when she handed me a snack-sized treat and asked Westley if he was going to have chocolate milk that night. Ha!

In the newest installment of photos of Westley and his girlfriends, I bring you this:

(You know what they say happens if you kiss enough frogs ... )

Brian and I decided not to dress in full costume, but our Chiefs and Saints clothing made us fit in really well by the tailgate area:


Interesting side note: The Chiefs, who typically stink, have the same season record right now as the Saints, the 2010 Super Bowl Champs. On Sunday afternoon, KC won and the Saints lost. It is a very unexpected football season, but a fun one nonetheless.

Tiny twinkies

OK. It's been awhile since I've posted a "We Didn't Plan This" photo of people who unintentionally dressed alike. But this is the perfect reason to reprise my blog feature:


At church this morning, we cracked up when we noticed that the little boy getting baptized today had on the exact same outfit as Westley, right down to the adorable zippered sweater vest.

I love how West is looking at the little guy in this photo. I wonder what he was thinking. Ha!

Good dogs!

If Dakota and Lilly seem extra good lately*, it's because they went to Aldersgate's Blessing of the Animals late last month. When Pastor Kim blessed them and asked if they had any special needs, we said we hope that they learn their new place in our growing family. Yes, they've been displaced a little by a new little person. But they're just as special to our household as they've always been.

* They're really not extra good lately. They're the same silly, sweet, somewhat disobedient dogs they always are. Now they're just a little extra attention-starved. Just wait, pups. You'll have a new best friend in no time.

Mudbuggin'!

Last Sunday, Brian, Westley and I went to Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Riverside to hear our favorite cajun band, the Mudbugs. It was a gorgeous afternoon (too hot for September, though). We ate cookies (to help the church raise money for its youth group!) and chatted with friends.

The baby:


The band:


The boys:


Katie and her baby Lillian were there. I think that made Westley very, very happy. Here the babies are reaping the adoration of the mommies:


And here's Westley, well, being a boy, I guess. I thought he would be older than four months before I caught him peeking down a girl's dress! Brian said he was equally appalled and proud of our son's advances. Westley James ...

(Fabulous photo by Katie Grover)

Westley's baptism

On Sunday, Aug. 29, Westley was baptized. It was a wonderful and emotional day. I was reminded of the great responsibility Brian and I have to instill good values and beliefs into our son's life.

Our little lamb wore a white Onesie with a cross embroidered on the front, white corduroy pants and white sheep booties that say on the soles:

'"The LORD is my shepherd ..." Psalm 23


Westley had been in a wonderful mood that morning. Brian and I told him that he could be a holy terror every hour of that day except for 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. He seemed to be agreeable to the idea and started dozing off right before the baptism. I think his sleepy state made the sprinkle of water a surprise, and he started to cry:


Pastors Butch and Kim quickly soothed him, and our little boy was a very talkative little angel for the remainder of the service. (It seemed, in fact, that he thought his new place in the church granted him access to help Butch with his sermon. Westley babbled all the way through it.)




Eric, my brother-in-law, and Amanda, my sister, stood up for Westley as his Godparents.

Brian surprised me with flowers for the altar and a beautiful corsage to wear that morning. Earlier in the week, we had looked through some baby pictures of mine. Brian, handing me the corsage when we were just about ready to head to the church, told me that he and Westley had noticed that Gigi (my mom) had a corsage to wear for my baptism and thought it was only fitting that I have one, too. It was a special token because my baptism had been Mom's first corsage.

Mom also crocheted the beautiful white blanket that we made part of the day:


We were blessed to be surrounded by friends and family from three states. They attended the service and ceremony and a luncheon afterward. The group included four generations of Brian's family and three generations of mine.



My sister Jen made a beautiful checkerboard cake for the event. It was part of a delicious spread that included homemade chicken salad, Caprese and fruit salads and more.



We drove home from the event with full hearts and tummies and our souls full of grace.

Go, Screwballs!

Westley and I spent several Thursday evenings this summer cheering for Brian and his church softball team, the Screwballs. This week was the last game of the season, and the team came in No. 2 overall. Woo hoo! I loved getting to see Brian play, but the weekly outing also offered a chance for me to catch up with friends and show off little West. Click to view a blog post I wrote in May at the beginning of the season before Westley was born.

I love the photo above, which shows Brian batting in the background. A few others:



My mother-in-law Janice, Westley and me