Congratulations, Charlie!!!

Another big event for our family this month was that Charlie made both his First Communion and Confirmation this month (ok, last month, I realize it's already May!!) The Diocese of Phoenix is changing things to reflect some pre-Vatican II practices of combining these two sacraments and giving them earlier. Some say its because they recognize "8" as the age of reason. Ha, whoever says this, doesn't have a 8 year old. I'm not sure Charlie truly appreciates what has happened. After all, he still can't sit still in Mass. This child can play video games without a bathroom break for upwards of 4 hours, but can't give one hour to stillness and quiet listening. And when asked to pick his Confirmation name, he chose Patrick..."because he likes the color green and he's always wanted to know more about the shamrock". Ask a kid, you get a kid's answer. But he did do all the projects and preparation, and willingly I might add. As his service project, he played violin at Christmas mass and regularly hands out programs before Mass. He loves greeting people, though he is still a little too shy to actually say "Good Morning".

There was one big Mass on a Saturday morning. The sanctuary was packed and overflowing as 60+ kids received these two sacraments. We didn't actually have the Bishop, but his helper Fr. Felt, who gave a very nice homily to the kids. Fr. Scott (our pastor) told me later that Charlie was one of the very few who remembered the proper responses for Confirmation. I gave credit to Aunt Eileen who was his sponsor, and who prompted him as we waited in line to make sure he did his thing right. Ginny and her two little ones attended mass with us. Fortunately, Eileen was able to come without her brood since that helped distribute the adults a little better among the kids who quickly got bored and frustrated with being trapped in church. Next year, I think I'll offer to open a nursery for the families. Charlie's neighbor friend, Sammy, came with us. It's hard to tell what she thought of all the pomp and circumstance (albeit it noisy and chaotic) of our Mass as she attends a Evangelical Christian church down the road. I do think she enjoyed being there for Charlie and what was clearly an important moment. It was a really beautiful service, and I couldn't help but be teary-eyed as my first born reached yet another milestone.





As Eileen stood up for Charlie, Monica stood up for Jimmy, one of Charlie's best friends from Kindergarten. Their parents led us to St. Bridget way back when and even though the boys no longer go to school together (Jimmy still goes to Queen of Peace), they still get together regularly. They just get each other.







After mass, there was a nice reception with cake and then we took Charlie to his favorite Chinese buffet resteraunt. It was a nice break from the usual Saturday lunch at the Golden Arches. This is a picture of Tony trying to feed Lucy some octopus!!!

Happy Easter and Happy Birthday Alexander

This is a full month, so I'm combining some of the posts. Easter was a busy week for us since I played nearly every night at church. The choir had worked really hard, but it really paid off in the Masses. On the mornings of both Holy Thursday and Good Friday, I played Morning prayer services. I also played the masses both nights. Then there was the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening. It's my favorite Mass of the year, and I love how they do it at St. Bridget's. There is tons of music intertwined with the readings, lots of candles; it's very high liturgy and extremely fulfilling. But it also lasts for about three hours, so I didn't get home until close to 11. Then, after meeting with the Easter Bunny, I crawled into bed for a few hours before I had to get up and be at church by 5 to prepare for the Sunrise Service. That was complicated by the fact that rain the previous day had prevented us from getting everything set up the night before. So we had to wipe dry the seats, get everything plugged up and running. The 6:00 mass was pretty much our dress rehearsal for the later Masses. But it was a beautiful day outside, very sunny, but not too hot. In fact, I was wearing my leather jacket at the early mass (I was ticked since I had invested in a new Easter dress), but managed a sunburn at the later masses. We had a hummingbird present and hanging about the alter at all three masses, it was gorgeous. Tony brought all the kids (which he had to dress and feed since I left before they got up) to the last mass of the morning. Not only was he on time, he was early, I was so proud. And the kids looked great too. He forgot the camera, so we don't have proof, but you can take my word for it. We took a few pics once we got home.

The kids had a big weekend too. On Saturday, Tony took them to the YMCA Easter Egg hunt where Florence got to chase down her first eggs. We then all met up for lunch at Village Inn where the Easter Bunny was hanging out giving out balloon hats/animals. What a fun and special weekend for them. This is a poloroid they took for us while we were there.

That afternoon, we had planned on celebrating Alexander's birthday since the three families (Bigleys and Dawsons) were going to be together anyway. Knowing that I was going to be exhausted from working, and having visited Enchanted Island in Encanto park during spring break, we decided to hold his party there. Enchanted Island is an amusement park for the younger set - according to their website, they cater to the 1-10 year olds (Hey! That's us!), but really, it's more for the 1-6. Lucy and Charlie were a little bored, but they had a great attitude for the party. These guys did EVERYTHING for us. They did let us bring cake (they would've provided, but since it's not personal, they encourage people to bring their own), but they gave us ice cream, a table in the shade, a host to make sure we had everything we needed, drinks, food, balloons, a tshirt for Alex...and all for a reasonable amount of money, especially when you consider how much fun the kids had on the rides and how I didn't have to clean up either before or after the party. Alexander loved his Power Rangers party, though he got so many Spiderman gifts, he then adopted Spiderman as his favorite superhero of the day.

He did get to have a home party as well. More presents, more celebration of Alex. Here he is with our neighbor friends. And here he is with Florence planting flowers, one of his favorite activities.

Happy Birthday to Me

I managed in true childlike style to have my birthday last the whole month. I figured I deserved it. After all, I turned 40 this year. Most people shy away from celebrating this particular milestone, but I figured, I have three degrees, a good marriage, four kids, and we own our house (sort of), so it's not like I'm 40 and still trying to figure out what I want to do. I've achieved alot, with the grace of God, of course, I do recognize that while I've worked hard, I've been truly blessed with everything we have.

April 1, my actual birthday, started out like any other day. I was to work in Lucy's classroom, teach piano in the afternoon, take Charlie to a rehearsal at church, and then Tony and I were joining Ginny and Eileen and their husbands for dinner that evening. While I was all about the dinner out as adults, I was really saving my birthday celebration for later in the month. More on that later. Anyhow, around 7:30 that morning, Ginny shows up with donuts for breakfast. The funny part was how she had them carried in by my parents who had flown in from DC to surprise me. I was so tickled. She had also, with some help from my neighbor, cancelled my working in the classroom and arranged with my sister to cancel lessons for the afternoon. So while I couldn't get out of the church rehearsal, I was able to spontaneously have a whole day "off". We hung out, ate too much sugar (doughnuts and a dirt cake the little boys made), had a beer in the middle of the day with lunch, napped and played with the little kids left at home (the older two sadly left for school at the normal time.) It was glorious. And that evening, the eight of us went to my favorite resteraunt, Red, White and Brew for dinner. I love that place, but somehow only manage to make it there for my birthday. Oh, well, keeps it special. It was a wonderful day. It was especially amazing how mom and dad arrived on Sunday, everyone except me knew, including my neighbor, and somehow, they still managed to surprise me Wednesday morning. In hindsight, I saw the signs...Tony cleaning up, Eileen not calling me back the evening before (Ok, that actually happens quite a bit), Ginny making my hair appointment so it didn't interrupt the day...I'm glad I'm not so "mature" I can ruin a surprise by being suspicious.

Because I was turning 40, I asked my friend and neighbor Tricia to throw me a party. I love parties, but I tend to be the thrower, not the receiver. I figured I deserved one for this milestone. I postponed it until the end of April since my birthday fell during Lent this year. When you're Catholic, and most of your friends are Catholic, a party on a Friday night during Lent can be a little less than you're looking for in a party. So we waited until after Easter.

Tricia got my sisters involved. As part of my gift, Ginny, Eileen, my brother John and my parents through money into the pot to help pay for it. This allowed us to cater the party instead of making all the food ourselves. We went with Joe's Real BBQ from Gilbert, AZ. Having moved here from Alabama, Tony and I have been looking for good BBQ. Well, we hadn't been to this place before, but now it's my new favorite. We, of course, ordered too much food, but we kinda did it on purpose so we would have leftovers. Which we did, for a week, and I still have some in the freezer. We did pies instead of cake, because that's what I prefer, and Hey, it's MY birthday. I got my favorite, Lemon Meringue as well as a few others. We also had veggies and fruit and chips and enough beer, wine and vodka lemonade to serve the neighborhood. I'm going to have to throw another party just to get rid of leftovers! The most difficult thing to get rid of was the fruit/veggies. After all, the alcohol will keep, the meat will freeze, the desserts disappeared quickly (ha!). But fruits/veggies have to be eaten once they're cut, and eaten quickly. We did pretty well with the watermelon, grapes, and cantalope, but I was the only one who would eat the celery, and I'm afraid the peppers didn't make it.

Here is a picture of my sisters, Ginny, Eileen and Susannah with my friend and neighbor Tricia and her husband Ray. I had spent weeks preparing the backyard, overseeding the lawn, watering the heck out of it, throwing away toys that had been beaten to death by the sun and planting flowers with Alex. Here he is with some of his handiwork. I also revived the fountain in the front with a new pump/plug, hoping that everyone would ooh and ahh over the fountain and not notice that the grass in the front was dead, and my goodness the house needs painting! We rented tables and chairs for the back patio/yard and covered them with purple tablecloths. In the planning stages, we had messed around with the idea of an 80s theme, but in the end, decided to spend money on food/beverage instead of decorations and took advantage of post-Easter sales to decorate in Spring pastels. My neighbor's husband, Ray, who's in construction borrowed some lights from his work that we strung along the back fence all the way around so that the backyard once it got dark, was lit up nicely. It was truly beautiful, especially once my friends started arriving. My sister Susannah was able to fly out and join us, so it truly felt like a special occasion. Here is a picture of some church friends - Dan and Sue I know through Religious Education, Andy, his wife DeAnn, and Nancy I know through choir.

The best part of the party was that some friends of mine in a band volunteered to play for the occasion. They are some friends from church, including my old music director Jaime and his wife Kari, my friends Leon and Ed from church and Phil that I've only met once or twice. They play regularly at weddings, etc., but wanted a chance to get together just for fun, so we were blessed to have them come and grace us with their covers of pop music. It was amazing. They played while everyone ate, and after dinner, they played while everyone danced. It's so nice to see that giant concrete pad in the backyard get some good use. Bottom line, it was a great party. I really felt loved, from the attention showed me that night, to the help from my sisters and friends preparing for it. It was exactly what I wanted, and even better than I could've imagined. Happy birthday to me!

Here's a few extra pictures from the day after. Susannah with Lucy out in the backyard (Lucy had gone to a glam party for a friend's birthday.) Here she is with Florence, who took to her like a hen on a junebug. And here is Florence enjoying the balloons who may have lost their "float" but not their ability to entertain!