Birthdays and Bowling, Liturgies and Lawn Mowers

I'm not even going to apologize for the delay in getting this post up.....you guys know me by now so it's no surprise.  We've had another busy week around here.  On Monday we celebrated the last birthday of our Family Birthday Season....Andrew turned 8.  Naturally he was awoken with muffins and singing, then he went off to school and Mary and I joined him for lunch that day.  For his birthday dinner he chose Dad's steak and "chicken on the bone"  (grilled chicken drumsticks.)  That was followed by presents and a giant birthday cookie cake.  It was a pretty low key birthday, but I think he had a nice day.  Naturally, he was excited about his presents....

A watch.....(now he tells me what time it is....All The Time....)

And another Nerf gun to add to his arsenal.... he's too focused on planning his attack strategy to even smile.....

And some hugs from his sisters....

Andrew wasn't the only one who received exciting gifts on his birthday.  That afternoon while I was in the front yard I saw my neighbor had put his riding lawnmower for sale in his yard.  As this point in the story, it's important to note that I'm the primary lawn maintenance person in the family....followed closely by Michael.  Bill is a distant third.  I quickly dashed inside and typed out this email to Bill.

 (FYI-- A Habu is a very poisonous snake that only lives on Okinawa and prefers to hang around thick, jungly areas--much like the jungle that borders our backyard. The "feet eating fish" place is a spa in town where you soak your feet in a small pool and these little fish eat all the dead skin off your dry, scaly heels. It's "The Thing" to do around here....)

And wouldn't you know it....next time I mowed the yard I did it in style.

So, back to Andrew's birthday.  What he was really looking forward to was his birthday party.  Bill and I have retired from doing the big class party thing, so we told Andrew he could invite a few friends and we'd take them all to a fun place.  He chose the bowling alley/arcade/Pizza Hut (all in the same building.)  He invited his friends--Sam, Ian, and Brady--and on Saturday we drove to Camp Foster to celebrate his big day.

There was bowling....

Cake....(or cheesecake, in this case....)

And presents....

We're pretty simple folks, and a birthday party (and a new lawnmower) are usually more than enough excitement for one week, but we finished the week off with an one last important event....Andrew's First Communion.  In this case I was very grateful that Andrew was a boy because the girls' parents had a heck of a time finding First Communion clothes here on Okinawa.  The morning of the big day I had a neighbor knock on my door desperately asking if by some miracle I had a First Communion veil her daughter could borrow.  The one she ordered several weeks ago never came.  Luckily, I just happened to have brought Emma's veil, and I even knew where it was! Although the boys' Communion attire wasn't too hard to find, our First Communicant was not too happy about wearing it....especially the tie.  (It made me long for those baby years when you can dress them up however you want and they don't know the difference!) 

The First Communion mass went along as most First Communion masses go.  It was held at 4:00pm, which just happened to be nap time for most of the younger kids.  At one point I looked down our pew and four little ones were passed out.  Even our rambunctious Mary fell victim to the sleepies.  As you can see, Michael wasn't too thrilled about having to be her pillow. 

After the celebration we came back home to have a little reception with some friends.  But not before trying to take a family picture in our nice clothes.  Many of you know this, but our children DO NOT like taking pictures.  They act like it's a form of torture to have to stand next to their siblings and parents and smile.  Before I handed the camera over to my friend Laura, I warned her that this would not be a fun experience.  There would probably be yelling and crying before we were finished, but she's a good sport and she still agreed to take the pictures. Here are the shots of our "happy" family on this important day.  Bill and I plowed through, knowing there would be a glass of wine waiting for us when we were finished. 

"It's like trying to herd ants...."

Notice how Emma is making bunny ears on Michael (why do they do that?)  I'm seeing her do this out of corner of my eye and I'm yelling, "NOOOOOO."  Andrew's trying to escape, and Bill has the death grip on him.  And Mary's just yelling like a crazy person.  Don't you love our happy family? 

Still not the best picture, but at some point enough is enough.  You just have to call it a day. 

Finally, picture time was over and we set the kids loose to play and climb trees in the back yard while the adults had some cocktails.   Once we had recovered from the picture trauma, we called the kids in and started eating our family's customary First Communion dinner...a Big Sandwich from Subway.  (yes, we have Subway here.)   This tradition started after Michael's First Communion and since then it's become our standard fare for First Communion receptions. 

That's pretty much it.  We've had a busy few months around here, and I'm looking forward to some down time before summer vacation....when we'll brave another long trek across the Pacific for Vacation USA 2012!