Mother's Day & Carson's Baptism

I had a wonderful Mother's Day.

I got to spend it with my mom, my dad, my sister and her hubby, my hubby, my little girl, and our newest little bundle...he smiles now, and it just melts my heart.

Carson's Baptism was Sunday morning, so we celebrated twice. Once for the moms and once for our sweet little baby.

She loves him. Can you tell?

Mama C. and Papa were there too. Emma just loves them!

This is my favorite photo of the day...

He is just so sweet.

Aunt Lindy and Uncle Dill came too. We are so blessed to have them as Carson's Godparents :)

He wore the same baptism gown that Emma wore...and I wore and Lindy wore and Ashley wore and Nic wore and Coco wore and Vanna wore. The only question I have is, "Who gets to keep it?" Just kidding...I guess we will just continue to pass it around :)

Emma enjoyed the service. It was contemporary, which was new for us.

And, we celebrated with petit fours, which are truly divine.

It was a fun weekend of catching up and hanging out, and I am so glad that everyone was there to celebrate for Carson. Being with my mom on Mother's Day meant a lot too. We aren't exactly neighbors, so it doesn't happen every year, but I am always grateful for our time together.

quack, quack!

Meet our newest neighbors...

There are seven baby ducklings to be exact.

And, Emma is so excited that she just about can't stand it.

I snuck away with her by myself while Rob kept Carson to meet these little guys.

It is so interesting to me how they all stay together...the motherly instinct shines here for sure.

We had lots of fun feeding all of the babies bread. We even had a quick visit from a turtle. Can you see his head?

Emma said her good-byes, but I am certain that we will be back soon.

baby blue eyes

And, they are really blue. Do you think they'll stay that way?

I never would have dreamed that I would have a blue-eyed baby, but so far, I was wrong :) When Emma was born, her eyes were a dark gray...not this little guy. I guess time will tell.

As for now, Carson is ten weeks old, and so much fun! We've had three nights where he has slept from 10pm-7am. Although, it wasn't three nights in a row, and I am not telling you this because if I do, I will jinx this wonderful, wonderful thing. Maybe we will be consistent soon? Who knows?

Normally, I am still only waking once to feed him at night, which is not bad. Not bad at all. We are worlds away from where we were with Emma at this age. I will take one feeding a night any day.

Carson is talking and cooing and smiling, which just makes my day. It truly makes my day. He is so, so happy and so, so loved :) Especially by one very special big sister.

flashback

When Carson was one week old, my good friend Juli was ever so gracious to stop by our house for a photo shoot. I was so pleased with all of the photos and will treasure them forever. Here are a few of my favorites. If only I could manage to get some printed and hung in my house... Oh, and if you know Stephanie, she had her baby girl today around 1:15 pm. Everyone is healthy and doing well...the Lord is good.

a tribute to...

our LSU tiger obsessed family :) I managed on accident to get both of my little tigers in their tiger gear...

scroll down for some strawberry pickin' and Carson's two month post :)

Strawberry Fields

We loaded up the kiddos and headed to the country to pick the fruit from these beautiful little flowers...

Some friends of ours came to visit us for a few days, so we brought them along too.

Emma was so excited about picking the berries.

The girls starting picking right away.

And starting filling up their very large bucket...

The morning was beautiful, and it wasn't too hot~yet!

I was so impressed. I had never seen so many strawberries before in my life. There is something kind of neat about seeing your food before it hits the grocery stores.

Emma hopped between rows choosing berries for her bucket.

I think that I enjoyed the trip just as much as they did.

They took a break from picking for a quick photo.

Then, they were back at work picking these little beauties.

And, still trying to fill that bucket.

The strawberries were easier to photo. They always cooperate and don't move all that much :)

Emma made it pretty close to the top...

And then started running the rows.

She ran.

And ran.

We took the berries to be weighed, so that we could pay for what we had picked.

Let's just say that by the end, I was convinced that Emma could have been a farm girl in a previous life. She ate just about as many berries as she picked and had a wonderful morning at the farm.

The only question I had was, "What's a girl to do with 12 plus pounds of strawberries?"

So, we made jam. Yes 12 jars of jam! I have to admit that I was a canning virgin, but I have wonderful memories of my great-grandmother's jellies, so I decided to give it a shot. I used this recipe and was pleased with the results. I only wish that the jam was a bit chunkier....notes for next time.

Rob held Carson while I did all of my strawberrying...

Then, I made strawberry lemonade popsicles and strawberry daiquiris. I used this recipe from Cooking Light for both of them. I just didn't add the rum and the ice to Emma's popsicles :) We have an extra batch of this in the freezer too...will it be popsicles or daiquiris?

We still had strawberries left, so I made a Strawberry Almond Cream Tart. I followed the recipe, but took some I just had a baby shortcuts. I didn't make the crust. I used a store bought reduced fat graham cracker crust instead. I used the whole block of cream cheese and went for the fat free version. And, I didn't toast the almonds. It was delicious and pretty low in calories, so you should give it a whirl. It is my favorite dessert at the moment, and Rob and Emma loved it too! I have an extra batch of the strawberry topping in the freezer, so another Strawberry Almond Cream Tart is in our near future.

We all ate our fair share of fresh ones too... So for now, we are strawberried out. Although, I would love to go pickin' again.