Firsts

Since moving, there's been a lot of firsts for our family! Here's some of them:

Gabe's First Day at the New Store:


Tate's First Cereal:


Tate's First Oatmeal:
Tate's First Bananas:




Today we made Tate's First Peas! Connor and Tate both helped. Well Tate stayed in my arms and Connor helped puree everything down.



Since moving, there's been a lot of firsts for our family! Here's some of them:

Home Sweet Home

Finally, we've got almost everything unpacked and we've stated to get pictures hung and making everything more "us". Last night after the boys got in bed, I finally got a few minutes to take some shots of the new house. Connor's room looks a bit like a disaster area, but since both he and Tate were sleeping when I took pictures of their rooms, I didn't worry too much about it!

God Bless Connor!

Remember Connor's Baptism? Chances are, you probably don't. Why? Well, Connor's baptism had no fan fare as it was done when he was 8 weeks old, hospitalized with a terrible virus and a fever of over 103 Degrees. Gabe wasn't present for it and all in all while it is important and sacred, it's not the most joyful of memories.

At Tate's baptism, while talking with our wonderful friend Regina (aka: the other half of our favorite Deacon) I told her how Connor had only received the water baptism and not the full Rites and how Gabe was at Ft. Bragg preparing to deploy and wasn't there to witness it. Not much else was said about it and we celebrated Tate's baptism and had a wonderful afternoon/evening.

Later the next week at our ProLife committee meeting, Regina came to me and asked if we would be interested in having Connor receive the rest of the Baptismal Rites given to him. I was completely caught off guard and overcome with emotion knowing how much my boys were thought of by our church community. With the chaos that ensued over the whirlwind of time between Tate's baptism and Thanksgiving and Christmas and the move, I wasn't sure when we'd fit it in.

On Christmas Eve, I was completely humbled and again, overcome with emotion when Dom stopped us after mass and asked if we would be able to attend the 5:30 mass on Saturday. We were already planning on attending, but when Dom offered to perform the Baptismal Rites for Connor so Gabe could be there and so that he would preside over the ceremony before our move... there were no words. After mass on Saturday, December 26, "The A Family" blessed us once again. Not only did they take time away from their son and daughter in law who were visiting from out of town. Not only did they take time away from Regina's mother who lives with them, but they made time for our family and to be a part of such an amazing and special event in Connor's life.
We could not begin to thank them enough. We are so blessed, and we miss our Immaculate Conception family so much.

Christmas Recap

I must admit that I struggled to really get in to the Christmas spirit this holiday season. Maybe it was because our house resembled a disaster area. Maybe it was the boxes upon boxes of Christmas decorations that remained unopened in the attic. Maybe it was that I was just so exhausted and stressed that I let that overwhelm my usual joy and excitement for the season. I'm sad that this season passed me by and that I wasn't able to throw myself in to it as much as I would have liked. That being said, we still had a wonderful holiday season with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day being spectacular.With the impending move we altered some of our typical plans, and created a multitude of memories. Usually on Christmas Eve we head to the Christmas Eve Family Mass. The past few years we have arrived about 50 minutes early in order to insure our getting our normal seats. This year was no different, it was merely enhanced when we were able to sit with our dear friends The R Family! The church looked amazing!
During Mass Father Theo invited all of the children to come up and see Baby Jesus lying in the manger. The entire church sang "If you're happy and you know it" and "Happy Birthday" to Jesus during the homily. He even reminded the kids that one of the best ways to make Jesus happy was to listen and obey their parents! (Something tells me more than a few parents dropped something extra in the offering when he said that!)After mass we spent the best evening we've had in a very long time hanging out with The R Family. We made a bunch of homemade pizzas, ate dinner, the kids all put on their Christmas PJs, the big boys and I baked homemade Chocolate Chip cookies for Santa and the adults all enjoyed great conversation and wine! We were blessed to have Father Charles join us midway through the evening. After his arrival we got out a birthday cake for Jesus and we all sang to celebrate! We left late that night with full bellies, hearts and souls. What a perfect Christmas Eve!After we got home we read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, left Reindeer Food out for the reindeer and tucked the boys in to bed. Then just like every year, Gabe and I brewed some coffee and watched "It's A Wonderful Life".

Christmas morning brought such a sight! We finally woke Connor up at nearly 9a.m. and when he stumbled out of bed he couldn't believe his eyes! Our boys were DEFINITELY blessed this Christmas. (As was our entire family). We spent the rest of the day as a family enjoying one another and playing some Bakugan with Connor. Then it was back to the grind, trying to finish up the packing.
To see more of our Christmas pictures, you can go here. (WARNING: It's a lot!)