So Blessed!

This weekend was a busy weekend. We drove out to Austin for a birthday party AND baby blessing! Our niece Juliana (my sister Melinda's oldest daughter) turned two and her new baby Krystyna was blessed today. Even though it went by super fast, it was fun to see all of the cousins together. I was so proud of the kids. They held up suprisingly and considering that they usually don't sleep well away from home, I'm happy to say that they slept for almost ten hours last night. The one "snafu" was that the air conditioner in our hotel room kept flipping over to "heat" for some reason (I woke up sweating at 3 a.m. to find that it was almost 80 degrees!). At least I got the room for half the price!

Here are some pictures of the "highlights":

Juliana with her birthday cake: she is really in to Elmo right now and was so excited to have an Elmo cake!

Emily loves birthday parties and she was so excited to get to go to Juliana's birthday party, but she was also very excited to get to see and hold Krystyna. She has been talking about it for weeks now. Before we left on Saturday night, she said, "Aunt Melinda, you have a beautiful baby!"

Aunt Jamie with baby Krystyna!

Uncle Reed with baby Krystyna. He's great with all of the Jacob and all of the nieces, but doesn't really "do" diapers yet. His time will come! :)

Opening the birthday presents!

Proud Grandma!

Proud Mom: Melinda holding baby Krystyna

Double the trouble: Jacob and Juliana are exactly six months apart. I thought this picture of the two of them together was so cute! When I was done taking the picture, I asked Juliana if she wanted to get down and she said, "No." They just kept sitting there like this. This was the first time the two of them have been together in several months and it was fun to see them actually interacting. It will be fun to watch the two of them grow up together!

The four cousins! Here's a picture of the four cousins together: Jacob and Juliana in the chair and Emily and Krystyna on the floor.

The lady of the hour - little Krystyna. She was just so precious and everyone fought for a chance to hold her. It was a strange experience for me. I'm used to big babies and I'm not sure I've ever held one that small (if I have, it's been awhile). She was so easygoing, though, and didn't fuss very much at all even though she didn't get to sleep much and everyone kept passing her around. We can't wait to get to know her better!

The Happy Family: Phil, Melinda, Juliana, and Krystyna - what a great family picture!

The proud grandparents! At this point, the kids were all starting to melt down. We were glad we got them to all sit still long enough for one more picture!