Last weekend, our families made the long trek to Pittsburgh to spend time with us as we prepared for Evangeline’s baptism. My parents arrived in the early afternoon on Saturday to help with some of the last-minute clean-up around the house since we were having a cookout and campfire to celebrate that evening. Joel’s parents and Kelley, Matt, and Lincoln arrived in the later afternoon, and Seth and Kirsten joined us later that evening.

While I neglected to take any photos of the actual event (silly me—apparently, I was busy with other things…), I did take a few photos of the cupcakes I made and decorated for the party. I think they turned out pretty cute for an amateur baker!

On Sunday at the 11:15 am service, Evie was baptized by our pastor and friend, Kevin Labby. She “talked” through a lot of the beginning parts, which you’ll see in the video below. This was my favorite “in action” shot of Evie from during the baptism ceremony.

So cute! Ha!

Joel put together a slideshow of photos for the service, which every infant that is baptized in our church gets. I think he did a beautiful job! The song is Masterpiece by Sandi Patty, a favorite of mine from when I was a little girl. I remember my mom singing it to me and my sisters along with our cassette tape.

Evangeline’s Baptism (2011 10 23) from Laure Kline on Vimeo.

Here are the lyrics (courtesy of ap0s7le.com):

Before you had a name or opened up your eyes
Or anyone could recognize your face.
You were being formed so delicate in size
Secluded in God’s safe and hidden place.

And I’m so proud of you
What else is there to say?
Just be the masterpiece He created you to be.

Source

On Sunday afternoon, we headed to Schramm Farms in Irwin, PA, after church with our friends, Sarah and Jeremy, and their three boys. It was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny, but there was still a nice fall crispness to the air. I was excited to get some pumpkin patch pictures of Evangeline, and Sarah is a great photographer, so I knew I could bum some camera time from her.

After watching the boys play in the corn box (like a sandbox, but with dried corn kernels), we grabbed a quick lunch of hotdogs, apple cider, and french fries, and then headed into the pumpkin patch for our photo shoot… and to pick out some pumpkins!

See? I told you Sarah was great!

My cousins and sisters and our families have been going camping every year for 7 years now… We started out with tent camping at a different PA state park each year until 2007, when we rented rustic cabins at Shawnee State Park. It was awesome, and we haven’t gone back to tents since! We went to Shawnee from 2007 until 2010, and will probably go back there next year. Because of some delay in decision-making, we ended up in yurts (walled tents) at Ohiopyle this year with Kelley, Matt, Linc, Erinn, and Gary from October 7-10.

The mornings were chilly—about 45°—so I bundled Evie into the big winter coat that Kelley bought for her. Too bad it was a little big! Oh, well… She’ll definitely fit into it this winter, when she’ll really need it!

Evie and I were having a jolly time hanging out by the campfire…

And then this happened.
(“I used to be the cutest, and then you came along,” thinks Linc. “I’ll just squeeze you a little around the neck to show you who is the boss.”)

But she survived it!

For one dinner, Gary made lasagna and garlic toast.
Yes, lasagna heated with campfire coals… and it was delicious!

We hiked around a bit to check out Cucumber Falls, and Matt carried Linc in their fancy new backpack contraption.
Linc LOVED being able to see everything from his bird’s eye view!

Ohiopyle Falls

Evie was a bit bored by the whole thing (*yawn*) and took a nice long nap, thanks to the white noise of the rushing water!

On Monday, we headed over to Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous house design.

Oh, yes, I was rocking the pigtails.

Joel doesn’t appear in many of these photos because he was the camera man… and if/when i get around to making & posting the video of this excursion, I won’t appear often because I was the video camera woman! So, we’re even. Or something.

What a weekend! I’m already looking forward to Cuz Camping 2012, when (Lord willing) Caryn, Heather, Tim, & baby Tyler will join us!

Last summer, Joel and our friend Jimmy spent a good deal of time working on our friends’ cars. I, being the clever kind of wife, put together a lovely little shirt design and screen printed one for each of them… plus two tiny neutral-colored rompers—one for Eli and one for Evie (although, at that point, we didn’t know who they were yet). It seemed impossible at the time, but Evie got big enough to fit into the romper and is starting to grow out of it already! Before it’s too late, I snapped a pic to remember Joel & Evie’s awesome matchy-matchy cuteness.

Evangeline is five months old!

Clothes Size: 3-6 Months

New Skills: Almost sitting on her own! Two teeth seem to be coming in; loves throwing her head back into a “dip” while you hold her (sometimes really unexpectedly); discovered her legs and feet; often chews on toys, bibs, clothes, and anything else she can stick into her mouth!

Evangeline is four months old!

Height: 24 in
Weight: 13.8 lb

Clothes Size: 3-6 Months

New Skills: holding her head up, getting close to supported sitting (she can do 5 minutes or so in the Bumbo chair before she gets tired of it), lots of squeaking and laughing, sucking on her thumb and/or fingers, reaching for toys in front of her, PLUS rolling from her back to her stomach! Hooray!

Evangeline is three months old!

They didn’t weigh or measure her at the 3-month appointment, since it was just for some shots… But she seems to be right on schedule and growing out of her 0-3 month sized clothes right on time!

New Skills: laughing at toys and rattles, blowing tons of bubbles, still working on holding her head up, down to 5 meals per day with 4 naps

People have been asking me who I think Evie looks like. I think she’s starting to look a lot like I did as a baby. What do you think?

Me at 2 Weeks Old

Evie at 3 Weeks Old

Me with giant baby eyes

Evie with giant baby eyes

And, just for fun and nostalgia, and also to show you how cute my mom is…

My mom, Caryn, and Me (2 weeks old)

My mom and Evie (2 months old)

Evie got some good-bye snuggles from Mom-Mom (my mom) before we left Lancaster and headed back to the good ole ‘Burgh. LOVE!

Evangeline is two months old today!

Weight: 10.81 lb
Length: 22.5 inches

(Her appointment is next week… I’ll update this page when I have the details!)

New Skills: smiling, making cooing and squealing sounds, recognizing Momma’s voice, sleeping through the night (started at 5.5 weeks!)