Elaine's holy baptism

On July 13th, Elaine got baptized at our church, St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in Iowa City. It was a simple, yet meaningful ceremony. We opted to have a private baptism after the 10am mass. We felt that it would be more comfortable and less stressful than to have it during mass, especially with no one to keep watch over Peter and Natalie. Before the ceremony started, this is how Peter and Natalie spent their time waiting:

When it did start, it was difficult to concentrate on the moment and to keep Peter and Natalie from running all around the church and the altar. Here is one rare moment they did manage to stay around the baptismal fountain:

More importantly, we finally did manage to get a picture of Elaine's big moment, her baptism. Elaine was so great the whole morning; she slept through the entire mass and baptismal ceremony. She barely opened her eyes when Father Mike poured the holy water over her head. It must have felt good to her!

And our family picture with Father Michael Phillips after the ceremony even turned out quite nice!
(Despite the fact I wish I stood sideways to slim my 'rotund' figure!)

Afterwards, we picked up some special lunch items from the Bread Garden and we had a lemon-raspberry cake from DeLuxe Bakery all ready to celebrate Elaine's baptism at home. The cake was so pretty and delicious - enjoyed by all, except Elaine, of course.

We all thanked Elaine for being born and getting baptized as we ate our piece of cake!