our weekend in photos: blessings, celebrations, and joy

i'm on a roll.  as my mother in law put it, i now have brain space for writing. so true. and once you see what this past weekend was like you'll understand that there was really no room in my brain for anything else.

of course my weekend started on saturday morning at 6:30, like it has for the past 15 weeks.

running.  our run was only six miles this morning and sergio let us choose the route. i was determined to finish quickly so i could get on with my day.

came home, showered and picked up sofia.  bobby dropped off jordan at the hall of liberty to set up for his concert.  then he took andrew to work with him.  andrew got to watch the film being edited and the choices they made on what the audience would see.  kind of cool.

sofia and i went to school for the mother and daughter garden party.  this event takes months to coordinate and plan.  the chair of this event had a vision to stick with our school theme of earth@cha and do an eco friendly event.  she pulled it off with the help of a tremendous committee.

the decorations were all made using recycled materials, paper plates, scraps from the art room, and things around campus.  flowers were made by the kids and hand sewn by moms.  really impressive.

my favorite thing about this event is the table decoration.  hostesses come up with a theme and provide the decor for their table, including a centerpiece that is auctioned off.  my friends came up with the idea of an anne of green gables table.  i gave them my silverware, tablecloth and mason jars.  they went to town creating a beautiful table setting that everyone loved. such creativity and hard work goes into these tables.

sofia with her teacher and classmates.

cake pops!

the food was delicious and every detail was lovely.

but of course we rushed to leave so we could get to jordan's concert.

the last concert of the year, and the last one for the band director in his 46 year career at notre dame.

we are so glad that jordan got a chance to play under this director.  his commitment to the band was an inspiration to each of his students.

and to our surprise, jordan received an award as one of the outstanding freshman band members.  he is so grateful for the recognition.

we ended the day having dinner with bobby parents and grandparents who came to spend the busy weekend with us.  cheers to day 1.

sunday was a BIG day.  two years of preparation; going to class every wednesday after school, studying her prayers, doing homework and going on retreats. sofia finally made her first communion.

dress shopping was a little like an episode of "say yes to the dress."  (without the randy commentary, although i tried my best to imitate.) and it was a look into the future, the way distant future.  we loved this dress and she looked beautiful.

she did great, despite some nerves. we are so proud of her.

after mass we went to my brother and sister-in-laws house for brunch.  my nephew made his confirmation in the afternoon so we combined celebrations with our families.

no weekend would be complete without a baseball game. and no game against the cubs would be complete without a nail biter.  when i left the score was 8-3 dodgers.  when the game was over the score was 11-9... dodgers.  they needed this win.

sunday afternoon and there was more to do.  i went to christian's confirmation and the boys went home to pack for andrew's trip to yosemite. that involved a few trips to target and big 5 for hiking boots and supplies. nothing like last minute shopping.

any one of these events would have been enough fun, stress, joy for one weekend.  we feel like the universe conspired to bring all of them together. we actually skipped 2 other events happening this weekend.

it's typical for us to have packed weekends but we have never had a weekend like this.  we were exhausted, but filled with happiness and memories that will last forever.