Sam's First Communion, Taylor's Sixth Birthday

Mid April took us down to Uncle Jeff's house for a joint celebration of Taylor's birthday and Sam's first communion. The former was a big hit, as it involved tons of playtime for the cousins, a bonfire with s'mores AND a pinata. Notice the crazed gleam in the kids eye in the cousin shot. Believe it or not, they all really did sleep later that night.

Next day it was time for us all to gussy up and head to the First Communion. Jack was really happy to be sitting in a pew next to his cousin Zoe. Unlike last time we were in a Catholic church, he did not spend 20 minutes staring straight at the crucifix. (It was just after Easter, and we'd talked a lot about the crucifixion, but I think maybe there's something about a life-sized, fairly realistic version that brought it home in a different way.) He DID however, head up to the altar for communion. In our church, everybody does take the sacrament, and he's fairly well trained to follow in a line, so when the rest of our family headed up to the altar, so did Jack. The priest looked at him, made the sign of the cross, and sent him on his way. He got back to me in the pew and looked a little disappointed. I asked him if he thought he was going to get the bread and water, and he said Yeah, with more than a little miff in his voice. I think he thought the priest was just being selfish or something!