First Holy Communion - Finally

I know I promised First Holy Communion pictures at least a week ago. So here they are ... better late than never, right? The day was wonderful, with great weather, great company, great food and, speaking for Hannah and Lizzie, great gifts!

I have to admit to missing my mother a lot during the weekend, as she would have loved seeing the girls in their dresses and seeing them receive this sacrament == but I had to keep reminding myself that she had the best seat in the house for the First Communion, even if she wasn't there to yell at her grown children for laughing and making snide comments during the service!

So here we all are just after the service. It's a rare picture of the four of us, so I thought I'd include it, even though I clearly forgot to do anything with my hair!

Grandma Connie was there, even though she was leaving the next week for her FOUR MONTH ADVENTURE in NYC. Oh, and they are standing by the statue of St. Thomas More, for whom the church is named. It's always interesting to me that St. Thomas More is the patron saint of lawyers (of which I am certain Liz will become!) and the patron saint of adoption!

Here's a picture of four of my favorite people in the world, my girls and their cousins Brenna and Tommy. Last year we were at Tommy's First Holy Communion and in a couple (four?) we'll be at Brenna's. Time marches on!

Lizzie and her BFF Keira after the service. The Church donated the veils to the girls (and the ties for the boys) which is why they are all the same. Keira and Lizzie have been friends since kindergarten and have somehow managed to be in the same class each year. They are already planning on being heartbroken and crying all the time if they are in different classes next year (which is likely, although I haven't told them that!)

My darling Hannah was chosen to help bring the gifts up to the altar:

Here's the whole group of First Communicants. We have a fairly small parish and many of those in the picture are in the girls' elementary school!

Here are the Garritys with Hannah and Liz. Uncle T.A. looks thrilled to be there, as always... :)

Back home we had a little family celebration that included sausage and peppers, pasta salad, green salad, lemonade, and lots of bubbles! Here the girls show off their bubble blowing prowess to Uncle Dude (you can see how quickly they got out of their dresses):

Brenna got in on the bubble-blowing, too.

The Bentleys arrived at the party and this is the best picture I got of them. I think there are only two or three pictures of them when they are all smiling WITH THEIR EYES OPEN. But since I didn't take THOSE, this will have to suffice:

Aunt Beanie is MUCH better at posing for photos. I think she should use this on her Match.com profile. If she had one, that is...

Oh and we mustn't forget the desserts! Here's the cake that I ordered all of 24 hours in advance.

And the very popular chocolate fountain. Tommy discovered the deliciousness of putting the cake in the chocolate fountain. Now we're thinking of naming our next pet after him. DELICIOUS!!! Here's Aunt Beanie dipping her cake:

In between all the dipping and eating, there was some time to relax, as you can see by this picture:

A beautiful day was had by all!