A First Holy Communicant and a celebration trip

Max's First Holy Communion     May 3, 2015

Max received Jesus for the first time last May!!  (I know, I know, it's almost a year later.  Doh!  Such is the life of a busy mom who has lots to do, but also forgets and lets posts sit in "draft" for way too long)   Anyways, it was a beautiful spring day and he was able to receive Jesus with all the other boys and girls his age at our church, including his cousin!!  After the celebratory Mass, we all went over for a cake/punch reception in the hall (dessert first!), and then the two new First Holy Communicant cousins hosted a picnic lunch at a local park with a playground.  It was a great way to enjoy the weather and enjoy each other in celebrating Jesus coming to live in us in the gift of the Holy Eucharist.

And one thing that we always do to celebrate that joyous occasion is take our new First Communicants on a one-on-one short trip.  Okay, I mean, two-on-one since both Neil and I went.  Actually, I mean two-on-two trip because Yoda got to tag along too since he still relied on da momma for food.  Most importantly, Max got that special attention from both parents so that we can love the Jesus in him and focus on him those couple days, which is SO important in bigger families.  Those middle kids can get lost and forgotten so easily and Neil and I want to do our best to ensure that doesn't happen.  So we make BIG deals out of birthdays and sacrament celebrations.  We did the same thing when Fone, Mario, Melody, and Ariel made their First Holy Communions as well.  Such special trips and memories made!!!

 ~~ Trip to/from ~~

Gotta treat your little guy with Happy Meals and slurpees on the way, right?  We always say "no" when it's the whole clan, but for one lil guy, "why absolutely, YES!!"

~~ Medieval Times ~~

~~ Hotel stay ~~

~~ Legoland ~~

++Thank you, God, for sending your Son who gave himself to us so lovingly and willingly so that we may live in Heaven forever with You someday and also so that He may live in us so that we may be His light to the world right now!  Thank you for coming to Max so beautifully on this special day and also for every Mass thereafter!++

***Wordless Wednesday** ---a double birthday surprise trip

 

 

 

 

A trip to celebrate...

...Ariel's First Holy Communion!!!  

Ariel received Jesus in her First Holy Communion back in December.  And, like we did for the oldest three, we took her out on a little trip away for a couple nights to celebrate the new life of Jesus in her and to also give her that special one-on-one time (although little Rose was a tag-a-long since she is not quite ready to leave Mom and Dad at night).  We were able to split the rest of the kids up and they stayed the night at both sets of grandparents (thanks, Mom/Dad and Jean/Ken!!!).  And, Neil and I, and Ariel and Rose headed down for St. Louis....


The first night, we only had a couple hours, so we took Ariel out to an arcade for a little fun with playing games and winning prizes....

 Goodness - that girl can jump, huh??  

The next day, we spent almost the whole day at the St. Louis Science Center , back to the hotel for some swimming, and then a little shopping at the Galleria mall...

 Ariel was a tad nervous (see above) about the Dinosaur Exhibit, but after she found out that it was not scary, real-looking dinosaurs but playing with the robots instead, she was happy as a clam (see the last last dinosaur pictures and her goofey pose below....)

And for the last day, we spent the first part visiting Our Lady of Snows Shrine and then driving home.  The shrine is such a special place and we went to Mass, spent time at the playground, visiting the devotional areas and eating lunch there as well.  I have to add - their lunch buffet of salad/soup is *the* best buffet of that type!!!  Eight homemade soups and a huge salad bar!!!  If you ever visit the Shrine, do not forget to eat there too!!!

 Isn't there just something so precious with a baby in a bonnet, not to mention her adorable smile!!

 Gotta love that smile!!!

++Thank you, God, for the gift of the Eucharist and for sending your Son to live in Ariel so beautifully and brightly, and for the one-on-one time you gave us with her in this special trip++