Last Saturday, my niece, Morgan, made her First Holy Communion. I missed most of the Mass, since little Pete was temporarily demonically possessed. He would be nice and quiet outside the building, but as soon as I went into the chapel, he would begin to wail. He didn’t seem to suffer nearly as much the next day when we went to church.
Here is Jenny before the Mass. She seems so calm, huh?
She, too, had issues that morning. And then I left her in the pew with my parents while I dealt with devil-boy.
This is how she spent the rest of Mass after I left her. I was relieved.
This is Katie snuggling with her Uncle Glenn.
The only person in this photo I know is Morgan who is on the end closest to the camera.
I love these group shots. The kids all look so lovely.
Here are my parents, my sister, Barbara, my brother-in-law, Bill, and Morgan. Even though half the people in the photo are looking at the other camera person, I think it’s a nice shot of them.
I have no photos of my Dad’s Easter Vigil Mass. As luck would have it, I turned on my camera, lined up for a shot as they were beginning the confirmation portion, and tried to zoom in. The camera went dead. I looked at my sister, Beth, and mouthed that my batteries were dead. “Mine, too,” she mouthed back. Oh, well. It freed me to pay attention to the prayers and blessings of the ceremony, I suppose.
I did enjoy this Mass. I was worried – I had forgotten to bring tissue. I’m one of those emotional crybabies. As soon as I saw my Dad’s name in the program, I started to well up. I concentrated on following along in the missal and the program, which was great, since those running the show didn’t seem to know what they were doing. I was so distracted by trying to guess what would happen next that I completely forgot about crying! In defense of my parents’ church, I will say that their church building is under renovation and they were in a rented hall with limited access prior to the Mass. They also don’t have a pastor right now, since the last one died recently (may his soul rest in peace). Their lack of rehearsal showed, but it wasn’t really their fault. It kept me from having mascara running down my face, and that’s all that really matters, right?
Thankfully, the three youngest were left at home. Fritz and Billy weren’t too happy about being there, and did a lot of complaining. Is the attitude thing normal for an 8 – 9 year old boy? It was late, especially since we had only been in the central time zone for about 48 hours. But they’ve managed to stay up to midnight for special events like New Year’s Eve with no trouble. Fritz was so sulky that I told him if he didn’t shape up, he wouldn’t go to Communion, and if he didn’t go to Communion, he had to return to Mass the next morning to try again. I really thought I’d have a few more years before I had to deal with this.
{sigh}
Reit This Way 
8-9 year old boys angry and uncooperative? NEVER~I thought I had a few years before this would happen as well. I read that boys need to be men… so now my son gets to chop wood, mow the lawn and do any other manly job that comes our way. It has helped loads with his moods.
Congratulations to Morgan!
What an eventful couple of weeks! So cool about your dad! I love how the dress turned out (that’s the one you made, right?) and I had to do a double take of the family pic…I thought that was you instead of your sis, you look a whole lot alike! You are both very pretty and I really liked your sis’s funky hairdo! I laugh (sorry) when I think about whispering through my teeth threats right before communion to my 9 year old that if he doesn’t shape up…in fact, we went to mass just last night and my hubs had to do that very thing. Hmph. Also, the whole Mass, my 3 year old was fighting the 1 year old for her sippy cup of water and saying, “I’M THIRSTY!”. Mari was using that moment to learn the art of “MINE!” and was doing such a nice job of it. Weazy (6 year old) was laughing at the too-grown-up-acting Mari and that was egging her on to clown around even more. Ah, the joys…some day we will sit there in church and we will miss all the wiggling and shoving, whining and loudness, whispered threats and m&ms dropped into the holy water font (ours is like a ginormous hottub). I am going to suggest to Father to record all of his homilies so I can read them/listen to them for real… someday…when I am retired…and not babysitting grandchildren.
Thanks, Ladies. It’s nice to know my son is normal. It’s nice to know that clenched teeth are normal too. He’s now responsible for taking out the garbage, and if I can figure out any more manly jobs, they’ll be his, too.
Have I mentioned how good it is to have you home again?Oh, and since you’ve gone all wacky on me and turned off your comments again, I love the stuff on St. George, since we have a Stephen George in the house who absolutely <>loves<> his patrons. On a side note, but very cool for my son, is the fact that today’s Mass Reading featured his other patron. Have a great day, Michelle. Let us know if you make that cake.
What lovely pictures and you and your sis look a like! And now that I’ve met your children I don’t mind telling the world they are very very sweet and absolutely well behaved. Really. Of course they will do this and do that but Michelle, you are blessed! I am so impressed with your homeschooling philosophy. I love the integrated approach to celebrating St. George.