Amelia's 1st Birthday Party and Baptism

Today was Amelia's first birthday party and baptism. The weather was spectacular, much warmer than what is normal for this time of year in Wisconsin, so we were able to be outside. Amelia got to be baptized in the backyard in beautiful Indian Summer sunshine.
Her Godparents are my sister Melia (1/2 of Amelia's namesake, the other being Chris' grandmother Amelia) and Chris' brother Jeff. You can see them in the photo with Pastor Ruge before the ceremony. Pastor Ruge is the coolest Pastor I've ever met. His sense of humor and fun, along with his warm and gentle heart make him impossible not to love. He married Chris and I, did the funeral for our twins Rainey and Grace, baptized Libby on her first birthday, proceeded over the funeral of my father, and now baptized Monkey. He's been a part of the most heart-wrenching and joyful days of our life.
As is probably clear, we call Amelia 'Monkey', and have since the day she was born...I swear she looked like one of those adorable baby monkeys with the fuzzy red hair and huge eyes... So I made monkey cupcakes and cookies, which were a big hit.
After the ceremony, lunch, and gifts, we carved pumpkins. As it turned out, I could have stopped gutting pumpkins about half way through yesterday...but at least we have a ton of roasted pumpkin seeds, so it wasn't a complete waste (I hollowed out fifteen pumpkins yesterday so they'd be ready to carve).
After the party Libby's fiancee stayed for a few hours to play and by the time he went home Libby was exhausted. This is evident when you look at the photo of her aslee in her new (thanks to Auntie Melia) pricess tiara and veil, clip on earings and necklace...and hip pj ensemble of flip flop satin shorts, striped tights and white t-shirt.
We're all beat, but it was fun.