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Time for a look back at August! It was a big month for the Miller family, thanks in part to two very special celebrations for our kiddos. First up, Afton’s fourth birthday party! She’s currently big on knowing people’s favorite colors and insists that her favorite color is rainbow… so it wasn’t surprising that she wanted a rainbow birthday party. (It’s probably also not surprising that unlike last year’s party with styled photos of handmade party details… this year’s party decor was all from Amazon or the grocery store. ;) I was about to say that this is the least effort I’ve ever put forth for a party, but I almost forgot I had mono on her second birthday, so I guess I did a little more this time—ha!)
Sweet T and Granddaddy came from KY as usual, but this year uncle Alex and his lovely girlfriend Taylor got to come, too! Plus tons of friends—Afton was thrilled to have so many people at her party! :)
The rainbow slip-n-slide was a big hit—thanks, Water Slides of the Coast!
The kids had fun on the play set, too, of course…
…and we had a lot of fun with face paint, too!
Alex made hotdogs on the grill, and we put together a rainbow-colored fruit plate to go with them.
The prettiest part of the rainbow theme was the cake! I always prefer cupcakes because I hate going to the trouble of cutting a cake, but Afton was clear that she wanted “a big rainbow cake.” This cupcake pull-apart cake from Rouses was the perfect solution! Happy Birthday to Afton, indeed!
As if all this partying wasn’t enough, we had another celebration at church the very next morning: Jonas’s baptism! Like Afton, he was baptized by our own Rev. Scott Castleman using water that Sweet T and Granddaddy brought back from their trip to the Holy Land. And he wore my great great grandfather’s christening gown! Such a special welcome into the Body of Christ.
(Thanks to Taylor for snapping a family photo for us!)
In reality, I was really tired and a little stressed while this was all happening. Jonas had quit sleeping all night, was teething, and had spit up in my hair right before church. The truth is, sometimes motherhood is overwhelming, and it gets hard for me to appreciate the beauty of these moments in real time. For that reason and so many others, I am SO thankful for the gift of photos. Looking at these now, I can see what I couldn’t quite feel then: the pure blessing of having such loving family—both the literal kind and the metaphorical kind. To quote the statement of faith that closed this church service: these are gifts of sheer grace.
