The Dolomites

We had a fabulous morning celebrating Stinkerbell's first communion on Thursday.  But let's be honest, we had no family in town, we do not speak enough German to enjoy the party they threw for us and it was a 4 day weekend.  We had places to go.  A few weeks before we knew exacly when Stinkerbell's communion would be we decided that we needed to get out and enjoy the Alps.  I looked all over for where we should go and found this great little town just across the Austrian border in Italy.  I snapped up on of the last rooms, called my friend M and asked if she and her family would like to join us and we had a plan.  So,we didn't stick around for long after the communion ceremony was over.  Don't get me wrong, we said our thank you's to everyone involved and took a few group snapshots but as soon as things broke up we hit the road.  We had a few days of hiking and camaraderie ahead of us in Italy that we were really looking forward to.

A few hours after leaving Munich, we were greeted by this view from our hotel room balcony...

Not too shabby!

The next morning the kids were all up bright and early in anticipation of a fun-filled day in the mountains.  We (and by we I mean M) asked about the best things to do in the area.  This is on top of the person he asked the night before about the best things to do in the area.  I jest, but thankfully he did because our plans changed a slight bit and we ended up heading out to a different location for the morning.  

The kids love hanging out together!  S and N are American/Italian/Swiss friends of ours from school.

The first thing we stumbled upon was this gorgeous church.  With its creepy Jesus inside...We kept moving...

And for the rest of the afternoon, we enjoyed the scenery, each others company, and gorgeous sunshine.  It truly could not have been more pleasant in any way...well, maybe if my girls would have stopped arguing with each other but I don't expect that to change for the next 10 years or so...

We made it to the restaurant on top of the mountain and were happy to rest, have some local dishes and work our way back down again for some pool time and dinner.

Of course, I also had to stop and take a picture of the church on the hill in the middle of nowhere...

And we also partook in the free afternoon bubbles provided back at the hotel.  We worked hard for that glass and we would do it again the next day!

The Portraits

The formal Communion portraits.

 I feel like I should explain.

I wanted to make sure to capture Stinkerbell for this momentous occasion but I also knew that the day of the ceremony would be too rushed so I asked the church if we could get in to do them (and those of a friend) beforehand.  I would work around any schedule they imposed but I was informed that the church was closed except just before services or for rehearsals and there was no way to get in. Rehearsal it was!

As quickly as we could after they finished their run through, we changed the girls, smoothed their hair and I started snapping.  With 3 girls to get photographs of and very little time before the church would be locked again, it was a whirlwind.  In the end, I was just hoping that we would have something to show for it after all of the fuss because I was definitely working outside of my comfort zone.  And working very quickly against a setting sun at that.  I didn't need to worry though as all three girls nailed it.  The only thing I struggled with was getting Stinkerbell to give me her real smile instead of the canned one she somehow thinks I want but we are working on that.

As for the poses, I can only take credit for some of them.  I would put her in a location and snap the one I wanted and then let her at it.  And the poses this girl came up with slay me (she likes the dramatic)...Can you tell which ones I made her do and which she chose herself?  In the end, some of my favorite shots of the day came from her spontaneous seriousness...Sometimes the (almost) 9-year-old knows best.

{The only one with the blue sky.  That is because editing it back in is time-consuming so I just didn't do it for them all.  Maybe I will at a later date. Maybe}

First Communion

After Jesus was resurrected on what we know as Easter Sunday, he spent the next 40 days instructing his disciples how to carry on his teachings.  It is believed that on the 40th day he took them to the Mount of Olives where they watched him ascend into heaven.  And this is why the 40th day after Easter is called Ascension.  This year, it is also the day that Stinkerbell took her first Communion.

She has been preparing for this day since February.  Though the training wasn't as rigorous or as time-consuming as MadHatter's was (you can read about that here) it was nevertheless full of learning about the role that confession and communion play in her religious life.  They learned by making crafts, telling stories, learning Bible verses and even baking bread from scratch.  She spent two full weekends and various other days soaking it all in and making sure she was ready to make her first confession.  With that was behind her (she was very nervous about it), she relaxed a bit and truly looked forward to the day she could celebrate all of the work she had done.  And so did we!  We are extremely pleased with how she took ownership of her learning and never once wanted to skip out on class or cut them short.  She did a fabulous job during the service and we could not be more proud of her. 

We were not allowed the camera's in church but they did have a professional photographer there taking pictures so I hope to share those soon.  I did get a few quick snaps off, as did all of the parents because we're all still parents at the end of the day.

 Gorgeous, right?  Who doesn't love a  country church surrounded by rapeseed and wheat fields?

From the night before (I love the iPhone for it's HDR capabilities and ability to capture that sky and still capture her!)

I snapped this one about halfway through.  Only Stinkerbell would pull out the page markers of her bible and braid them during the service.  I did stop her but I understood it, she couldn't follow along anyway because the whole thing was in German.

The whole class