Confirmation

A little over a month ago, Patrick and I were both sponsors for Confirmation. 4 years ago we were also both sponsors for his sisters. This time Patrick was asked by his brother, and he felt pretty special. He was a little let down when I too was asked to be a sponsor by the daughter of friends of our family. Again we were both sponsors and we were excited. It is amazing how much easier it is to pay attention at Mass when you sit near the front without any kids. My sponsee picked the name Agnes, and the Bishop read part of her letter aloud! I was so proud of her for choosing such an awesome Saint. Neil also chose an awesome Saint with a cool name: Sebastian. Congrats to our new adults in the Church!

Happy father's day!

This is one of the first father's days that I actually tried to make something special. We usually don't do much for mother's/father's day for each other, but this year (and from now on), I really wanted to do something cute/fun.

I don't know if you can tell, but in the first picture, you see the tie we traced handprints on for Daddy. I traced the girls hands on construction paper, then traced the paper hands with glitter puffy fabric paint onto the ties. We did two: one for Daddy and a red one for Papa. I got the idea from Pinterest (duh), but changed it a little to make it better (easier). Then we glued the paper hands to a card that Elizabeth drew.

Inside the card we wrote reasons why the girls love him. Elizabeth helped me come up with her list. I loved the last one, "because he says prayers." She came up with that one on her own. So sweet. Her other reasons included, "because he's my daddy, he makes up stories and songs, he snuggles with me, he's a mean bear sometimes, and he builds tents. Adelaide's list was guesswork. I used things that Daddy does that make her laugh/smile. "He kisses a lot, he lets me play with his badge and phone (I was later corrected because he does let her play with his phone!), he crawls away and hides from me."

I love this picture. I love these people. Happy Father's day to my honey.

Family!!!

This is the girls with my cousin, Dylan.

This was my dad and Elizabeth watching Finding Nemo. She only watched for a few minutes, there was too much playing that needed to happen.

My Aunt Patty holding Adelaide. It looks like Adelaide liked her.

This is Taylor and apparently this is the first time she ever held a baby.

They had so much fun together. Taylor was so good with Elizabeth.

My Aunt Kathy from California is

 giving Elizabeth an underdog.

Gigi or my Gram was holding Adelaide. She started crying a few seconds after this picture was taken. Adelaide, not Gram. It was so nice to see everyone even if just for a couple of days. 

New York

Early in May, our family spontaneously drove up to New York. Most of my extended family lives there. This time we were just visiting Poughkeepsie where my dad's family lives. We went to see my dad who was staying with my Grandma. He normally lives in Thailand (don't ask- long story that has to do with easier access to medical care and such- he has MS), but had been staying with my Gram for the past year. I drove up last April/May to see him because he had come back into the country, and I was under the impression he would only be here for a few days/weeks. He just left a little over a week ago. My Gram called me and told me that he would probably be leaving soon and that his condition is very bad so this would probably my last chance to see him. My wonderful husband took off work and we were on the road a few days later.

The weather when we go in Spring is amazing. We also love to play in the grass. We don't get to do that here thanks to those lovely little fire ants. Plus- grass up north is so soft... our grass is prickly, right? Not fair.

We made wilderness stew and Adelaide really did try to eat most of everything.

Elizabeth had a great time. We also got to seem Aunt and her family that live in California. They came back to NY for the first time in seven years. The last time I saw them was 9 years ago. I really like hanging out with them and my Elizabeth loves their daughter, Taylor. She is my cousin and I've only met her twice- it's sad. She is the sweetest 9 year old ever.

Seeing my dad is bittersweet. His mind isn't the same and we don't really have a relationship anymore. We can joke back and forth a little and talk about old times some. He has very bad short term memory and can't remember my girls' names. He loves them though and that's what's important. One night, after the girls had gone to bed, I went downstairs into my dad's room and watched Law and Order: SVU with him. It was simple but it is a memory I am glad we made. He told me he liked the female cop, I agreed. We talked about how everyone seems to love SVU the best which is kind of creepy because of what it's about. Then The Break Up came on and he told me that he liked Vince Vaughn and I again agreed. Then Adelaide woke up so I had to go upstairs. Part of me felt bad because we didn't talk of anything important. But another part of me knows the simple times are good, too. If you can spare a prayer, please pray for his conversion. He doesn't have much faith as far as I know, and I think he could use some.