Eric and Allison: Baptisms and Catch

Jeff and I had the kids baptized on June 5th at a Saturday evening service. Turns out choosing Saturday was a good idea. Let me chronicle the evening for you.

The participants: Eric (AKA- PITA 1), Allison (PITA 2), Me, Jeff, Aunt Cyndi, my dad, Gigi (kid's great grandmother), Jeff's parents, and Hannah (godmother).

The scene at home:

Me- prepping for Allison's first birthday party the next day. Lots of fruit, veggies and sharp knives, and very little patience.

Eric- running around like crazy in and out of the kitchen.

Allison- crying. Non-stop. Doesn't like anyone except me, Jeff and Jeff's mom. Wants to be consoled. By me and only me.

Gigi- keeping me company in the kitchen and avoiding Allison so she won't cry.

Dad- watching tv with Jeff.

Jeff- watching tv with Dad, running interference to keep Allison from crying

Next- must feed both kids while keeping them relatively clean. No easy feat!

Then- must get two kids and myself dressed. Sounds simple- but there were so many options of outfits for Allison to wear! Eric was easy! He wore the only pair of nice pants he has with a white polo and a pair of black shoes that I borrowed because I am too cheap to buy him shoes he will only wear once. Getting myself dressed...challenging. What to wear? Do I wear pants, a skirt, a dress? I settled on capris- but then came the shirt challenge. Fortuntaly Hannah arrived at the right time to help me put the finishing touches and convince me that the high high heels looked good (yes!).

Off to the church! We had them baptized at Ascension Lutheran, which will be our church once Eric is old enough to go to Sunday School and Ally's fear of people subsides. It was a warm evening, but we got to the church, met Pastor Larry and took our seats off to the side. I had prepped Eric by telling him that Pastor Larry was going to pat him on the head (it worked!).

The kids were really good during the service. Eric wanted to sit with Grandma and Pa-ta so he was a few pews behind. Ally had a blast with the pencils and the offering envelopes...and no one dropped a hymnal or a bible thank goodness!

At one point, Pastor Larry asked the children in the congregation to come forward. I went up with Eric and another lady came up with her daughter who was probably about his age. The little girl sat in her mom's lap and didn't move a muscle. Eric- not so much. He had a blast jumping off the cushions that you kneel on for communion. Up, down, back up, under, until I grabbed the back of his pants. He tried to run at one point but I made a blind catch! The hard part is that he is the size of a 4 year old and not even 2 and a 1/2, so a lot of people probably thought he was acting up, but he was really just acting his age.
Then came the baptisms. I held/wrestled with Allison, who was absolutely not going to sit nicely in my arms. I started to sweat and ended up having to put her down, only to pick her up again. She went first and took it like a champ (like I knew she would). Jeff was holding Eric's hand and trying to keep him from running off (there was a staircase- AKA the altar- he wanted to go up really badly). Jeff made the save of the day- Eric almost knocked over the candle but Jeff quickly caught it and at that point decided it might be better to hold Eric. Then came Eric's turn. I was a little concerned that he would scream bloody murder, but he didn't! Pastor Larry patted him on the head and that was pretty much it. We were trying to be serious, but the kids were so squirmy, wormy and the candle almost burning the church down (how blasphemous would that be?) gave me, Jeff and Hannah the giggles.

The church is amazing- they made banners and blankets for them (the elder shut-ins of the church who can still knit do that) and we were given candles and handkerchiefs, and a medallion from Thrivent Financial (former Lutheran Brotherhood) that was engraved with their names and the date.

It was a touching ceremony. The only snafoo came when Pastor Larry asked everyone to bow their heads in prayer right as Eric let out a resounding "I want some Cheerio's!" on top of his lungs. Apparently the candy we had been stuffing in his mouth to be quiet was not enough. At that point, Jeff took him outside and the service ended only a few minutes later. Ally was still having a blast with the pencils and offering envelopes and was great the whole time!

Look how cute they look!