Rose's First Holy Communion

As many of you know, we recently moved back home to Carmel, Indiana, which is why I have been MIA on the blog the last few months.  Packing, selling and buying a house, and unpacking seemed a little more urgent than blogging.  I promise to get some pictures up of the new house as soon as some of the projects that are going on right now are finished!  Here is one picture of the front:

Until then, I wanted to share some pictures from Rose's First Holy Communion this past Saturday. Although the weather wasn't very cooperative, the rest of the day was very beautiful.  Rose was VERY excited to receive communion at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel along with her cousin Will.  The school did a wonderful job preparing them for the sacrament, including a full day retreat the day before during school.

Will and Rose

Rose with her teacher, Mrs. Farrell

                  

       

Rose wore my sister Madeline's First Communion dress, which also happened to be the dress she wore as the flower girl in my wedding!  And she wore the veil my sisters and I all wore for our First Communions.  Such a special outfit for such a special day.

And it wouldn't be my Rose without a little sass!

The mass was beautiful and even included Rose's new favorite mass song, Overflow.  Fr. Richard Doerr said mass and sang parts of it.  I always love when he sings.  The parents all got to sit with their son or daughter and follow them up to communion.  It was such a blessing to be right there with her when she received Jesus for the first time.

We got to sit next to my brother and sister-in-law!

The First Communicants all lined up!

Rose and Will walking down the aisle together.  I thought it was so sweet how
she was looking at him!

After mass we all headed to my parents' house with all our family for a joint party for Rose and Will.  We had lunch, ice cream and cookie cake, and presents.

Beautiful 1st Communion centerpiece that my sister-in-law put together

Rose with my parents, Grandma and Grandpa Titus

Rose with Paul's parents, Grandma Joy and Grandpa Ken

Rose and Will with Great Grandpa and Grandpa Scheele

Rose with her godparents, Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Mollie 

Rose and Will with their name rosaries that Mollie made them

Rose wearing her new Miraculous Medal

I love that Rose can receive the sacraments with me now!  It is so neat to see her growing in her faith!

Thank you to everyone for all your prayers!  It was a perfect day!

Big Girl Tea Party

Before we left Louisville, I was determined to take the girls to the Sister Tea Parlor where my sisters, Olivia, Madeline and I went one summer.  As much as my girls love to have their own tea parties at home, I knew that a "big girl" tea party at a real tea parlor would be a big hit.

So when Olivia came down to help us pack, she watched Maximus one afternoon so we could go. The girls dressed up in their favorite fancy dresses and shoes and some of mom's jewelry and we were on our way.  The whole way there they were talking about what it was going to be like and asking me lots of questions.  They could hardly contain their excitement.

When we got there, we had a ball going through their shelves of hats, boas, and gloves to find just the right ones to complete our looks.  Of course Ella would pick a top hat ;)

Everyone had a turn getting their picture taken in the fancy portrait chair...one smiling and one serious.  I don't think Ella knows what a serious face is!  Haha!

Just the girls

There are 3 or 4 different rooms in the parlor where you can be seated for tea.  They put us in our own little nook with polka dot curtains we could close for more privacy.

The pretty blue room

The pink room where Olivia, Madeline and I were last time we came.

Our little nook :)

We each got our own bottomless pot of tea filled with a tea of our choice.  They had over 30 different kinds of tea to choose from!  I think our favorite was the Almond Cookie Green Tea!

We also got 2 three-tiered trays of tea treats with little sandwiches, scones, mini cupcakes, cookies, cheese and crackers...a perfect compliment to our tea!

Ella cracked me up.  She doctored up her tea with four sugar cubes and cream, took one sip and said, "This tea is GROSS!"  Needless to say, the tea was not her favorite part of the trip!

After we had our fill, we had some fun with the camera.

It was such a fun girly afternoon!  I am so glad I got to take them there before we moved!