& Finally (the 3rd part)...Katarina's Baptism

A week ago Sunday was the final event in this trilogy of sorts....

So about 3 months ago during a babysitting adventure, Sergio and Casandra had popped the question on Jerry and myself and asked if we would be Katarina’s Godparents…OMG! Of course!  We were already excited about being her aunt and uncle, but to now be her Godparents...such an honor!  So we toasted to the announcement, and of course started planning.  Baptisms in our family are not necessarily celebrated with huge parties but we do make sure we plan a solemn but special ceremony and reception with close family and friends to celebrate the event. 

 

Sergio and Casandra had each been baptized during a Spanish mass when they were babies, so to keep the tradition going they decided to baptize her at their beautiful parish church of St. Charles Borromeo in Sherman Oaks, where they have a Spanish baptism once a month and picked July 28^th as the date. 

She was walked in by family friends and even posed for some pictures. She was one of 3 children being baptized that afternoon, and thankfully in good spirits and was smiling and seemed to know that it was her special day. 

Her Nino Jerry was especially proud that day as he held her as much as possible before and during the ceremony.  I love how totally comfortable she is with him. She loves him and it shows, and I love how he lights up with her too. 

  

Although Casandra’s mom wasn’t able to attend the ceremony, she sent Katarina’s baptismal gown all the way from Texas. It was a beautiful dress and she looked adorable as always, but that bonnet was just too darn cute!!!

 To add to her gown the day of the baptism, the Godparents are responsible for making her baptismal shawl. So believe it or not, I still had a scrap left over of the material used to make Casandra's wedding dress that was just big enough to make the shawl with! (coincidence or fate??) And I also had some of the lace left over from her dress that I used to cut out the lace edging from to sew around the shawl and then sewed on some religious symbols in pink felt to make it just for Katarina. I  loved making that I was able to use something of her mom's special wedding day for her baptism to make special connection.

                                                                       

The ceremony was supposed to be done fully in Spanish, however, the deacon doing the ceremony was not as fluent as we would have liked. But nonetheless, the ceremony was performed as usual and by church standards, and she is now a full-fledged member of the Catholic church. YAY! Jerry and I will be right there along her parents side to make sure that we help guide her physically, emotionally and more important…spiritually.

 

  

And then some family pictures....

 

(Thank you Steve Cañas and Dan Morris for taking pictures during the ceremony)

After the ceremony it was back to our house for a small, simple reception…the part I loved planning for of course ;).  

 We kept the same set up from the last week’s reunion with the tents and added white tables and simple floral vases.  I DIY'd the vases and tinted pink pasta and pickle jars that I then decorated with ribbon and beads- They were (free) "inexpensive" and turned out really cute, and the guests were able to take them home! I put up some white lanterns, some paper pom-poms (I had kept the ones from her baby shower), and some outside tulle curtains to give it a summer garden feel to the event- All of these things, I already had. (Party tip- I love buying things for parties that I know I can store for later, and put them into different uses for different events)

         I made party favors for the guests from pre-decorated candle votives that I just added a printed label, ribbon and a bead to the cross to. Easy and always fun to make.

 

 I also made her cake which was a flowered lemon cake (Thank you Teresita once again for your gift of baking tools) so it gave me a chance to make a different kind of cake I hadn’t tried before. I really enjoyed making this one, and I think she really enjoyed trying to get into it too!

 

And Katarina being the dame of the day was doing her best to be a good party host 

and took pictures with as many of her special guests as possible. 

 And finally Sergio wanted to have a piñata for her so that's how we finished the day. She had no idea what she was doing but looked happy and intrigued at the same time. She was just too cute!!

Having a little niece on my side of the family has been a really special thing for all of us since we haven't had a baby in the family in such a long time. We couldn’t be happier to have her in our lives. 

She has brought so much joy and tenderness to our house full of boys!

Thank you Sergio and Casandra for naming Jerry and I as Katarina's Godparents, 

and for letting us share such a special role on this blessed day. 

To Katarina,

We hope you know that with God's help we will always be there for you!

 We love you Jellybean!

XOXO

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