12 Years Ago Today....

Dear Cupcake #1, 

Has it really been a year since I wrote THIS post for your 11th birthday where I reminisced about your birth story and posted some of my favorite photos of you?

It seems like yesterday that Dad and I were holding you in our arms when you were 3 weeks old.  We were at a family party in the backyard of Nana and Grandpa's "old" house....

It seems like yesterday when you were and will always be Daddy's little girl and Dad will never forget his first Father's Day in 2000 when he held you lovingly in his arms and gave you a sweet kiss in the backyard in our "old, old house"...

It seems like yesterday that I was 17 weeks pregnant with your brother (although we didn't know if you were a big sister to a brother or sister at the time), and I held you on my first Mother's Day 2001 (with you outside my womb) as you modeled your cute outfit with a hat with your adorable smile that lit up a room...

It seems like yesterday, we were celebrating your first Christmas when you were 7 months old.  The outfit you are wearing in the photo below has been worn by all your siblings too to celebrate their first Christmas.  Nowadays you are more into what's wrapped in the wrapping paper vs. just laughing at the funny sounds paper can make, like you did as a baby... :) 

It seems like yesterday when I borrowed a watermelon print dress from a friend just so I could take pictures of you beside a watermelon and eating a watermelon with me while my belly was getting as big as a watermelon carrying your sibling. (that's alot of repetition there!)  I wanted the matching watermelon (there's that word again!) dress too so I could make the adorable page for you in your scrapbook....

It seems like yesterday, but it really has been 12 years that you have blessed our family and bring joy to our lives!  You light up our lives...

It WILL seem like yesterday when you graduate high school/college, but I'm grateful this cap is not yours for now and you borrowed it from your cousin at his UNC-Chapel Hill graduation recently!

Happy Birthday to a beautiful young lady inside and out!  We love you and wish you a blessed 12th birthday!

Love,
Mom and Dad

Wednesday Wonder: Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You See?

Last month in April, our family traveled to OH to visit dear friends and we made a trip to the Columbus Zoo.  It was a perfect day for the zoo...no crowds and overcast so not too hot.  I snapped alot of pictures and these are some pictures I got of the polar bear.  He was fascinating to watch glide through the water and come up to the glass! 

 

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

This morning, like many Mother's Days in the past, our family got up bright and early to be with my parents at 8:00 AM Mass at their church.  This is one way I tell my mom "I love you" since my family usually attends a different Catholic Church across town each Sunday.  It's always a blessing to spend time with my Mom and my children always love seeing their grandparents.  Today's Mass was even more special because it was said for my Dad's mom, Lena, as we remembered her in prayers and with many memories.  My Grandmother passed away many years ago and I was glad to be at church with my Dad to remember his mother in this way. 

After Mass my husband took some photos of my Mom and me.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!  I love you!

One of my favorite quotes:

 "The most important person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral-a dwelling place for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby's body...Even the angels have not been given such a grace! What is more glorious than this - to be a mother." -Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty

Our Daughter's First Holy Communion

This past Saturday, May 5, our daughter celebrated her First Holy Communion.  It was a blessed and beautiful day as our daughter received the sacrament of Holy Eucharist for the first time with three other children in our homeschool group.

Here our some photos (OK, alot of photos!) to remember such an exciting and special day in our daughter's faith journey....

My mom handmade the dress which my oldest daughter also wore during her First Communion in 2008. 

During the procession at the beginning of Mass, my daughter crowned Mary. 

Each First Communicant made a banner to hang on the end of their pew during the Mass. 

John 6:48-68

Our daughter receiving Christ in the Eucharist

Our daughter receiving the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

These beautiful and delicious cupcakes were made from scratch by my friend JH whose daughter received First Communion with my daughter.  

This was the gift table which also displayed the First Communion scrapbooks that each First Communicant designed throughout the year as a way to remember their special sacramental year. 

Our daughter proudly shows her scrapbook.

 

Here I am in 1982 when I received my First Holy Communion.  My mom hand-made my dress also. On the left is my oldest daughter when she received her First Holy Communion in 2008.  Do you think you are seeing double?  :) We went to the same church and location to take my daughter's picture.  My mom hand-made another dress for my daughters.  It is a special gift and labor of love and I look forward to my third daughter wearing this same dress in a few years for her First Communion.  Thanks Mom! 

Our Daughter's First Communion...How Beautiful!

Tomorrow morning our Cupcake #3 will receive her First Holy Communion with 3 other children in our Homeschool group. She is excited to crown our Blessed Mother during the May Crowning, bring up the gifts to prepare the altar for Communion, and receive Jesus' Precious Body and Blood for the first time....How beautiful it will be!


 

Wordless Wednesday: Robin Eggs

A few weeks ago we went to OH to visit friends and we found this nest of robin eggs on their playground set in their backyard. So pretty! The eggs have hatched recently as our friends keep us updated on the cute chicks. I wish we could have seen the babies!