First Communion: The actual day!

The day was a beautiful one!  Everything went pretty smoothly on our end, minus the small flood in our unfinished basement the night before.  I didn't even feel super rushed in the morning.  We had friends staying with us and so the kids were all up early because they were so excited to play.  It was a little like Cheaper by the Dozen in our house in the morning, but without the frog.  We gave Genna her crucifix in the morning so she could wear it.

Hannah was super happy for her sister.  She's not so much a hugger, so this was huge!

Our Pew

The reception was held at the Izaak Walton Leaugue Chapter house.  Brian is a member.  We went late the night before to set up.  I forgot to get a picture of the room with all the decor.  We had vases with lemons or limes mixed with silk white flowers (and filled with water) on each table.

A series of events prevented us from getting a family photo with everyone.  Several kids went to the potty when I was getting a picture of Genna with Brian and I before he left.  Brian had to leave immediately to go to open the reception hall.  Then Judah crashed in the car on the way to the reception so this was as close to a family picture we got on the day.

The reception was in honor of Genna and her friend Catalina.  I love this picture!

Genna chose the cake from several I had on my Pinterest board for me to make.  The cross is vanilla and the bottom rectangle is chocolate.

The cake turned out better than I expected since that was my first shot at using gum paste and making lilies.  I tried to make a bow out of the gum paste, but I wasn't as pleased with it so I threw it away and covered the wire stems with the pink flowers to add some color.  The pink flowers are just buttercream icing.

The white swirls on the border of the cross turned out nicely too.  They were the hardest part as far as my hands were concerned.  Squeezing out a continuous line through such a small tip is painful.

In this picture you can see some of the love I put into the cake with each pearl placed ever so carefully in each piped dot and in the center of each pink flower.

The next morning after Mass we got to get a picture of her in front of her banner.

We are so happy for our sweetheart!  May God bless her and keep her close always!