Alihan's baptism

Today was Chewie's baptism. He did alright until it was time to put the water on his head and when Caleb was holding him he started to freak out. So, mommy ended up holding him over the baptismal fountain--and my arms hurt now! He's gettting heavy! After that, he was fine until we started to walk to the back of the church--towards the fountain--and he started crying again. Once he realized we were doing pictures, he was fine--in fact, he was just a ham for the camera! So, we have pictures with his godparents, Caleb and Michelle. Michelle was Julia's babysitter when she came home. Levi, Michelle's daughter, is Julia's best friend. Michelle and I hit it off and I couldn't be happier to have her part of our lives. We plan to keep each other company as our two wild ones get into the teenage years. That's Julia and Levi together--the inseparables! My nieces and nephew were there too--gosh they are getting BIG! We got a nice picture of mom, dad and godparents together too! We had a picnic at a local park afterwards--of course, the rain didn't stay away. But Chewie got his chance to play in his cake.

Just for the record now--we have 2 Islamic Catholics and one Buddhist/Russian Orthodox Catholic in our family. We live understanding different beliefs and the children, while Catholic, are taught to respect and try to learn about the other religions of the world.

I have to take Chewie in for his "official" picture in his cultural clothing. Ok--it's also partly from Sears--but we tried. Julia has a beautiful picture in her Buryat outfit, Rauan in his Kaz pants and vest--now Chewie. He has grown so much in 2 months that it's getting a little tight and the hat barely fits! Of course, Julia grew so quickly that her hat was sitting next to her instead of on her head.

This week, it's back to work. I can hardly believe how quickly the week flew by. But, there is now mulch around the play system, stone under the deck (much easier to do BEFORE you put in a deck, but that's us!) and a few odds and ends done. Next vacation in July--YEAH!