Rustin's Baptism

We celebrated our sweet Rustin James at his baptism two Sundays ago.  The kids had stayed up late the night before at our friends' wedding, so I was up by 5am buzzing around trying to get every possible thing together so that we could let the kids sleep in as long as possible before having to leave for 10am mass.  Grey had a baseball tournament that afternoon, and we had kickball that night, so there was quite a bit of organizing to accomplish.

By some miracle, we all were dressed and loaded in Sheila ON TIME and the only thing left to do was to get the dogs in the house....and Bullet is nowhere to be found.  hon.est.ly.  if it's not the kids, it's the animals - amirite!?

Brandon and I walked the perimeter of our yard (we have an invisible fence) and called out for him for about ten minutes - finally, B spotted Bully sitting in the tall weeds way down towards the fruit trees.  After that debacle, we strolled into mass about 5 minutes late (again.  hon.est.ly).

Immediately after mass, I hustled our little sweetheart into his Baptism gown (formerly Brandon's!) and we snapped a family picture before Grey headed out to his baseball game with Uncle Juice (thank you Uncle J for taking him!)

I was so incredibly touched that we had so many people there to witness our sweet boy's christening.  I sent a little prayer out to my Momma who had to stay home that morning (kidney stones are evil) and who I know was heartbroken she couldn't be there (no worries momma - you were in all our hearts!!)  

The ceremony was beautiful and Rusty did a great job - not a single cry the whole time! Meanwhile, Violet marched about (quietly, but still) the pews smiling and loving that most of her favorite people were there watching like a bonafide audience.  

Rustin's godparents are our dear friends Taryn and Matt (known to our kids as 'Siri & Dobber') We've know T since elementary school and then she and Bud went to college together, where they both met Matt - one of Brandon's basketball teammates.  We are so very grateful that they are in all of our lives, but especially connected to our Rusty's journey.  (thank you and love you). 

After the baptism, we all headed over to Pappy and Gigi's house for a picnic and pool party to continue to celebrate Rusty Man.  It was the perfect day for swimming and sunning and the food was delicious. (Thank you Gigi and Pappy so much for hosting!)  We had all afternoon to hang out with our family and friends chatting while Rustin made his way into just about everyone's arms for some snuggles. 

Greyson made it back in time to swim and play too (they lost their game, boo - but kind of win to be able to celebrate with us!)  The kids all had so much fun playing with their cousins and baby Claire.  It was a wonderful day and as always, a reminder of how grateful we are to be surrounded by people who love us.  

(so many parentheses in this post.  couldn't help myself.  HAH)