Grace's First Holy Communion

Gracie made her First Holy Communion this past Pentecost. While she had been looking forward to it for the past year, I apparently had a small mental lapse and forgot to confirm her placement with the RE Director. As Mrs. Ford knew that Jesus wanted to come to Gracie in the Blessed Sacrament, she agreed to allow her if she passed the oral exam. I am proud to say that Grace did wonderfully! All that studying and memorizing made the whole experience easy; she was quite the professional.

Pentecost was a perfect day for FHC, the birthday of the Church. Everybody was celebrating! Grace sat in the front row with the other excited and nervous communicants at the Traditional Latin Mass. Father Claude remarked many times about the intense concentration of the children. They didn't want to miss anything. As I was not allowed to take photos, we shall have to be content with our memories. I did manage to sneak in one photo of Marie Claire praying diligently. This was before she decided the the pew was her playground and had to be whisked off to the narthex. She does look angelic for the moment though, doesn't she?

After Mass, Gracie patiently smiled through all the photo requests. While she cooperated, Marie Claire most certainly did not. Oh well, that angelic moment could not last too long, otherwise she would just not be Marie Claire!

That sweet classic pose with the hands folded was strictly for my benefit. What Grace really wanted to do was twirl in her princess dress. For as Christ is the King, then she is His princess. So, she twirled and twirled and twirled. Pure joy!

Afterwards, everyone swam, of course. It is tradition. BBQ followed and the much anticipated gf banana and cream cheese frosting cake. After looking through many images on the computer, Grace decided that a monstrance would be the perfect decoration for the top. The red candies are a nod to Pentecost as we did not do any other celebrating.

All three of my girls have worn the same dress. Olivia, Nanna, and I headed up to the Los Angeles garment district seven years ago to find the perfect gown for my very tall, very thin girl. We had a memorable day amongst satin and lace. In the end, she chose this beautiful classic. We fully expected to repeat this experience with each of the girls. It was such a fun girly day. However, both Collette and Grace looked forward to wearing the beautiful white dress that hangs so patiently in my closet for that one special day. We did have to shorten the skirt a bit as no one has been able to match Olivia in height.

Blessed First Holy Communion, Grace!

Off to Disney!

For Christmas, my parents and grandmother once again gave us the gift of Disney. We had so much fun last year that they could not resist another day. This time we headed off to Disneyland's neighbor, California Adventure. My neighbor had warned me that it was small, unexciting, and not worth devoting a special day. Was she ever wrong! We had a great time! True, it is smaller but the amusements were great and the children had the opportunity to ride their favorite rides over and over again. In fact, the big kids loved Ca. Adventure even more than Disneyland. 

Thinking that we were old pros at this after our one excursion last year, I failed to really think ahead and plan our day with the same careful precision. Instead we just pick a free day on our calendars and headed over. Now, while it was not crazy crowded, it was grad night and the park was filled with celebrating families. In spite of all this, we still enjoyed ourselves immensely. The Car's ride, Tower of Terror, and roller coaster thrilled the older children. While the water rapids, Mater's Adventures, and play land captivated the younger ones.

Well, Marie Claire was really not captivated by any of it. She decided that all rides were torture chambers and would wave her little hands and scream 'no' as soon as we came close to one. The one ride she did like was the caterpillar train which moves at a whopping 3 mph through a bunch of giant food. That was just her speed. Spinning lady bugs? No way!

Grandma did not attend with us as she felt it would be too much. So, we made sure to snap some photos for her to enjoy from afar. I love our outings. Disney is exciting for the thrill seekers, imaginative for the younger ones, and pure eye candy for me. Due to #8 happily growing inside, I did not join Stephen, my mom, and the big kids on the exciting rides. However, if we are blessed again one day, I will definitely be right there with them, screaming away with Olivia. My, that girl can holler!

Thank you, thank you to my beloved family.

 We had another magical day!