Madilyn's Blessing Day

We arrived at Barbara's early Saturday morning, after spending the night at Matthew's. We were only at his house overnight, and his kids are way too quick for me to catch a shot of them, so that will have to wait until next week.

Riley immediately set to coloring in his new book and with his new crayons (washable).

Dave's first job was to hold the new baby. He did.

David Charon came home early afternoon, exhausted from his MCAT and so we took Riley and Keagan out for a walk.

They got tired at one point so Grandpa Dave carried them both. We found our way home after that, with Keagan leading the misguided grandparents the right direction. Every grandchild looks forward to squeezing orange juice with their Grandpa Dave, and these kids were no exception. We did it right after their walk, rather than wait until the next morning. Riley liked to lick the cut surface of the orange, so we'd have to thinly slice that off just for him before squeezing it. I cut the slices in half--"orange smiles"--Keagan and Riley enjoyed them.

Maddie has gained some chubby cheeks since I saw her last. She's up to 10 pounds.

I took the kids outside for a couple of portrait shots.

Keagan was amazed. "Grandma, you don't want me to smile?"

Barbara and Maddie.

We headed to a local Mexican food place for dinner. Here David is showing Riley the train, which ran along the main street where the restaurant was located.

After dinner, Keagan reminded her mom that she had a school project due for Valentine's Day, so they started working on it.

The next morning, while we worked on getting the place and food and people ready for the Big Day, Grandpa caught a little snooze with his newest grandchild.

Barbara and Madilyn, ready for the blessing.

Barbara wore this dress some 29 years ago when she was blessed. Yes, I made it for her, and it's such an interesting feeling to notice the linking of the generations through a simple cotton blessing dress.

Matthew and Madilyn.