Lina joins our church family!

We had a slow start this morning as we recover from a BIG exciting day yesterday!! I had to wake both Evan and Lina this morning, and they even went to bed early last night- so much celebrating going on!  Yesterday was Lina's Baptism at our church, and then fun filled festivities at home to celebrate her birthday as well!

Lina in her BEAUTIFUL dress hand smocked by my former Girl Scout leader- Love. It.

Church went very well, aside from a squirmy little boy who wanted to go everywhere and get into everything! Ok, so he wasn't that bad, but kept our entire pew busy for sure!  Here's the little rascal taking a breather with MomMom.

I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos- we couldn't use a flash during the service and these were taken with my little point and shoot.  Hoping some other friends and family will have more pics to forward on to me. *hint hint* ;)

Lina handled the service and ceremony GREAT!  I brought her to church a couple weeks ago so the entire experience wouldn't be entirely new and frightening to her with the organ music and voices over the sound system.  She did not like the voices on the sound system the first time we came and fussed a bit each time the pastor or assisting minister spoke, but yesterday she had no trouble.  She even sang along to the hymns and babbled during prayers, participating right along. :)

I wish we got the Baptism on video- Lina was a rock star!! 

When Pastor Dave first brought out the dish with Holy water, Lina wanted to drink it. Hee hee!  But she caught on quickly.

She leaned forward for him to mark the sign of the cross on her head, and then he let her dip her fingers into the water.

And what did she do after she put her finger in the water?  Made the sign of the cross on Mommy's forehead!

Kaylin got to hold Lina's baptismal candle

And in the shot above you can see Lina's banner Kaylin helped me assemble. :) Our church made one for each child baptized, but stopped doing do after Justin was baptized.  Pastor David did make sure Evan got one just like his big brother and sister, so of course Lina couldn't be left out either! :) Thanks so much, PD!

Kaylin also got to serve as acolyte during the service for the first time this special Sunday! :)

Back to our pew after the ceremony, and Lina did a good deal of coloring to pass the time.

I had packed some crayons and paper for her, but quickly realized I did not want her getting crayon all over her BEAUTIFUL white dress!  

Our attempt at a family photo in church with squirmy kids (Evan) who wanted to get DOWN and run around!

Whew, we made it!  Now back home to PAR-TAY!  Lina was immediately changed out of her pristine white dress so it wouldn't get ruined! ;)  And then there were presents....

And more presents.....

We are fairly certain this was Lina's very first experience opening presents and celebrating her birthday.  Something so customary to us was a whole new learning experience for our 6 year old girl.  She did great even if she wanted to stop and read every book :) 

And then she opened the present with the camera....

And refused to open any more! 

She plopped herself down on the couch and absolutely refused to touch another package or gift bag. Kaylin helped open more presents, and then we came to the doll....

This wasn't just any babydoll- Lina has a few already... but this was her first doll with HAIR!! She chucked that camera so fast and plopped back down with her new dolly to brush her hair!! 

And then it was time for cake.  Yes, I copped out from making a special birthday cake since this was a much larger party than our usual birthday parties, and we were celebrating her baptism as well.  So I got the next best thing.... an ice cream cake from our local creamery- YUMMMM!!!

And lighting the candles- I quickly learned Lina never had birthday candles before.  First thing she did was touch the flame! ACK!  She in turn learned quickly not to touch the hot flame- ouch!  We then had to learn how to blow out the candles- she picked up on the idea and got a little help from a friend. :)

(Please ignore the cleavage shot ugh)

And there you have it- Lina's celebration in a nutshell!  Is it time to go to bed yet?