Calvin's Baptism

I don't know about you, but when I hear about Baptism strains of "Borning Cry" swell up in my brain.  We finally had Calvin baptized on the 16th.  Two days after he turned 9 MONTHS OLD.  Don't tell my great grandparents.  They wouldn't be happy to hear about an almost toddler not being baptized yet.  But it's "Nowadays" and no one really thought anything of it.  We got it done before he could walk and he also was able to fit into my old baptismal gown that my grandma made in 1983 which has been worn by a lot of kids at their baptism.  I was 6 weeks old when I wore it.  Good thing it is very voluminous.

In the grand tradition of anything dealing with a 4th kid, we were a big mess the week before the big event.  We had a plumber here for about four hours a few days before because I discovered water coming out of the floor drain in the basement and it turned out the sewer pipe was plugged with tree roots.  So in addition to preparing for Baptism and trying to get the house looking presentable for guests I got to clean that up.  It did not get to the carpet in the living room but on Saturday night I discovered it did seep under the wall in Ben and Milo's closet and everything on the floor of the closet was wet.  Also, I hardly paid attention to how the kids looked before we left the house and it appears Ben had his shoes on the wrong feet. And Tessa covered her shirt in stickers during church.  Whatever.  Then we tried to take a picture in front of the name banner that has been in use since the 90's and I was standing in front of the name.  Nice. 

Calvin was a very nice baby in church.  He was alert but agreeable during the baptism and fell asleep after for the rest of the service.  

Then we changed him into his after party outfit and had a lovely lunch!  It was a nice but very hot day and the church air conditioning barely cut it.  I tried to enjoy the last time I will feel 90 degree air for quite awhile.  

Here is his cake!  Nice work with the writing...don't they have a ruler or something they could use? It tasted good at least. 

Ben was also baptized at this church but there was a different minister and the time and currently the babies who are baptized here get a handmade trunk and a quilt.  The trunk is so nice and lovely keepsake.  And a nice convenient place for me to stash his cards, photos and mementos until it is packed to the top.  

The builder of the trunk told me after church that he would burn Calvin's name and the date into the trunk if we wanted him to.  I delivered it on Tuesday afternoon and he had it back to me two hours later!  What a nice gift!

"Let the Children Come to Me"

School has been rolling along and going fine.  I'm still waking up with a grin on my face knowing it is in session.  Ben got a 10/10 on his first spelling test and has been getting 5/5 and 10/10 on his reading comprehension and math sheets.  Yee haw.  Tessa has been eating all the food in her lunch box at preschool with is a big deal to me.  On Sunday, a second first day of school occurred for them-the first day of Sunday School!

I have felt bad that Ben hasn't been in Sunday School yet since most churches start it at age 3 or 4.  We were always travelling on weekends and he would have missed at least half of the days and maybe more.  But, the time is now for us to get involved in church like the adults we were raised by and it's not a bad thing.  They need to learn the verses (For God so loved the world...) and Apostles Creed and the Lord's Prayer. So, off they went.

For the first day, the elementary and preschool age classes did not split up and instead met together and designed special book bags to bring every week before the music portion of the morning.  Since it was the first day, the kids paraded in at the start of church and performed a song.  After church, we went to collect their bags.  I smiled at the sight of bags lined up on the table decorated with drawings of crosses, churches and other religious themes.  I did spot a few football designs.  One of the teachers informed me that Ben's appeared to be a shark.  I laughed at how he needed to spend more time in Sunday school.

Upon closer inspection, I thought this was more than a shark although it does look like a shark fin.  He explained it:  It is two T-Rex dinosaurs (the orange things).  There are two volcanoes spewing lava on either side an the rain is falling and cooling the lava which formed the cave and the land around the cave were the T-Rex is hiding.  Wow.  OK.  

Fortunately, our church is modern and can acknowledge that the proof of the existence of dinosaurs is quite obvious and the people who wrote the Bible didn't have the knowledge to understand fossils so that's why they aren't mentioned but that doesn't mean they never existed. Tessa decorated both sides of her bag.  One side had her particular style of princesses wearing dresses and the other side had this:

Is it a blimp? A cat shaped like a Ty Beanie Boo?  No...she informed me it is a fish.  OK, I can see it now...the dorsal fin, the tail...yeah...make us fishers of men keep me seeking...keep me seeking till the break of dayyyyy...Anyone know that classic church school song?

Milo is not old enough for Sunday School yet.  They have to be 4.  Sigh, two more years.  

In Calvin related news, I walked in to get him out of his crib on Friday and found him standing up.  This is a big moment in a baby's life.  Once they figure this out they never stop.  It is the coolest stunt there is.  It is even more fun that rolling.  

He will be 9 months old in a few days.  Ben did this when he was 6 months old.  He was such a wiry little monster.  

We went to a high school football game on Friday night.  In true September fashion, the night started out hot and turned cold real quick.  Good thing we live about 100 yards from the football field!  At half time I got Calvin all bundled up in this classic baby garment:

Where's the baby?

More excitement:  we got a new faucet!  I noticed the old one had water seeping out around the base and told Justin and he went bought a new one after work and installed it on Saturday.  Isn't it cool?

It's almost like I am in a professional kitchen!  I guess the cooking will have to get better now.  Haha sure.