Katie's First Communion

The First Communion Girl, looking lovely!
I love this picture of Katie - it just looks so much like I always think of her

Last weekend we went to Amarillo so we could go to Katie's First Communion celebration. Mike had been up to Amarillo just before Christmas when his Mom had knee surgery, but the rest of us hadn't seen everyone since John Michael's baptism in October. Aunt Mary Jo & Uncle Dick were also coming down from Colorado, so the girls were really excited to get to see them as well.


Everyone getting a chance to visit on Saturday morning

Katie was great and really played a lot with Gracie & Clara. Clara especially seemed to bond with Katie - I think it must be that 2nd child thing ...


Gracie & Clara having a sweet moment before we head off to church for mass.

That was about it for sweet moments. Mass was at 5:30 and unfortunately, Clara didn't get a nap before church and apparently, JM didn't get enough of a nap. It was quite a mass! As Katie's godparents, we got to walk into mass with her. So Mary Jo held John Michael for us. It was too bad he screamed the whole time. She got him to quiet down for a little bit, and then Mike was able to take him. Meanwhile, Clara had mostly fallen asleep on my lap. But she was still fussy, couldn't get comfortable, needed milk, etc., etc.

The funniest part of mass was when Mike came back to our row with John Michael & JM clearly wanted me to take him. So I shifted Clara over to Mike (she was unhappy with that & that was the end of sleeping for her) and then took JM. You should have seen the look John Michael gave his big sister. He was definitely gloating over winning the battle for Mommy.

After mass, everyone went back to Joseph & Virginia's for a quick dinner and (we thought) then off to bed with our kiddos. But it wasn't to be. As tired as Clara was, she didn't go to bed until 8pm. And John Michael would probably have stayed up until 10. I made the mistake of trying to put him to bed before 8pm - what was I thinking? The three pictures below are all after that attempt. He was quite pleased to be up and playing with everyone!




The next morning Susie & Dave had a yummy brunch for us & then we headed home. It was a quick but fun weekend!


Watching cousins open presents is almost as good as opening them yourself!

John Michael's first time to sit in the grass - in Aunt C's hometown on our drive back!