Tristan's Christening

I wanted to make sure I had an entry about my new nephew, Tristan's Christening. Chandra and Adam had a beautiful ceremony to dedicate their son to Christ. Tristan's God parents also stood to promise to guide and direct Tristan in the ways of the Lord. It was so touching to all share the occasion with family and friends. Namama and Bill, Buddy and Natalie, Mom, Dad, JB and Ian and I were all there to celebrate as well as most of Chandra's family. The baptismal gown that Tristan wore has actually been in the family for over 5 generations.

It was about a year ago that Chandra planned Noah's christening so it was neat to have Tristan's ceremony in the same chapel were Noah was christened. Afterward, Chandra and Adam had a reception at a beautiful winery about 15 minutes outside of Salado. I wanted to share some pictures Ian and I took of the event. We are so blessed by our family and are so excited to have Tristan as our newest nephew and cousin to our boys!

These pictures are not in any particular order so bare with me...

MiMi and Noah and Elijah on their way into the reception hall

Adam and Noah having cake

Ian and I on the vineyard grounds

In the back of the winery where the reception was held. This is a view of the vineyard.

Adam and Namama

Ian and Joaquin

Namama and Noah at the reception

Mother and son

Noah stood up on the podium after the ceremony and it was so stinking cute. Looked like he had something he wanted to preach! :)

MiMi and baby Tristan

Adam and me at the church

Papaw and Joaquin (we were trying to keep him quiet with a passy... wasn't all that effective)

Natalie and Elijah playing "push the nose button" :)

Noah, Adam and Elijah

Daddy giving little Tristan kisses with Chandra in the church doorway

Dad, JB, Mom, Tristan, Namama, Bill, Chandra, Noah, and Adam after the ceremony

Chandra, her Dad Karl, Adam, Godparents Deborah and Bob, and Chandra's aunt Vicki

The Godparents and pastor with Tristan and Adam and Chandra

Sprinkle baptism with Godparents, Bob and Deborah Shafer

Tristan's dedication

The beautiful Church in Salado where both Noah and Tristan were christened

Noah's Birthday

Last weekend the family went up to Belton for cousin Noah's 2nd Birthday. It was wonderful to see so many of our family members there and the boys had a blast. As always, Chandra and Adam went above and beyond with the party. I tell Chandra all the time that she should start an event planning business because she is so good with all the parties and get-togethers she plans. Adam was also an amazing host and whipped up some to die for goodies on the grill!

One of the highlights for the kiddos was the blow up water slide jumpy house thing they had in the back yard. Well, maybe I should rephrase and say that it wasn't really a highlight for Elijah...maybe more like a low light. He was terrified of the bouncy house and screamed the entire time we tried to get him used to it. But, Ian and Joaquin had a great time in it. Truthfully, by the end it was mostly just Adam, Ian, Natalie, MiMi, Noah and Joaquin that did the sliding, but it was hilarious to watch! Adam and Ian were trying to get the most "air" at the bottom of the slide and Noah was braving it on his own! I think the big boys had more fun than anyone else.

Chandra's family was in town for Tristan's Christening (more on that in the next blog post) and so it was wonderful to spend time with all of them too! There was also a big crew from my mom's side of the family; Namama, Bill, Buddy and Natalie all came in for the weekend. The boys soaked up every minute they could with the family and we had a blast. Here are some pictures from the day:

And Joaquin is off!

The bounce house slip and slide

Namama, MiMi and Tristan

cool dude Joaquin

precious...all babies love Grandaddy Bill. Seriously, he has some natural calm to him and this is what happens when he holds them for a bit! My kids did the same thing; just knocked out asleep when Bill would hold them!

I have never seen Elijah eat more cake than he did at Noah's party. I swear, he is turning into his gampa. Gampa is the only person I have ever seen eat more cake and ice cream than Elijah did that day! Some serious sweet tooth in those genes!

Ian and Joaquin playing with the balloons...

It took them a couple hours to get this thing put together! They had to go at it a couple different times. Noah would think it was done and hop in and then a wheel would fall off or something and the guys would be at it again! It was hilarious!

Birthday boy

He had his own little cake to eat separate from the big one everyone else was served from. He was showing me the big "2" shaped icing he was about to eat...

Elijah blowing his party favor

Joaquin and is favorite "globo"

It was a train theme

Noah, mommy and daddy blowing out his cute train cake

The birthday boy!!

One thing I love about summer...

Is baby boys playing in the sprinkler in the backyard! Making sweet memories of fun summer days. (Cutie booties!)

Joaquin's 1st Birthday Party!

This past Memorial Day weekend we celebrated Joaquin's first birthday. We decided to have it at our house this time so the boys could get in a good nap beforehand and we were so glad we did! It was fun decorating and opening our home to family and friends!

Joaquin loved being the center of attention and he is quite the social bug! He had fun playing with all the other kiddos and of course eating every bite of his birthday cake! We had 3 types of fondue to dip into, hot dogs, margaritas, sock puppets, and water balloons! Mommy made carrot cake with cream cheese icing because it is one of her favorites and Joaquin seemed to have the same taste buds as mommy!

Uncle Stu flew in from California for the weekend and it was so great to have him at the party, not to mention he was AMAZING at cleaning up! He was also the resident photographer for the event! All the pics you see where taken by him! Thanks again Stu! We also went into Austin for some fancy pancakes at the Magnolia Cafe and hunted around in Uncommon Objects for half the day on Sunday! Before Uncle Stu had to go home we all took a trip to our pool. The boys didn't stop smiling and laughing until they dropped Stu at the airport.

Overall, we had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and first birthday for Joaquin! Here are some pics of the weekend:

swimming in the baby pool

all the guys ready to head into the water

cutie pie in his new floaties

out and about in Austin

Joaquin's cake

The sweet birthday boy!

Daddy tickling Elijah

somebody is pooped out from all the partying

Noah and Elijah playing hide and seek under the pillows

Cool dude in Uncle Stu's glasses

I'm not sure how this happened but someone put Joaquin in a gift bag when we were opening presents.

My precious boys

Gamma and Gampa sent some of Ian's old Lego's for the boys to play with and Joaquin decided the Lego boat looked more like a phone than a boat. He carried it around like this throughout the day.

The youngest little party-goer...Tristan

Bennett was having a blast in the walker

Uncle Adam was handing out water balloons in the back yard. The big kids had a blast with that!

Big brother Jackson loved pushing his little bro around in the walker. I don't think Bennett was as amused by it as Jackson was! :)

All the Crosby boys!

Opening presents

wow that is a cool one!

Joaquin got a bit jealous and wanted a ride

Jackson turned that walker into a six flags ride and everyone wanted in on the action!

I think the packaging on some of the gifts was Joaquin's favorite thing.

Joaquin and Elijah got matching little pen-stripped summer suits from MiMi and Papaw!

Joaquin loves hats and as soon as he spotted cousin Noah's cap, he had to put it on!

OK, this picture has no relation what so ever to this weekend, but it was on the camera card when I downloaded the images and I thought it was freaking hilarious! Look at Elijah's hair! He seriously has perfect 80's hair-band hair! When I see pictures like this I wonder what in the heck took us so long to cut it!