Anna's First Communion

What a day.  Anna's first communion was a couple of years in the making.  All the religious education, parent prep, weekend retreats, videos, time spent learning prayers...all worth it!  Anna looked beautiful this morning, and she seemed genuinely moved by the whole experience.  I know I was.  

A lot went into getting her prepared for the big day, but the process of outfitting her was a bit comical.  

A few months ago my sister was sending me links to dresses for her on Zulily.  I'd never shopped on Zulily before, and I found a dress I really liked at about 11:00 at night.  I was all nervous they'd be sold out in her size by morning that I ordered it right then without even talking to her about it!  So that totally screwed me on the Zulily flat rate shipping thing since I ordered it like one hour before my grouped shipments would be finalized for the day, but oh well.  If you haven't shopped Zulily before, I recommend at least trying it.  But try it early in the day.  :)

The next morning when Anna and I were eating breakfast I told her I'd bought her a dress, showed her a photo of it, and she had a look of mild disappointment on her face.  "/  I was a little devastated and asked what was wrong with it.  She just says, "Well....why isn't it red?"  Haha!!  "Anna!  You can't wear red to first communion!!!"  Once I explained to her that red would be a bit unacceptable, she seemed much happier with the dress, and I was relieved.

Then when it came in I was the one freaking out.  I'd just assumed from the photo online it would be a brilliant white color...turns out that was just bad lighting.  The dress was ivory!  I had a quick powwow with my Mom and sisters trying to figure out the acceptability of an ivory dress, and we all decided it would probably be fine.  But I was still silently sweating it.  Anna decided she loved it and wore it around the house for about an hour.

I told her we'd probably just do a headband for her headpiece, and she seemed fine with that.  I told her a few girls would likely be all decked out in ball gowns with veils and gloves, but I was sure most of them would be in simple dresses like hers.

Boy was I wrong....A couple of weeks ago we had our First Communion Dress Rehearsal.  I would say easily 85% of the girls were decked out with veils!!!  Even the most tomboy girl that Anna played basketball with had a veil!  We go to a big church, so they were doing the first communions over about 8 masses, with about 10 kids at each mass, and the 3 other girls going on Anna's day all were in veils.  So, my big concern about the ivory color ended up being no big deal.  Even though she was the only one in ivory, it was barely noticeable.  

Here she is on the night of the rehearsal.  Cute headband, right?

Yep....the headband was no longer acceptable.  Anna now needed a veil and a tiara!

Guess what, it's first communion and wedding season all around the world right now!  Good luck finding a veil on Amazon.

So, last weekend, in a last ditch effort to find one, I packed up the kids and took them around town.  First we went to Sam Moon to find a tiara.  All three of my kids were super mesmerized by the store.  I didn't think I'd make it out of there as cheaply as I managed to, but they all seemed pretty content getting to pick out scarves (even Wallace, he wears his wrapped around him like a ninja!).  I ended up getting one big tiara, and 2 smaller comb tiaras.  I didn't really have a clue how to get one to actually stay on her head, and I wanted to have options.  Oh, and Meredith got a big pack of bows.  

Then we went to a couple of bridal shops to look for a veil.  The first one was a total dud with jerks for clerks.  So, I googled a discount shop nearby and they treated Anna like a princess.  She put on her dress just like the two brides that were in there, stood on the podium in front of the mirror, and tried out several veils.  She picked a beautiful veil with little drop pearls on the end.  When we got home I watched a few you-tube videos and we did some practice hair, and even Josh was impressed!  

Today, I got her all dressed and ready to go, picked up my camera to take her outside to get photos, and the bottom dropped out!  Stupid rain storms!  Ugh.  And I broke my flash a few weeks ago, so I couldn't get crap for photos in the church (we weren't allowed to take them during the service anyway though).  So, when we got back home, there was a break in the storms for a minute, and I had her run outside to take a couple of quick photos.  It was still very overcast, but apparently it was just too dang bright for her.  Lol.

At least you get a good view of the headgear.  You can even see some of the pearls on the end.

We compromised and agreed upon a holy pose with her eyes closed.  "/  

I'm a little bummed the weather was uncooperative today, but the whole experience was still very special.  Almost magical.  Meredith came in the bathroom just as we were finishing up getting Anna all dressed, and she was like "Oh Anna!  You look beautiful.  Like a princess!"  That's quite a mouthful for Meredith.  

Then at mass, they got to actually go up and stand around the altar for the consecration!  When it was time to take communion they lined up each kid with one parent behind them in the line for the priest.  The rest of the pew took communion en mass with everyone else.  So, what this resulted in (because there are so many communion servers and because it took the priest a little longer to get into position to start our line) was Anna getting back to the pew after everyone else in the pew was already back in their seats.  I was already getting a little teary, but watching her walk down the pew and get hugs and excited looks and congratulations from everyone was just so incredibly sweet.  And then when she got to Josh he picked her up in a big proud bear hug.  Heart melting...  Then because she was on the end of the pew, complete strangers stopped on their way up to take communion to congratulate her and tell her how beautiful she looked.  It was just a wonderful experience.  I was all crying.  She was a total champ.  I'm so proud of her.  She didn't trip anywhere, bowed at the right times, said what she was supposed to when she was supposed to, paid very close attention through the whole entire very long mass, didn't drop the Eucharist, didn't make a funny face at the wine, and just all around killed it.  

So...sorry for the long post, but I wanted to capture everything that happened.  I'm going to read back through this over the years, and didn't want to forget anything.  :) 

Thank you everyone that was able to make it today to be a part of her big day.  And thank you to everyone that helped us out along the way.  It feels like we finished a marathon this morning.  That may be an understatement.  It was probably even a little more exhilarating than that!

Shutting down for summer

Our spring soccer season is finally over.  And so is just about everything else for this school year.  Just a couple of more weeks of school left!  I think I'm looking forward to it almost as much as the kids are.  Looking back on it, this school year has been exhausting!  It's been a good year and all, but just a tiring one.  We never really got a break from sports all year, and I've got to be honest...I'm so tired of prepping lunches and backpacks and clothes and soccer gear, etc...  Ready to just be lazy for a couple of months and actually make dinner during the week again!  :)

I wasn't able to make it to their soccer games today, but I did get a few pics last weekend.  Meredith, believe it or not, actually started playing soccer this season.  But not much.  She was in frequent need of a sub because she'd just walk over to the sidelines and sit down when she'd decided she'd had enough (bear in mind they play in 4-minute intervals...).  So, once we got used to that, and I guess just let her play on her own terms, she was much happier, and even managed to score a goal this season!  

Photographic evidence of her playing this season!

I'm pretty sure the addition of the gear cart was her favorite thing about soccer this season.  :)

Candy and and iphone...she's in heaven.

Lol.

Haha.  Anna joined her.

So...here's to lazy days by the pool.  I need some of those!  

Wallace's Birthday

Wallace has turned 6!  He has become pretty obsessed with trains in the past few years.  So for his birthday, I bought him a lot more rail and some specialty pieces for his wooden railroad set, and quite a few more train cars.  And we took him to The Texas Transportation Museum so he could check out some real life-sized trains!  

Rachael and her kids came along for the day, and you know who had the most fun at the museum??  We all did!  This place was great!  

The first thing they did was run through (literally) a couple of passenger cars.  

And they all rang the bell on an old locomotive.

I had my long lens on all day, so I couldn't get the whole thing in one shot.  

They also have a train "garden" where they keep quite a few model trains speeding around.  It was super relaxing to just sit there and watch the trains while the kids ran around the garden keeping up with them.

They were especially enamored by the big bridge they would go over.

Wallace really liked the circus train!  It was pretty cute.  :)

They had actual train rides!  Wallace especially loved this part, but then again, we all loved this part.  :)

He spent a good part of the visit climbing over and under some of the trains just trying to piece together how it all works.

He's watched literally hundreds of videos about trains, and he kept correcting our terminology if we misidentified something about one of the trains.  "No!  It's called a locomotive."

There were more model trains in an indoor area!  And....my camera flash broke right before this trip, so I didn't bother trying to take too many indoor photos figuring they'd be all out of focus with the super low aperture. But, my camera surprised me and didn't back-focus for once!  

I was really pleased with how interactive the museum was for the kids.  Plenty of stuff for them to touch and climb all over. 

We stayed long enough that we got to ride the train a second time, and then we headed home for hot dogs, cake, and ice cream!

My Mom ordered the most adorable train candle holders for his cake....but they got lost in the mail.  :(   Good thing I hadn't told Wallace about them! 

After the kids braved the cold pool water, we sang Happy Birthday!  I'm pretty sure this is his make-a-wish pose.  Lol.

I don't know why he was wearing shades, but I think they look cute on him!

I don't think we've ever quite hit the nail on the head with one of the kids' birthdays quite like we managed to with Wallace's this year.  :)  It was a big success!  He's already trying to figure out how he can finagle more trains and another trip to the museum out of us for Christmas.  

The Fair!!

I packed up the kids and went to my hometown fair last weekend!  Well...I guess the East county fair would be considered hometown, but the Conroe show was always a big one for us too.  And it has always had a fantastic carnival, so there's that.  I remembered to take my camera this year!  And I'm so glad I did too, I got some adorable photos of the kids!

Like this one!  My personal fav!  More of these later though...

First thing's first, we come to watch my nieces show their chickens!  But for some reason the turkey show always comes before the chickens.  I never showed turkeys, but when I watch the turkey show, I kind of wish I had.  

When you first walk in the show barn, the turkeys are all in cages right beside the fence.  I'm sure one of these days at least one of my kids is going to get pecked by a turkey, but so far they haven't, and they absolutely love to talk to them before their show starts.

They flip them over to show them, and and they all flap their wings at first, and it's just this big production!  My kids go nuts for that first turkey flip!  Haha!  I was telling some people at work about the fair and how the poultry is judged upsidedown, and they were all staring at me like I was crazy.  lol

The poultry show is about 2 hours long or so, and after the excitement of the turkeys, the chicken show is downright boring...unless you know people in the arena!  This is my niece (in the middle) and her lot of birds.  She made the sale, which is no easy feat at the Conroe show!

When the show was over we all goofed off and waited for the results of the homemaking.

Anna likes giving piggy back rides.  :)

My sister is a little smitten with her new granddaughter.  

And then we were off to the carnival!  I'm usually pretty cheap at these things, but this year I splurged on some unlimited ride wrist bands, so worth it!

Anna loves the big ship!

She's apparently getting too old for the kiddie rides, she was a fairly bored sourpuss on them...  

Oddly enough, she's the only one who started to get sick toward the end of the day. haha.

There was a cool fun house with a maze of clear walls that Wallace managed to give himself a bloody nose on.  I didn't get a picture of that, but take my word for it, it was funny.  

I signed them up for these tractor races.

It was adorable!  They pull these weighted trailers.  

Meredith was a bit annoyed when she wasn't able to pull hers very far. That guy there is trying to give her a high five and get her off the tractor, and she's all ignoring him.  

Anna was the only one of mine to make it through the first round!  She was so proud of herself!

My kids pretty much paid for their unlimited wrist bands on this giant slide alone.  They kept skipping the line!  

Because, let's face it, waiting in line blows...

This was about when Anna started feeling crappy.  :(

But she rallied for one last ride on the giant ship....

...and immediately regretted it....

The littles found the carousel.

And this was about the end of it.  We'd been at it for hours.  :)

We finished off the awesome day in the petting zoo.  

Who puts a turtle in a petting zoo????

Meredith was watching me edit these photos and says "can we go to the fair tomorrow?"  Well...no, but definitely next year though!  :)

Easter

Easter in Gilmer this year was a bit of a whirlwind.  We didn't leave town until Saturday, and right as we were about to leave, Meredith managed to run into the granite counter top with her teeth.  "/  We called the emergency dentist line, and they were nice enough to talk us through what to do to get her tooth back into about the right place.  She'd hit the counter so hard that it pushed one of her front middle teeth back a couple of millimeters.  It was super loose and bloody, but Josh got it just about right back where it was supposed to be.  He was pretty convinced it was just going to fall right out of her mouth because it was so loose, but here we are a week later, and it's still in place!

So, needless to say, we got a late start on our drive to Gilmer.  A short 6 hours later, we were there, and jumping on the trampoline at Leah's house.  As if I was going to be able to keep Meredith off of it.  I would flinch every time she took a hard fall...expecting her to look up at me with a gap-toothed smile for the next 4 years or so.  And, I frankly hovered over her for a while, but there's just not much that will hold Meredith back when she's got her mind set on something.  Like jumping her heart out on a trampoline.  :)

Of course, she wasn't the only one.  Gosh...I really think I need to get a new trampoline...My kids go crazy for them!

Easter morning we hung out with Josh's Mom for a little while.  She had some worms in her fridge for Cy to fish with, and Wallace and Meredith had so much fun playing with them.  They get very attached to any little creature they find and want them to be a life-long pet.  

I'm pretty sure this little guy made the 6-hour drive back and is in my fridge at this very moment.  

Then we had Easter lunch and the Easter egg hunt over at Sarah Faye's new place.  It's beautiful.  And there's even a pond!  I'm so jealous!  

Josh hates when I take photos of him, but this was just so adorable!  And he didn't even flip me off, which is how he usually gets me to stop taking his photo.  Lol.

And then they hunted eggs!  There are so many kids, there ends up being eggs just everywhere for them.  You can sort of see them dotted around the yard in the background here.  This was even after the yard had been picked over quite a bit.  :)

Enjoying their loot.  :)

And then the annual coscarone fight!  

So, like I said, it was a whirlwind.  It was totally worth it though.  Easter in Gilmer is always a great time full of family and food and good times.   :)