May Days And May Daze ~ And Babies Are Always A Blessing

May's calender was full:



We got back from our trip to Newport on May 1 and since then the month of May has flown by in a whirlwind (what exactly is a whirlwind? Well, I looked it up and found that it is a rapidly rotating vertical column of air, such as a dust devil, or waterspout, or tornado ~ yep, that word seems to fit my life right now).
There were lots of celebrations (Birthdays [Susie, Frankie, Erik, Lori, and Donald turns 60 today! Happy Birthday, Donald! ], Anniversaries [Erik & Lori ~ 9 years, Ray & myself ~ 38 years], and Holidays), and Jayden's school had a Plant Sale, and a Spring Show, and there was uniform measurement day, and a beautiful May Crowning Mass. And Ray and I have been busy, still purging, boxing things to donate, and one evening he loaded up my Aunt Florence's truck with lots of boxes full of 'stuff', and the following morning after dropping Jayden at school, Florence and I took the boxes to her Church which was having a White Elephant sale. All good.

Jayden's School had the May Crowning Mass out on the lawn:

This is an indoor statue that was brought outside for the crowning ceremony.

An altar was set up outside and lifted up onto a platform for easy viewing.

The lawn is behind the school and on the side of the church. The building on the far right in the picture below is the Rectory:
(One of the teachers was very smart and brought an umbrella for shade. She was also very sweet, I noticed later that she gave the umbrella to her students so they could get a little relief from the sun. My Aunt Florence and I were lucky, we took lawn chairs and set ourselves up under a tree.)


The procession included the 7th Graders who had just received the Sacrament of Confirmation last week...



...and it also included the 2nd Graders who had received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion on Mother's Day weekend.

The gifts:

The children of St. Luke's School bought this chalice and paton, which will be used at all the Masses the school children attend:

(Jayden's class)

All the bouquets under the statue of Mary were made from flowers that the students each brought in.



Usually it's a Confirmation girl and a Communion girl that crown Mary together, this year they did it a little differently, and I liked it very much. This year a Confirmation BOY crowned the indoor statue with a floral crown...



...and a little Communion girl put a wreath of flowers on the outdoor statue.

Jayden's school is celebrating it's 100th Anniversary this year, so the Spring Show was all about the songs and dances from the last hundred years. It was very cute and it was very entertaining!

My favorite routines were the Pre-K class singing "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" (1925 hit), the 2nd Grade singing "Ma, He's Makin' Eyes At Me" (1940 hit), and my most favorite was the first act when one of the 3rd Grade classes came out and sang and danced to "Alexander's Ragtime Band" (1911 hit):

I was surprised at how well all the children did with their dance moves.
Jayden's class sang and danced to "Jump" (1984) and they did it with great enthusiasm!
And when the song came to the 'jump' part, Jayden made sure his feet went straight out back and his knees never touched the floor, and if I can ever remember how to upload the video I'll post it for you.


At our son Erik's birthday celebration Mia had great fun teaching our daughter Katie how to do some dance moves of her own...

...and Katie had great fun learning!



And because I don't want to leave out our newest grandchild, here's a few Sophie photos:

Looking at big sister Mia

Getting some loving from her Daddy

Laughing at Grandpa

Very happy girl here with a very full belly!

Grandma gets to steal a few moments of pure joy!

Donald's wife Linda had a Birthday celebration for him this past weekend:





Mikael is in the Marine Reserves and he was just recently promoted to Sergeant. I think Donald is telling him a big fish story here. (Look how brown Donald is already!)

Here's Rudy (the pest) making a face as usual, and beautiful Jill holding one of Don & Linda's three cats. I think this cat looks just like a big old raccoon with his striped tail:



Linda works in an animal hospital and she adopted this abandoned black beauty:



Yesterday was Memorial Day and a BIG thank you goes to our military who sacrificed so much to keep us free and to keep us safe.
In the morning we went to the cemetery and put American Flags on the graves of my Dad and my Uncle Tom.



And then we went to the parade at noon:

Mayor Bloomberg marched in the parade again (yellow shirt):

After the parade we all walked up to our house for a barbeque.

Florence, Diane, and Steve

William is back from his school term in Scotland, and Andrew is still hobbling around with a torn tendon in his calf, but he made it here. It was good to see them both!

I got to spend some time with the newest addition to the family!

And I had lots of fun playing with these baby feet...





...and I even got Sophie to laugh!


And this month we were presented with some exciting news, which left me a little dazed. Our oldest son and his fiance stopped in to tell us that she is expecting and the baby will arrive in mid-January. They do not plan on moving up their wedding date (which will be in two years) ~ it's a different world I guess. And, so, we go with the flow.
And we're very happy to be welcoming a new baby into the family next year.

And then there was more news, which left me somewhat more dazed. Our oldest daughter (Jayden's Mom) has not been feeling well for months, she finally made an appointment with her doctor who sent her to a gastroenterologist, well, she found out that she wasn't in need of a gastroenterologist, but she is in need of an obstetrician, she too is expecting, and the baby will be here in mid-September (she's already been told that it's another boy). And my mind is in a whirlwind (there's that word again, it also means a tumultuous, confused rush ~ yep, that about sums up my feelings and my life), I'm busy thinking about all there is to do in a few short months, setting up a nursery, and getting Jayden's crib down from the attic, oh, and where did we store the playpen and the cradle? And I guess we'll have to get another car seat, and we gave away the stroller, so we'll need a new one. And for sure we'll have to put plans of moving down south on hold for awhile, and we'll have to take a break from cleaning out the attic and the basement while we prepare these next few months for a baby to be coming into our home once again.
And, so, again, we go with the flow.

And, while these might not be ideal circumstances for welcoming new babies ~ well, welcomed these babies will be no matter what the circumstances.
Welcomed, and loved, and cherished.
God Is The Author Of Life, and, again, all is good.

And as my sister Diane says, "Babies are always a Blessing".