Dedication Sunday

The Sunday right after Thanksgiving, we took advantage of having both sides of the family in town and dedicated Linnea in our church's Sunday morning service. It was an important day because Mommy & Daddy publicly committed to raise Linnea in a Christian home... and also because she got to wear her first hair bow :).

Pastor Carr did the dedication, and Linnea cooperated quite nicely while he held her during the prayer. She got restless in the last 30 seconds or so, but he is a father of 5 so he knew enough to give her a paper bulletin to play with to pacify her.

Afterwards, we came home and had lunch with all four of her grandparents, Great-Gramma Branca, Aunt Aimee and Uncle Brett. She even got to open some nice mementos of the occasion. She was actually quite into it - boads well for Christmas :).

Thanksgiving 2008

Linnea was just tickled pink to have Mommy's side of the family in town for Thanksgiving this year. Above she is pictured with PAPA (capitalized in attempt to capture the sound of her yelling it every time someone else said it to her).

Here she is with Cousin Kelsey - her only female cousin - shortly after her arrival (along with the rest of her family) from north-central Michigan.

And here she is with her eldest cousin, Evan - already helping to shape and mold her young mind.

We exchanged Christmas gifts with Nana and Papa while they were here and Linnea was the recipient of her very first baby doll - a huge favorite. She kisses her regularly.

All in all, it was a wonderful holiday - a great lead-in to other holidays to come. We just hope she resists the thoughts that are clearly going through her mind in the photo above and lets the Christmas tree stay safe until Christmas!