Leadership Conference

Sarah attended the youth leadership conference today that was sponsored by the Menomonee Falls PD. When I got home I asked her about it and she said it was fun. I'm not exactly sure how since the day was nothing more than sitting in lectures, but she loved it. I suppose that anytime you can get out of school, it is fun by default.

What she did find out though when she got home was that at school today, there was apparently some sort of outburst in the lunch room. So as a result the administration is instituting assigned seating in the lunchroom, as well as having silent lunches. Sarah is upset by this, but I have to say I agree with the school. Hopefully it will teach them a lesson.

Drinking the Wine

I forgot to add last night that Alison is freaking out about having to drink the wine at mass. I have to say I am a little bit scared myself. We are going to be fifth in line on Sunday. That means the chalice will be full when Alison receives it.

First, she is afraid of the taste. When Sarah had her 1st communion their class at least practiced with grape juice. Ali's class didn't do anything at all. The second thing is if the chalice is full when Ali gets it, I have visions of her being afraid, and dropping/spilling all over her dress.

Tomorrow night after dinner we are going to try practicing with Alison. We told her she only needs to take a small sip, just wetting her lips, if she is afraid. Then after Sunday, she never has to receive the wine at mass again if she doesn't want to. Hopefully we'll get her calmed down before Sunday morning.

Rehearsal Results

Dress rehearsal was tonight at 5:30, so I left work a little early to get home and help Kris get Alison ready. I arrived home to a temper tantrum. Ali had taken a shower as soon as she got home (they were going to be taking pictures tonight) and she didn't want to have her hair blow dried. It was a complete melt down.

Luckily we got things calmed down and ready in time. But that put both Kris and I in a bad mood for a bit. Then when we finally got to church, Ali decided to be shy and try to bury her head in my chest. After about five minutes she calmed down and I convinced her to let me take her picture in front of the old altar, in front of the tabernacle.



Then we lined up and practiced the procession into church, learned where we would be sitting, and practiced coming up for communion. It wasn't that bad though it was long. It was a little over an hour and a half total. After we got home I had to go run and buy ice cream to pay off our bribe.

Here are a couple more shots in front of the statue of St. Joseph, and in front of the blessed virgin.


The final picture Ali wanted me to take of her because I pointed out to her that Kris and I had our picture taken under this stained glass window on our wedding day. She thought it was cool so she asked me to take her picture here as well.

Dress Rehearsal

Tomorrow night I have to clear out from work early. We have 1st Communion dress rehearsal for Sunday. There are also going to be pictures taken. Ali is very worried because the children have to get up in the front of church and sing a song in from of the entire congregation. It is amazing how scared Ali gets, especially when this is no different than putting on her spring concert at school, except for the dress. Details of the night to come when we get home.

More Problems at School

Over the weekend we pryed out of Alison that she has been having more trouble at school. She said there are a couple of other girls who are picking on her out on the playground. From what she told us I am not sure if it is them picking on her or just normal child arguments. But whatever it is, it has Alison upset enough that she didn't want to eat all weekend. She was in tears Sunday night saying she didn't want to go to school

Monday when I dropped her off at school her day care teacher saw that she was upset and clinging to my leg. She came over and asked what was wrong so I gave her a brief lowdown. It turns out that she used to work as social worker with children and asked if I would like her to try and talk to Alison and put her at ease. I thanked her and said if she could that would be great. This is the kind of attention that I fear we are going to be missing next year when we go to Shady Lane.

When I got home Monday Alison said she had a good day, and today when I got home I got a big hug and she told me she didn't cry at all today. Hopefully she is finally over this.

More Painting

This past weekend was spent trying to get the den painted. We had (2) big problems. First we didn't want to move the furniture out of the room and second, I had to paint all the woodwork. It was easy enough working around the furniture, easy meaning awkward but we dealt with it. The walls themselves were done in about an hour. The other 10 hours of painting was taken up by doing the detailing.

The problem with the woodwork was deep burgandy color. It took one coat of primer followed by two coats of paint. Plus, the light in that room is terrible, so by 9:00 Sat. night I had to call it quits because I couldn't see very well. One of these days I need to get some spotlights.

By noon on Sunday I had everything done and it was time to start putting curtains and shades back up. Once we were finally done putting things back together I noticed all sorts of small spots where the paint is tin and could stand a slight touch up. Depending on my time this week, I am going to try and get it done. If I don't get it done and you are coming for Ali's 1st Holy Communion, don't look in there.

Ronald McDonald

Last week for scouts Kris and Ali drove down to the Ronald McDonald house. Their project was collecting can tabs. They had the whole school (Riverside) collecting tabs and did is as a contest. They ended up with a total of around 150 pounds to take in. Thursday must have been some big deal there for turning in tabs because Kris said it was a zoo with people driving in, and Ronald McDonald was there as well so the girls had their picture taken with him. When I asked Ali about it she said Ronald McDonald was a fake because she saw him adjusting his wig in between taking pictures. It's nice to know my daughter is so observant.