First Time for Everything

Like getting communion.

I had my first communion today and I think the thing people said the most to me was actually, "Finley! I've never seen you in a dress before!"

My photo editor needs to get some more photos from his backup photographer but here are a few that we got:

First, let's start with the star of the show, c'est moi.

Then came the ceremony. I had a nice little speaking part but Mabel had a rough night the night before so Dad was sitting down with her on his lap sleeping and missed seeing it.

The whole crew was there (from left to right) - Papa, Nana, Eli and Zaya, Grandma and Grandpa. Loved the support from everyone.

Then afterward it was photo time. Here's the group shot, including the Pope himself!

Besties - Olive and Shea

Double Besties - Mom and dad... looking sideways.

My favorite teacher in the whole wide world, Miss Lozon.

And one more shot of the Big Dog, on my Big Day.

Oh, and that's not the Pope up there. We have a cardboard cutout of him in the back of the church and Dad and his buddy Rod thought it would be great to turn it around and have it look like he was at our first communion... real mature, dad (and Rod).

Before we end this post I'll leave you with this story.

So leading into my first communion we were up in my room - me, Mae, Dad - heading towards bed and I was explaining about my first communion. Mae starts asking questions and starting to get silly and so I stood firm and was detailing it again and finally I had to level set and I said, "Mae, it's SERIOUS! It's a serious thing!"

She got really quiet and started shaking her head and said, "Wait, Fin, are you going to see God on Sunday?" 

Classic Mabel.

The Avett Brothers... Family

So Mom and Dad took me to my first ever concert. We knew which one it should be, so we just went with it. We went to see The Avett Brothers at The Chicago Theater... and boy, it did not disappoint.

First we prepped at home.

Then we hit up the venue and made history.

But it was more than just the show. One of my friends - Lucy - was also in attendance because her Uncle Peter travels around and works the lights for The Avett Brothers shows. So he let us backstage before the show and all kinds of business went down.

First we got onstage for a photo.

Then we got to sign the wall of fame. There is a stairwell from the stage going down to the basement where the bands hang before and after the show. So all kinds of famous people have signed this wall - Madonna, Elton John, basically every musician who has come through.

Hold on a second... RIP

Well, we got a chance to sign it as well.

Then it was down to our seats for the show to kick off, where I partied and danced and sang along with Mom and Dad.

And then after about ten songs I went to sit with Lucy up with her Uncle Peter where they were doing the lights. This was cool for a lot of reasons. First off, it was a totally unobstructed view of the stage. Secondly, I got to ACTUALLY DO THE LIGHTS. So during one of the songs - Road Full of Promise - I told him my favorite color was blue so when he told me to, I pulled the lever and the lights changed from red to blue.

The next day it got even better. Lucy's mom called and invited us all to sound check. So we sat in an empty Chicago Theater and listened to them rehearse for about 45 minutes.

And then things got turned up a notch on Mom and Dad's front. They bought second row tickets with Colin and Steph to go on Friday night and proceeded to snag 10th row tickets in the center for Saturday night. They called it "The 72 Hours of Avett" and it still wasn't enough. I heard talk at breakfast on Sunday morning... something about selling the house and an RV and a reference to "next week's show at the Greek Theatre in LA." Um, yah, we did it.

Bring It, Bunny Style

So Easter Weekend started out well. Friday night the crew got together to decorate eggs. First time Pax was really understanding what was actually going on (and first time he could actually accomplish this without drinking all the purple water from the cup).

Next morning was the annual Superior Park Easter Egg Hunt with our friends Ana and Sid. This was fun - here's goofy and goofy just doing their thing.

They also managed to take some marshmallows, put them on the end of some sticks and pretend they were roasting marshmallows around a campfire.

Then the Big Eared One buzzed into town and dropped off some goodies at our house, which resulted in a serious egg hunt.

Almost forgot. So a couple nights before Easter I made these masks for everyone. There was one for each person in the family - bunny masks, chick masks, the whole works.

Then it was out to Nana's house for Easter Day. We hid in the dining room while the parents hid the eggs all over the outside.

Pax and Mae got some solid swinging in.

Mae got some puppy love time in with Ellie.

And then we had a really fun time driving the mini-Mini Cooper all around Nana's hood.

Break

Sorry, we've been taking a little break.

No, not that kind of break - a Spring Break. More to come but didn't want you to think I pooped out on this blog.

Top O' The Morning

So it was once again St. Paddy's Day, and, well, there's really no one else we like to celebrate St. Paddy's Day with other than Nana as it's her all time favorite holiday.

So after a day-long celebration at school Nana came down for dinner (mom made unbelievable corn beef and cabbage) and we partied hard.

Even threw on some music o' the homeland and did some Irish dancing.

Though, in all honesty, I'm not sure what you'd call what Pax was getting into.

Dads. Daughters. Dance.

So we had the second annual Dad-Daughter Dance at St. Helen last Saturday night and let me just say, we got down with it.

A few pre-party pics at the house.

Then we got to the dance and had ourselves a hoot and a holler.

Getting footloose with friends.

Adrianna is in the house!!

Hanging with Dad.

Yes, those are my Jordans on my feet, and Mae has her gymmies on too. When the dogs start aching you gotta substitute the stuffy dress shoes out, so we did.

And here's me hanging with my homegirls. This is one of my bestie - Olive.

And this should be a familiar face to all of you who have been following this blog of mine for the past four years. This is my bestie Nadia. They call us Ebony and Ivory. I'm not sure what that means, and who's Ebony and who's Ivory, but whatever, all the grownups seem to like it.