1st Communion

 First Communion for B has been a long time coming.  First, there was the timing mix up that puts him at this place a year late. Then, there were two years of classes.  In the second year, there was also first reconciliation and its retreat,  prayers to memorize, the Catechetical Mass (where they explain all the things going on in Mass, making a banner, then the first communion retreat, then practice for the big day and finally here we are!  A lot learned and a big step.

Here he is in this magic suit we bought for Uncle Able's wedding that somehow still fit fine once we let out the hem and added a new tie.  He looked very sharp. 

 Aunt Audra helped with the banner and so many things this week including tons of delicious cookies from a Elieen's, new rainboots, and lots of encouragement along the way.  She is rocking Godmother work! Thanks so much, Audra!

 Today, B and I arrived at 8:15, but there really wasn't much to do the first 30 minutes we were in the Great Hall with his class.  We took some of the above photos, and in this one he is telling me a story. It might be my favorite of the day :)  He remarked that the girls in their fancy dresses looked a lot different, but the boys look about the same.  Good observation...

I don't really have a photo of him actually taking communion and, in fact, could barely see it as his extra tall teacher was mostly blocking the view.  Luckily, professional photos are coming (yes, that is a thing?)  It went like this though,  they processed in in pairs, and the entire class sat together in the front pews.  Some the kids did the readings, others helped with gifts, and everyone had a chance to answer questions during the Priest's sermon. I thought he did a really good job with them in contextualizing this moment and encouraging them onward.  (Father Ray has been awesome throughout this process.)  After communion and announcements, his class got up and sang/signed their song.  It went better than I had anticipated.  Then there was the mad rush for group pictures and I elected to defer to the pros I was paying for that photo in the crush of people and cameras.  

 Aunt Audra (to the rescue again!) took a family photo for us.  No clue what is up with E here, but that's about how it goes...

 Here he is with his Godmother and one of his best smiles of the day.  He was really hot in his 3 piece suit and it came off right over his final photos with Audra.  We had cake and punch at the church reception and then came home for the video game after party of a 9 year old's dreams.

 Here he is with 1/4 of the cookies Audra brought - a good mix of crosses, OU, Storm Troopers, and Thunder.  Perfect mix and another real smile! Two in a row!

 This is some of the wonderful crew that joined us for lunch.  Able & Kari made amazing pulled pork - so delicious and a huge help.  Grandma brought buns and Grammie and Granddaddy brought 4 kinds of ice cream!  Some of B's old friends from Angie Debo came to spend the afternoon playing along with some of our other friends.  It was great fun.

 These two continue to be adorable together.  E was a little emotional today, but still managed to have fun.

 Tracie and I had lots of time to catch up and we actually used our fire place room.  It is great for gatherings as people can talk away from where the kids are playing and the tv.

In addition to all that talking, there were video games, computer games, board games, and lots of nerf and light saber battles.  I think a great time was had by all.  We went in with Grandma to buy B a Kindle Paperwhite to help with is reading passions and have it all linked up to the library after he had nearly devoured the book we gave with it in one day.  We love to read!  I think getting presents surprised him quite a lot so whenever someone gave him one it was an extra cool bonus rather than an expectation, which is perfect.

After everyone left there were more games, some dinner and talking, Harry Potter time together and then off to bed for some more reading on the Kindle.

For me, I was surprised that I almost cried as he had his first communion.  I have worked hard and spent a lot of really good time with him to get to this moment.  I'm so grateful for the journey and the one on one hours we got to spend. Also, during that moment someone was singing "Remember me" and I thought how much my Dad would have been proud of that moment even as the rain poured down bringing him closer.  Undoubtedly, my connection to my Dad in the church is a big piece of what keeps us there and he would have loved this moment.

My favorite part probably was when he walked up stairs to take a bath and said : "Well, this has been a really fun day"  This is very high praise from B and I loved it. I wanted the day to be a fun celebration his style and I think it was.  Hooray for big milestones, faith, and a happy boy. 

Denver Botanical Gardens

I seem to remember always visiting botanical gardens on vacation wherever we would go.  My parents love gardens and my dad, in particular, was fascinated with plants.  He taught us latin names of plants and studied them closely, both while in school and long after.  Out of habit or grown love, I always visit botanical gardens too and so enjoy them.

This year's NACUA conference was in Denver, CO.  Gabrielle (a new attorney in my office) and I made our way to the gardens with a few folks from Penn.  Happily, this was a double feature as it was not "just" a botanical garden, but one with a fabulous display of Chihuly glass woven in.  I loved how well they were woven together as well as the beauty of each alone.

These could almost be a fountain.

These maybe birds?

I loved that this particular botanical garden had lots of larkspur.  I don't see it that much outside of my mother's garden, but it was the flower my bridesmaids carried and the decoration for our wedding reception.  I love it.

These were bug houses.  They reminded me of the lizard houses the kids made at farm camp on a somewhat grander scale.

I love that the purple spires mimic the purple larkspur spires and the other similar flowers nearby.

Near here, we encountered two of my first mentors when I was a new attorney.  It was wonderful to run in to them in the midst of this beauty in a less "legal" setting.  Ann & Dennis - you are awesome!

The Chihuly display at the OKMOA has a sort of similar boat display in it, but having a boat of  glass balls and decorations in the middle of actual water is much more effective.

The red spires in the "plains" section did remind me a little of fire, and a little of flowers,  They seemed a bit more dangerous somehow.

Looking back as we transitioned away to the dessert.

Of course, Frozen came to mind :)

And roses, so many beautiful roses and peonies.  It smelled amazing.

This was near the end of our circle and completely beautiful.  It is, of course, all glass. I saw pictures that suggest it lights up at night!

If you have a chance to visit these gardens I strongly recommend it.  Which botanical gardens would you suggest I seek out in the future? 

Ten on Tuesday

1.  Entryway painting is complete!  The colors are weird here as I promise the walls on the left are blue.  Trust me that the entryway is a lovely dark grey.  I've ordered a new light fixture that should arrive this week.  This was our only real home improvement progress for the week, but we helped my mom out with some of hers too!

2.  We went to the farm for a bit this weekend.  Lady M got some special reading help from her Great Grandpa.  They were reading the chapter titles, mind you, not the actual text of this big book.  They do quite well together.

3. If you live in metro OKC - consider heading out for the Myriad Gardens Easter Egg Hung on 4/19.  It starts with the 4 and under wave at 10 and the 5-10 year old wave is a bit later.  Early Registration for Members is happening now through April 1: http://oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/events/myriad-gardens-annual-easter-egg-hunt/ (If you are not a member yet, why not? It is awesome!)

4.  In other adventures, we are going to the Men's Gymnastics conference championships at OU on Saturday at 4pm (McCasland Fieldhous) if anyone wants to join us let me know.  We'll likely be coming directly from Soccer and/or a Birthday party so it is going to be a crazy day.

5.  I've been keeping some family news secret, but now it is time to share!  Brent's sister is expecting her third son this September.  His name will be Grayson Daniel.  I am SO excited to meet him.  We were all surprised and excited to discover there would be another cousin and are looking forward to meeting him!

6.  Yesterday, I was working and totally lost track of time.  I looked up and it was 13  minutes past the time I was supposed to pick up M&E from school. NOT good. They have aftercare and had been sent there to play, but I felt horrible.  They were, apparently, oblivious and totally fine.

7. I am trying to keep my exercise regime going and add more diversity as my nagging injuries heal.  One you might consider is Julian Michael's Yoga Meltdown.  It is pretty fast past and not particularly traditional, but it is a good workout, I think.

8.  Last week the kid's went to one day of zoo camp during spring break.  The camp was under the sea themed and I think pretty fun.  The less fun part was trying to pick them up in the insane crush of people all trying to visit the zoo during spring break.  I think we may skip spring break camp next year and just do summer ones when it is less crowded.  B also wants a week of science camp this summer.  M is hoping to find a princess (particularly Frozen) dance camp.  Sounds like a plan to me!

9. Brent, Able, and Kari set big posts for my mom's new fence project this weekend.  The kids and I helped occasionally, but my job was mostly to keep small people out of the way and from getting hurt (or hurting each other).  It was a big project and I truly wonder why my dad never had that kind of post hole digger.  It makes all the difference!

10.  Lady M is picking out spring dresses this week.  Most of her old ones are now short enough to be shirts as she is a delightfully long legged child.  She looks completely adorable in Maxi dresses and plays in them as easily as shorts or pants.  We've added a couple to her collection this week and I'm not sure which of us is more excited.  (Side note -- we did some of this shopping on Sunday when both of us NEEDED to get out of the house and the boys were completely content to stay in the house.  I foresee a lot more random excursions like that.  We also took Able & Kari the coloring sheet she had made for them to spread the love).

It feels like not too much to report, but I promise it was a crazy busy, fun week. I feel like we got a lot done, but it is kind of nice to be back in the rhythm of school and work again!

DD 2013: Day 3 - Give

In response to so much "buying" between Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, they have now created "Giving Tuesday."  While I didn't participate in the other "events." Giving is always part of our Christmas celebrations so I used this nudge to focus on giving yesterday.  Above is the full spread.  The right page is about giving and the left is about missing my Dad.  Yeah, so my one photo, one story plan is falling slightly off the rails, but I'm fine with that.  I'll explain more below.

Here is the right hand page with the pages behind it removed.  The upper corner is the word "GIVE" again adhered on a smudge of gold glitter stickles that are hard to see here, but neat in person.  Then, on both sides of the transparency I added these bursts, stars, and dots from the SC Kit. 

 Below is a collage of the charities we gave to yesterday.  I talked through the concept of charitable giving with my kids and told them what groups Brent and I donate to regularly (Oklahoma Regional Food Bank, Myriad Gardens, Child's Play, Project Night Night, Heifer International, OU, GW, NPR, St. John's Catholic Church, Wiggle Out Loud, etc...)  

Then we talked about why we give money to these groups.  I liked that B asked interesting questions like why do we give money to the Myriad Gardens as he didn't see a tie to how that was helping people.  I explained that we support them because they create beauty in our city and hold events that enrich our community. I think they are growing and building the city of OKC with their plantings, educational outreach, but also by community building. (Yes, I'm a new donor to the Myriad Gardens this year, because I'm so impressed with its evolution lately). 

At the end, B chose to donate to Child's Play (also Brent's Christmas choice).  M chose to donate toys and warm clothes to her school as part of its clothing and toy drive. I donated to Project Night Night on behalf of E.  We also did a few other small donations based on our conversations and I encourage you to think about giving this season too and talk about it with your kids. I'm not going to say it was an easy concept, but it is important so I took the time and several approaches to try getting them to think about it more. 

This other story needed a place too. It might fit well in my "more magic" section at the back, but it is also sort of part of the giving story as my parents were definitely the ones who instilled in me the need to give back and help others.  Yesterday, Audra's crew visited for awhile and we went to the cow calf hay-- a small restaurant that I think my dad would have liked.  The little grandsons he never met both had on their overalls and were looking very cute.  My kids and Zane took turns riding on these saddles and I just know he would have loved it.  I miss my Dad and am trying to carry on the lessons he taught us with our kids.  That twinge of sadness is a real part of my holiday season so this seemed like a good space to fit it in with a picture of our very cute overalls boy. 

Crafting note - the card here came with one of my SC kits. I just added the zig zag washi for a bit more color and visual interest. 

Everett's Baptism

This weekend we were extremely blessed to be surrounded by friends and family to celebrate Everett's Baptism.  Jessie took lots of wonderful pictures for me so I've made a slide show to share.

The basics of the day:

Godparents: Zach Korenak, Heather Ignatius, and Chrissie Wainright
Place: St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Edmond, OK
Party: Sundaes in the Park with friends and family

It was a bit difficult to understand the priest at times, but the event was still so sweet.  I love all the blessings for everyone and watching E and his Godparents interact.  They worked as a team and all radiated love for him and for our family.  As you can tell in the slides, B got a bit distracted and started wandering off and singing his own made up hymns from the hymnal by the mid-way point.  I really like that he's making up his own little songs now.  E and one other baby were hungry so they both were fed and no one really cried at all.  I did noticed in the family picture that right next to my mom there is a hole where my Dad should be and almost cried.  This ceremony always meant the most to him so I'm going to believe he is right there next to my Mom loving and proud of us.

The weekend overall was special and unique.  We got to share the Spice Store with more friends and family that seem to love it as much as we do.  We had big meals and did lots of kid watching and playing together.  My sister and her family were here, which is a special treat.  They took M for adventures with my Mom on Monday, which seemed a cooler experience than one missed day of Preschool.  I also loved watching Zach take B through his math homework. Why don't they live next door to me?

 My friend Heather flew in from DC and was the very first person from my east coast life to ever visit me.  We showed her a bit of our life, a bit of Oklahoma, and some tastes of our food traditions here as well as our family.  She was such an incredible helper, hard worker throughout, and my own true friend as always.  She definitely made the weekend much happier and easier for everyone.  She was amazing with our kids too, particularly E. They met early Saturday morning when she picked him up to feed him his morning bottle.  I kind of liked it that they got to meet just the two of them.

Another big milestone, and another wonderful set of memories crafted with family and friends at our sides.  Thanks to all of you, but particularly the Godparents and our own parents and siblings for all their help, love, and support now and always.

I miss my Dad.

In my head today, as I went through ordinary motions,  I wrote and rewrote a post and played with words trying to explain somehow in a positive way the lessons I've taken personally about my Dad dying way too early in my life.  I looked at E and tried to think of things I could to do to help me be around to see his thirties, which my Dad and his Dad missed in large chunks for most of their children.  I accepted that no matter what I do there are no promises, as I know my Dad tried and hoped and feared too.  I had all these metaphors about running my race twined around my actual run this morning with a small baby who has adorable toes.

There were things like how running is something I do to mentally and physically to work on my health in hopes of being there with this small jogging buddy 30 years from now, while somehow acknowledging that for all my good intentions and hope, there are no promises. So, I run in the moment to keep this moment sane, healthy, and lived to its fullest because it is what I have.... I thought about writing the whole bit.  I thought about skipping it because it hurts and will always hurt and because I know he did his best to be healthy and with us however he could and the reality is very different.  I was feeling fairly clear, sad, lonely, missing him, but past the crushing devastation, I thought.

Then, before I could write through any of that or decide not to, I read my Mom's post and saw that smiling picture of my loving Dad. My Dad who loved me so much and did such a good job of saying it even when I didn't always.  My patient Dad who I was so often so impatient with that it continues to break my heart. ( I tried to be more patient with my children and others so I've learned something from it, but still not really succeeding).  My Mom who is still so crushed even as she walks on to new days. I sobbed, and was devastated all over again for her, for us, for my kids, but most of all for him as I know he wanted this time so much, maybe more even than we did.  I miss you Dad.  I love you.

Go hug your parents, your grandparents, your children, your families, your friends, and seize this moment where you are, if you, can, and I will too.

*  If you are new here and looking for context here is some of my history that led me to today:
- One year ago  - Scrapbook therapy
- His first missed birthday
- Two Years Ago - Heartbroken

Everett's Story (Part II) - Name Game

We have a hard time picking out baby names.  I, especially, have a hard time.  Once upon a time, I read this book that was heavily weighted on the importance and power of names.  It was a fictional novel, but for some reason this concept has stuck with me and I really struggle to find the "right" name, not just one that works.  I can argue myself out of practically any name it seems.  Our experience with M looking so different than the name we'd picked for her only compounded the issues with trying to pick out a name before the baby arrived this time. 

Everett


When picking a name we look at a lot of things.  We don't want it to be TOO weird, but we also don't want every kid in the class to have this name.  Therefore, it is unlikely that we'd pick a name that was in the top 50 or even 100 in popularity in the US last year (yes, we check the stats).  We also think about things like what the full name sounds like at graduation or in a professional setting.  This time, we thought a lot about how the names of all three sounded together--did they make a good sibling set?  These are the sorts of things running through our heads as well as more basic things like what do we like? What does he "look" like? etc... We do consider things like initial spellings too, but, as you'll see, it isn't a deal breaker.


One thing we struggle with, particularly with boys is the nickname factor.  My brother is a compulsive nickname person and it seems all boys will have them even B whose name was theoretically "nickname proof" according to the Baby Name Wizard folks (this is one of my favorite baby name books and websites).  We discovered there are LOTS of boy nicknames we don't like even with names we really do like (Wallace to Wally, or Winston to Winnie for example).


The name "Everett" had never really been discussed much between us prior to his arrival.  I had, however, found myself liking lots of boy names ending in "tt" including Bennett (too close to Brendan/Brent? a family name too) and Emmett (close to Emma and various random social connotations, but also a family we like). 


Random Facts about the name Everett: 


Pronunciation: EH-ver-it or EV-er-et.


Origin: Old English

Name Meaning: brave, strong, hearty, boar

Popularity: Everett is ranked #383 in popularity in the US.  This is right about the same level of popularity of Brendan when we chose it (it is now more popular than that, significantly). "Maggie" ranks at #213 and "Marguerite", her formal name, is not even in the top 1000.  Everett, like his middle name Ambrose, was near its peak of popularity in the 1910s when it was the 93rd most popular name.


Family Connections: As with his siblings, I originally didn't know anyone in our families with this first name.  However, we've discovered one Everett married to my Grandpa's cousin so far and maybe there are more.  (We belatedly found a Marguerite hidden in our family too so one never knows).  There aren't any Brendan's that we've found, but his name is, in part a compound of  Brent (Bre) + Danny (dan) so has connections too.


Why we chose it: I'm not really sure.  Mostly we thought about it alone and in connection with his middle name and sibling names. We mulled our other options and after much wandering came back to this one.  

Ambrose - We had this selected for his middle name early on to honor my father who he sadly won't get to meet on this earth. (Cue heart break/tears).


Random Facts about Ambrose


Pronounciation: AM-brohz, AM-brohs


Origin: Greek (and later Latin)


Name Meaning: Immortal (nice, right?)


Popularity: Not in the top 1000 as a first name. Popularity peaked around the 1890s to 1910.

Name Saint:  Our other children have Saints names as their first name, but for Everett it is his middle name.  You can read more about St. Ambrose (a lawyer no less) here. 

Family Connections: Ambrose is my paternal grandfather's middle name.  It is also my Dad's alter ego name of sorts.  Basically a name he really liked and associated with.  He used it for lots of things like passwords or things of that nature.  In any case, it is a name I firmly associate with him and treasure.


So there you are, Everett Ambrose an old fashioned name for our wee new little one.


Ps. We do know his initials spell EAR, but we decided in the end we were fine with it.