FAMILY TIME

We had Mother's funeral this past weekend and had so many good friends and family members join us for several days. Saturday night we had a Vigil Prayer Service and story telling with friends and relatives telling their favorite Mary C, Mother, Grandmother, Great-Gram stories. Three of my boys made video tapes of the story telling and I watched one last night. It was wonderful!!

Sunday our parish priest celebrated the Mass of Resurrection for Mother and his remarks were wonderful--not to mention that he flew in from a meeting just for her funeral and flew back when the ceremony was over. That was such a considerate thing to do for our family!

All weekend our house was full of people. We had all three children and spouses here. We had all 12 of Mother's grandchildren and spouses here and we had all 12 great grandchildren here, plus cousins and friends. Luckily it was beautiful weather so the children played in our big backyard. One of our sons got small pumpkins and hid them in the wooded part of our backyard and led the little ones on a pumpkin patch hunt. Then his wife helped the children decorate their pumpkins to take home. Other children pulled out all the play dishes and a number of them "cooked up a storm" while some got busy with the sidewalk chalk on our patio. The older ones played football and soccer on the grassy part of the yard while adults either sat and watched or joined in the fun and games.

And, of course, we did what our family does best--we ate and ate and ate--thanks to all the wonderful neighbors and friends who provided several bountiful feasts for us! Pictures will follow later! I promise--when I catch up with a few other things around here.

THANKFUL THURSDAY

Today is my birthday and I am thankful that my parents allowed me to be born on their 4th wedding anniversary, lo, those many years ago today. That always made for a nice 4th of July celebration for our whole family when I was growing up. We lived in a small town, so the 3rd of July was usually a combined celebration of my parents' anniversary and a celebration of my birthday. In the evening, as soon as it began to get dark, Daddy took us out to a fireworks stand and bought Roman candles, firecrackers, snakes and sparklers. We then drove out to a dirt road and had our own fireworks display. My brother particularly liked the firecrackers and my sister and I loved the snakes and sparklers. Daddy usually helped us shoot off the Roman candles.

Our family gatherings around the 4th of July have continued and some of our family always tries to get together and celebrate birthdays since we now have a granddaughter born on the 4th of July and a daughter-in-law born on the 6th of July. It seems like we have now moved into celebrating the first week of July as Birthday Week for our family members who can be together. This year we will journey to the Texas Panhandle and celebrate with family gathered there. Fun!

A Birthday Girl

A wonderful thing about our family is that we believe in family get-togethers that help us stay in touch with each other in a wonderfully refreshing way. This past weekend my brother and his wife came to stay with us and help celebrate their granddaughter's second birthday. We had three fun-filled days of activity--eating, visiting, and watching Bela enjoy her two-year-old self!

My brother certainly enjoyed holding Bela, as you can tell from the big grin on his face, and playing with her during a breakfast gathering of family.

My brother's wife with the Birthday Girl. Thankfully my brother's wife is feeling much better and is now able to attend these family gatherings after being "grounded" for a whole year! We were so glad to have her with us again for the fun and festivities.

The Birthday Girl certainly enjoyed her birthday cake at the outdoor birthday party. The weather was gorgeous over the weekend and very conducive to outdoor gatherings with cool days, no wind, and little humidity. More good food and that delicious cake to finish up with! We all probably won't need to eat again for a week!

We tried a family portrait of my brother, his wife and their oldest son's family. About ten pictures later I finally got one with everyone's eyes open.

And no gathering is ever complete at our house without watching Bossy Mama and her girls come in to eat. Bela really enjoyed the deer and was amazingly quiet while watching them. Several times she put her fingers up to her lips and told us "Shhh!" to remind us to be quiet also. And one last picture of Bela sitting quietly in my lap outside for a very long time--just watching those deer eat.

Thanks to all who came and made the weekend so much fun!

Mother's Birthday

Mother is 93 today. We had a little party for her and she seemed to have a great time.

My brother's son came with Bela to help Great-Gram celebrate her birthday.

It has been a beautiful day for her with presents, cards, balloons, candy, and flowers. Thanks to all who helped make her birthday a happy one.