Cecily's First Holy Communion

JMJ

My Sweet Cecily Rose received Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament on April 29th.  She wore my dress and veil from when I received, which made it all the more special.  Both my daughters, so far have been able to wear it.  :)  And the gloves were a gift from Uncle Ben and Aunt Jessi to Aine.  They have been well loved!

She was so happy and peaceful all day.  I wish the sun hadn't been quite so bright because she looks a little nervous in the picture, but there was none of that in reality.

Here's the whole family on the next Saturday after her class received at a special mass.  We are sl thankful to our priest, Fr. Beres for offering this special mass, just for these first communicants.  Joseph and Henry sang in the choir and it was wonderful.  Lucinda and Elizabeth followed Craig (http://www.spieringphotography.com/) when he went to take pictures from the loft during the mass.  I couldn't believe it when I saw them up there: the girls were constantly in motion, but there was no noise!  Praise the Lord for small miracles! 

FOR SALE: 220 Orchard St., Front Royal, VA

JMJ

 We finally have our house on the market!  I can hardly believe it is finally for sale, but so much has happened to get us here that I guess it shouldn't surprise me.



As usual, I've been terrible about posting to this blog!  My apologies to those of you who check up on us once in awhile on here because I haven't updated in ages.  We are just about to have baby #6, we moved in Aug., we spent the whole summer and most of the fall and a lot of money getting the house fixed-up.  Craig's been busy with Spiering Photography (which is a huge blessing!).  Joseph started going to REAL school, Aine and Henry are learning to read.  There has hardly been a moment to enjoy life; and yet . . .

We DO enjoy life.  We've enjoyed having more space at this house.  We've spent time with friends and family.  We've enjoyed feast days and birthdays--Cecily turned 4 a few weeks ago!!!!  The kids have gotten into playing cards, drawing pictures, and writing their own stories.  Life is full to brimming.



Now, without further ado, here is the official like to the listing of our house.

http://220orchardstreet.utour.me/



Please check it out and spread the word!  It is a wonderful family home very near Historical Main St., Front Royal.  It is near to the heart of the town and the Heart of Jesus--just a little over a block from St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.  It was faster for us to walk to mass, even in inclement weather, than to buckle everyone in and find parking.  What a blessing it was to walk to holy hours or daily Mass.

Blessed feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary!  She is a wonderful patron to have for our baby who will arrive very soon.

                               

Cecily's 1st day of school

JMJ

I guess this seems like Cecily's blog!  Ha, ha!  It just works out that these are the photos I have and this is the time I have to post them.  Cecily began Atrium with her three older siblings this Fall.  She was so very excited.  It is a very special time for her, getting to do her own works on her own schedule.  

God bless!

First Day of Atrium

JMJ

Joseph and Aine started their Atrium class last week. Joseph is excited about class. He loves going to Atrium, as showcased in this picture:



But he wasn't really running like that because he was that wound-up about class. For Joseph, this is old-hat, but for Aine, this day was the paramount of all days. She FINALLY gets to go to school with Joseph. She wanted to go in with Joseph every class last year and now she is FINALLY able to go. But did that quicken her pace at breakfast?



No. I am doing her hair at the table because everyone else is ready to go and she is STILL chewing her oatmeal. At least she looked a bit more excited for this one:



We tried to get them to stand next to each other so we could get a photo, but they won't stay close enough to get them both in a shot. And this is what it looked like when we told them to hold hands.



they finally did smile.



But they weren't really standing close enough to get a good picture of them both. So I told them to hug each other.



I couldn't believe they went for it! It was one of the cutest things I've seen in a long time. One of those little moments that makes a mother's heart swell with appreciated for her children. I thought, "they really LIKE each other!" Usually one of them is being ornery and just won't cooperate--which I don't blame they for. There were certainly days when I didn't want to hug my siblings, but that didn't mean I loved them less. Kids will be kids and you can't MAKE them act in a certain way. I didn't expect them want to hug each other and pose for a picture when they were all excited for their first day of school. But today, they just hugged each other and said, "Cheeeeeeeeeeese!" Or "Teeeeeeease!" in Aine's case.



I think Aine was a little overwhelmed by Joseph, but he was pretty gentle and they seemed to have a great time getting their picture taken.



If you ask them, as I did, "How was class? What did you do?" The answer is almost always the same. "I did some works." And that is about all I can get out of them. They love the class and DO a lot, but when you try to get them to talk about it, you just get, "I did some works." I think it is a good thing for them to have their class, that is all their own. If they don't feel the need to explain their morning to me, that is just fine. I can tell they worked hard and loved it. There is a peace about them after Atrium.