*Warning* Gruesome Content

Tommy has had a string of bad luck lately.

Last month, it was his bike accident.  Shortly after that, a black eye from a failed catch of a baseball;  and last week a near-drowning in the neighbor's pool.  ( I may be exaggerating a bit on that, but he thought he was going to die, so that's what I'm calling it.).

However, yesterday it was Billy who had the misadventure; and only three hours into his summer vacation.

He was at his friend's house playing basketball.  The hoop they were playing on has a chain for a net rather than the usual rope kind.  Billy tried to dunk.....


(Are you sitting down?  You may want to sit down.)

His nose got caught in the chain.  He tore his nostril completely through, a half inch up his nose.

It was quite a sight.  So, into the car and off to the ER we went. Four hours, a plastic surgeon, and 20 stitches later we were home.  Billy now has a story that can't quite top Tommy getting hit by a car, but it comes close in the "OMG" department, and has definitely left more battle scars.

I must say what a trooper Billy was the entire time.  He wouldn't look at it himself, but he could tell by my skeevish, yet fascinated reaction that it was a serious injury.  He says the worst part was the needle to numb the area but even then he held still and didn't complain once.  He even wanted to go to his baseball game that night.

I love that kid.

Tommy's First Holy Communion

I myself am the living bread come down from heaven. 

If anyone eats this bread he shall live forever; 

the bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.

                                                                                                  John 6:51     

                         

                         

Tommy's Godparents: Aunt Kate and Uncle Steve

Cousins!

Anxious to get home to par-tay!

Mom-Mom: Tommy's great-grandmother

Tommy's Grandpop and Gran and Gramps

 

 

 

 

 

What a blessing to have both sides of the family come together for a special occasion.  We are truly blessed to have help in our journey in passing on the faith to our children.

God Bless You Thomas Andrew!

Alien Invasion

Yes, I haven't posted in a week.

No, we have not been invaded by aliens.

I was all set tonight to post about all the excitement from the past week.  However, a certain 9 year old boy is having trouble sleeping at the moment. He's a little scared.  You see, with our new house rule that there is no more Disney Channel, the kids have taken a liking to the National Geographic Channel.  Apparently this morning they watched a show called Alien Invasion while I was getting ready for mass.  A certain parent, who shall remain nameless, saw this and had a little fun speaking on the subject of life forms on other planets.

It's all sweet and innocent until someone loses sleep, isn't it?

photo credit

Needless to say, someone around here is in the doghouse.




** *Tommy has just informed me that the show is called Alien Mysteries and it's on the Discovery Channel. **

Tommy's Birthday

Tommy turned 9 on Saturday!!

His Gran and Gramps came for lunch and brought a surprise with them.

DUCKS!

 

The ducks were only visiting.  Gran and Gramps got two ducks for Easter.  All the other grandchildren had seen them, but because we live further away and hadn't seen them yet, they brought them up here to show us.

We all had lunch and cake to celebrate Tommy's birthday.

Later in the day we headed to the ball field to watch Tommy's team play a scrimmage.

Even though.....

....it was 9pm when we got home

...we still had to eat dinner

...we still had to shower and dress for bed

....mom was paranoid they'd all be getting sick from the cold air they played in at the ball field

....mom was also paranoid they'd be sick and miss PSSA testing at school


I still agreed to let them watch The Avengers movie.

Tommy was in Heaven, so the 11:45pm bedtime was worth it.

That scene with the Hulk taking care of Loky also made it worth it!  (anyone see that?)

So, Happy Birthday Tom-Bomb.

We love you.

A Sick One

Tommy is home sick today with the stomach virus.

Because a traveling husband and a sick momma doesn't mix, I'm trying to master the art of cuddling and care-taking in 15 second increments.  That's about as long as I can hold my breath.

A Concert And A Sacrament

We had some special goings-on here this week.

Mary Kate took part in the All City Orchestra Concert.  Certain children from the different middle schools in the district are asked to be a part of this event.  Two days this week I drove Mary to one of the area middle schools early in the morning.  She spent about 4 hours there practicing with her school and 3 other middle school orchestras.  By the end of the second day, the entire group had practiced 15 songs.  They put on a wonderful concert Wednesday night.  It is amazing to see.  They sounded great.

We are so proud of her!

Thursday night Tommy had his First Reconciliation.

 He was so mad at me for making him wear a suit jacket.  His arguing me was beneficial because up until that point he had "nothing to confess."

We were crunched for time so I made him eat dinner like this.

Grandmom's chicken stew AND her apron.

Seeing him waiting in line near the confessional and watching him breathe a big sigh of relief when he walked out made me want to run up and hug him.  Then watching him kneel on the altar to say his penance made me want to cry.  He looked so handsome and adorable.

Nice job Tom.  We are so proud of you.