The Life of Schleich's: Twin Nephew's Baptisms Weekend in Montana: Part 1

This past weekend we had the pleasure of going up to Billings, MT for our twin nephew's, Jaden and Cody Schleicher's, baptisms. Jaden and Cody are sons of Jon's brother, Jason and his wife Amy. All of Jon's siblings were able to make it as well as the whole Walquist family. Once everyone arrived, there were 18 people (including three babies and a three year old) in Jason and Amy's house at one time! It was crazy, but it was also so much fun to be surrounded by all the family. There was always a baby to hold or a three year old who needed to be constantly entertained. :)

The twins' baptisms were extra special because Jon and Jason's dad, John is a LCMS pastor and Amy's dad, Randy, is also a LCMS pastor. Both Grandpas were part of the baptism; Grandpa Schleicher baptized Jaden Michael, and Papa Walquist baptized Cody Andrew. We were blessed to be sponsors for Jaden along with Jon's oldest brother, Matt and his wife Kim. Cody's sponsors were Jon's sister, Beth and her husband Andy, and Amy's younger brother, Andrew and his wife Sarah. Needless to say, it was one of the biggest most family involved baptisms of all-time!

THURSDAY:
We drove all day to get to Billings in time for dinner. Jon's parents had arrived earlier in the day and they immediately joined in the holding the babies party!

Jon's Dad and sister, Beth, seemed to have the secret touch to getting Jaden and Cody to calm down on demand. Here Grandpa Schleicher is calming down one of the twins in a matter of seconds!

Grandma Schleicher enjoying her time with her two oldest grandsons, Ian and Ryan.

Matt and Kim's youngest son, Ryan, had gotten a lot bigger than when we last saw
him in Texas over Memorial Day Weekend for his baptism.

We gave Ian a gift of discounted fireworks that we had bought while in Wisconsin the weekend before for a wedding. Ian loved the Snaps we got him although it took him a few throws to make sure the snaps would pop. :)

Another activity on Jon's calendar of "Ian Entertaining" was teaching him how to properly shoot a basketball. Jon first showed Ian what the Nike swoosh was. He told Ian to put his right hand/fingers right on the swoosh. Then, he put Ian's left hand on the side of the ball. Ian is a natural and was able to pick up the motion quickly.

Ian also LOVED dunking the ball! :)

FRIDAY:
After a much needed good night of sleep, we made it back to Jason and Amy's house (we stayed with our friends Josh and Katie Mlnarik; Katie teaches at Trinity Lutheran School where Amy taught and went to Concordia with us and played volleyball with Chelsea for two years) around 8:45 a.m.

Some of the plans we had for the day were: play with Ian, hold nephews, teach Ian to drive, get a car wash and take Ian to the water park.

Ian loved playing with dominos. His favorite thing to do was to build a wall and then knock them down.

Ryan wasn't too happy when Uncle Jon was holding him...

I love this face!
Ryan isn't too sure about Aunt Chelsea holding him either. :)

Great photo.

Aunt Beth and Grandma Schleicher did a great job helping Ryan relax.

Grandpas Schleicher and Papa Walquist comparing the twin boys.

Ryan decided Aunt Chelsea wasn't too bad after all and used her like a pillow for almost an hour!

Ryan still asleep while Jon got one of the twins who was already sleeping. Sorry we don't remember what twin nephew this was as they are kind of hard to tell apart! :)

Sibling Photo 1
Jon's siblings from L to R: Beth, Matt, Jason, Chels and Jon

Trains were also a favorite for Ian.

Uncle Jon teaching Ian the rules of the road. This picture is great!

Despite this photo, Ian was really excited about his trip to the car wash with us....

On our way out of Jason and Amy's neighborhood, we stopped at a lemonade stand. The economy has hit this 7 year old girl too, as we severely overpaid for two cups of watered-down lemonade.

Ian was pretty thirsty so he didn't mind the lemonade.

Later in the day, after the car wash, Jon and his brother, Matt, took Ian to Billings' brand new water park, Oasis. The best part about the water park was the three story tall water slide. Earlier this summer, Ian took a series of swimming lessons and has always loved playing in water. When Matt and Jon walked into the park, they asked Ian what he wanted to do first. There was a wave pool, a lazy river, the large water slide and then a children's area with smaller slides. Earlier in the day when Ian was told about the water park, he asked if there was a water slide. SO, the first thing Ian wanted to do was go down the water slide

Like father, like son facial expressions.

Notice that Ian is face first in the water.
He started the slide sitting straight up on his bottom but after some of the turns, he got flipped around. However, he still loved the slide.

It's crazy that a three year old went down the slide alone 5 times!!! They wouldn't let Matt go down holding Ian, so he was a trooper and went down by himself. He wasn't scared and on the first climb up the stairs, Matt and Jon tried to make sure that Ian was comfortable without putting doubt in his mind. On Ian's 5th time down the slide, he stayed upright the entire way down. Matt and Jon were so proud of the little guy!

Jon supporting his sister-in-law, Kim, in setting the table for everyone.

Chelsea jumped right in to the kitchen to help make the meal for the 14 adults. Her training as a camp cook for 5 years will always come in handy!

Jon's sister, Beth, dominated the drink orders for the weekend for every meal. She had all the drink options memorized and never got an order incorrect. :) Great job Beth!

The "kid" table.
Thanks for grilling for all of us Jason!

The grandparent/parent/senior table. :)

After dinner, Chelsea and Beth grilled some marshmallows for s'mores. What a treat!

Let's just say that Ian's first s'more was quite a success...

After a long day, Jon gradually became more and more confident holding the twins. It was much easier to hold the twins when they were sleeping than when they were crying...