Communion Weekend

Our weekend in New York (state) was wonderful. It dawned on me as I was packing that it had been more than six months since we'd gone anywhere overnight -- YIKES -- no wonder I had cabin fever.
So in honor of our weekend away, we decided to go formal to our (well, Rob's) favorite restaurant. Here we are in our finery eating at White Castle.

And then it was off to Tommy's First Holy Communion. Here he is with several of his Communicants. Let me tell you that little girls get WAAAY dressed up for this sacrament. Let me also tell you that Hannah and Lizzie will NOT be going to the hairdresser prior to their ceremony next year. Chalk it up as another example of me being a MEAN MOMMY.

We took tons (and by we, I mean me) of photos. Here's Brenna trying her best NOT to be bored while I snapped away at all her aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents. Oh, and her brother, too.

Here's Tommy with his Godparents, his aunt Tina and his grandfather.

And here he is with his grandparents (my parents):

Oh, and here he is with one of the priests. They had four priests giving out Communion:

And here Tommy is again ... this time with his family:

Then it was time for the reception. Brenna decided to entertain herself (and me) by becoming a dog. WOOF! :)

And then she decided to dig into the chocolate cake. YUM:

Here's the chocolate cake before Brenna dug into it:

Some of the guests. That would be Rob and Ray -- who live about 10 minutes away from each other, but still spent most of the party talking to each other. I'm sure they are discussing the upcoming Chester County Blues Barbecue.

Lizzie is digging into an ice cream sundae. Actually she's telling me that I have to make my OWN sundae -- she is not sharing!

Here I am ... the official cake eater, I mean cake CUTTER:

HOT DOGS! My children did not like the delicious sabrett hot dogs because they did not have chili sauce and onions like Yocco's. So Rob had to eat his hot dog, PLUS their hot dogs. Plus his own dinner of eggplant rotelli, chicken francaise and vodka penne. And cake.

Hannah had a good time playing with Brenna:

Ann in a rare moment of chatting instead of cleaning or serving or cleaning:

Here's my sister Terry talking to Ann's cousin Martina:

Three generations of Thomas Aloysius's:

Some of the gang ... and a rare picture of me with some of the gang. I have to say I much prefer to be behind the camera! The weekend was really fun with great food, great conversation and lots of laughs.